Hawaii Cinerama
1550 South King Street,
Honolulu,
HI
96826
1550 South King Street,
Honolulu,
HI
96826
7 people
favorited this theater
Situated just outside the Waikiki area, this theater was Honolulu’s oldest operating movie house and one of its few remaining single screen palaces.
The Cinerama theater was actually constructed in 1928 and opened as the New Pawaa Theatre on 3rd January 1929, with a beautifully atmospheric Spanish-style interior. The theater was overhauled in 1962 and renamed the Cinerama Theater.
Through the 1990’s, the Cinerama continued to be a haven for classic and second run films. However, with profitability hard to come by, the theater was closed in 1999, bringing an end to a grand chapter in Hawaii’s cinematic history.
The former Hawaii Cinerama, the theater that delighted millions, is now an auto parts store.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 104 comments)
I am not sure which downtown theatre that was. My guess would be the Hawaii which sill operates today as a live theatre venue, we also had the Liberty which was a second run grind house till it closed and the Rex which was a chinese opera house that later began showing porn films. As to the drive ins we had the Kam in Aiea which was later twinned and now closed, the Wai'alae in honolulu also closed, the Kilua in kilua and the Royal Sunset in Waipahu, also closed.
I remember my folks coming back from your beautiful state and i told them all i wanted was the Honolulu friday paper to see the movie ads and when i saw that a Drive-in was in that state it sorta threw me because of space and real estate. for years i kept that paper and it still might be here and the first “INDIANA JONES” movie was playing at that Drive-in.I remember that like it was yesterday. I’ll get my DVD’s out and look closly at the end credits.I like to say it was HAWAII theatre.Thanks vito.
Just a quick FYI: The last movie to play at Waikiki #3 before renovation was “High Road To China.” The first movie to play after renovation was the dreadful “Psycho II.”
Two horrible movies,Magicman 1433.
When the AC/DC documentary “Let There Be Rock” played here, I remember reading (and hearing from my friends) that a special sound system was installed just for that feature. Does anyone have any insight into this? The Cinerama already had what I thought was a first-rate sound system. Also (slightly off topic), I remember the Marina Twins having really crisp, clear sound as well…maybe it was just me.
I was chief of projection and sound for both Consolidated and Royal theatres during the eighties. When the movie “AC/DC Let There Be Rock†opened at the Cinerama in 1980 the studio arranged for a special sound system be installed. At the time we were still running the original Cinerama system which was an eight track channel system that did not provide the kind of power the studio wanted for the movie. My only complaint was that it was a mono system which surprised me but that is what they wanted. Opening night we received many complaints from our neighbors because the sound was so loud it could be heard all over King Street and was disturbing, we had to turn it down a notch. But my goodness did the Cinerama ever rock.
The Marina at the time had what I considered to be the best sound system on the Island, it originally had a very simple mono system but later we installed Dolby in both auditions with a sound system developed and designed by a fella by the name of Joe Schmidt. Joe was a very talented sound man who did one heck of a job at the Marina. New amps, speakers and Dolby processors were installed and the sound was magnificent. Later when we had a move over of “A Star is Born†from Waikiki #3 we installed a four track magnetic system for the engagement.
I have to mention that Oahu had many excellent sounding theatres thanks to the talents of Joe Schmidt and Wesley Inouye who were my sound techs, a couple of very talented sound people who knew their way around theater sound. Joe is retired now I believe Wesley still works for Consolidated. There were a few very dedicated people like Joe and Wesley along with another very talented projection technician by the name of Scott Bosch. Those three individuals made Hawaii theatres look and sound as well as any theatre could. I owe a lot of thanks for their help in making our theatres look and sound as good as they did during my time in Hawaii.
Thanks for the info, Vito. I wish I would have seen “Let There Be Rock” just to hear that sound system. Yeah, I remember seeing other features here & thinking that sometimes, it was just a little too loud (i.e., certain scenes in “Alien”). The Marina was a great little twin that featured a lot of great movies. Too bad they had awful hot dogs. I really miss these theatres. Multi-plexes just don’t work for me!
Absolutely loved this theatre. The last film I saw here was THE MATRIX. The sound system in this theatre was the best, next to the Waikiki #2. I also remember seeing the revivals of 2001, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and BLADE RUNNER in the 90’s. I get a little misty whenever I drive by the building and see Checker Auto Parts in it’s place.
New to the Cinema Treasures site. Fascinating to look back at theatres one remembers from their youth. I remember while visiting my mother in Honolulu in the late 1940’s and early 50’s my movie theatre going experiences. The New Pawaa, later the Cinerama was just a block from where we lived. In those days most island neighborhood theatres did not have air conditioning, but instead had large louvered windows on the side walls which let in the trade wind breezes. Do other members remember that? Sad to read that so many of the old standby houses are no longer there.
Many movies viewed here, but I clearly remember seeing “Star Wars”, back when there was a line around the block to see it. I went with my mom and grandfather, who dressed up as if he was going out on the town.