Carmike Plaza Cinema Twin
2415 N. Heritage Street,
Kinston,
NC
28501
2415 N. Heritage Street,
Kinston,
NC
28501
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The newest auditorium received the seats from the Tryon Theatre (now the Athens in New Bern). They were pink because the Tryon was slated to be turned into an X rated theatre, but that never panned out.
The one auditorium had a seating capacity of 175 but the big auditorium could seat 300.
Opened as the Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema on January 14,1970. If you need to see the grand opening ad for this theatre,I have this information available. E-Mail me at
The Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema’s opening attraction was JOHN AND MARY with Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow.
The coming attractions or coming soon to the Trans-Lux:
John Wayne and Rock Hudson in THE UNDEFEATED
Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin in AIRPORT
Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in WHERE EAGLES DARE
William Holden and Ernest Borgnine in THE WILD BUNCH
Clint Eastwood in HANG EM' HIGH
John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell in TRUE GRIT
This was originally a Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema. It most likely opened in 1970, along with locations in Burlington, Charlotte, Greensboro and High Point. The Kinston Plaza Trans-Lux was the third shopping-center cinema in town, following the Park Theatre on North Queen Street (H. B. Meiselman, approximately 1951) and the Mall Cinema at Vernon Park Mall (Stewart & Everett, 1969). Trans-Lux’s use of 16mm equipment instead of conventional 35mm doomed their operation from the start; Trans-Lux abandoned the Kinston cinema by 1974. Stewart & Everett reopened it as the Plaza Cinema in 1975; this theater may have been the only former Trans-Lux Inflight Cinema in North Carolina to never operate as a dedicated pornhouse (Kinston severely restricted when and/or where porn movies could be shown: either late-night weekend shows within city limits – Mall Cinema – or outside of the city limits – North 11 Drive-In).
Interesting. It reminds me of the Lakewood Center Theatre in Durham that opened in November of 1966,that was anchored by a W.T. Grant’s Department Store and was anchored by two supermarkets too(Winn-Dixie and Kroger!)