UA Tanforan 4 Cinemas
400 Tanforan Park,
San Bruno,
CA
94066
400 Tanforan Park,
San Bruno,
CA
94066
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I saw the movie Coma there in 1978 and the movie Survive there in 1976, the mall opened in 1971 and Im almost positive that the theater opened at the same time.
The UA Tanforan 4 Cinemas opened at the Tanforan Park Mall in San Bruno, California circa 1970. During the 70s and early 80s, the theatre was often United Artists' highest grossing venue in Northern California. The cinemas consisted of 4 auditoriums on the lower level of the mall, accessed by escalators behind the box office on the main level of the mall adjacent to the west parking lot entrance. The lobby of the theatre was open to the upper level and mall skylight. The largest of the 4 auditoriums (#3) featured approximately 600 seats and was utilized for the larger blockbuster releases. Above the door of each auditorium was a reader board with the film title and a large, colored, plastic numeral denoting the auditorium number. The booth had Christie projectors and utilized a platter system. For its time, it was a spacious, modern and comfortable cinema with decent sound and projection, though only auditorium #3 featured stereo sound. The space formerly occupied by the cinemas is today the lower level of the Barnes and Noble book store.
This theater was opened well before 1988. I seen Return Of The Jedi there in late 1983/early 1984.
It did not always book first run; in its last years, it was known as the Tanforan Discount Cinemas, and I think it became an independent.