South Coast Plaza Theatre
3410 Bristol Street,
Costa Mesa,
CA
92626
3410 Bristol Street,
Costa Mesa,
CA
92626
7 people
favorited this theater
The South Coast Plaza Theatre was opened by National General Theatres in 1967. In 1973 it was taken over by Mann Theatres who later divided the auditorium, which seated about 1,000, into two.
Edwards Theatres assumed control in 1981, making it their 17th Orange County location. The Plaza Theatre, in a separate building behind it, was marketed as its third screen.
It finally closed in 2000 because of Edwards' bankruptcy. Edwards once had plans to turn it into a single-screen stadium seating about 500 and offering dinner service. Its location, next to the Orange County Performing Arts District, makes it a prime candidate for some type of reuse.
The Orange County Register said after closing that ‘the Arts District needs a “populist” attraction such as a movie theater to broaden its appeal’.
Sadly this was not to be, and the theatre was demolished in March 2008.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
I stopped by and checked out the demolition today (3/13). The South Coast Plaza theatre was already down to walls and framework, the interior a pile of rubble; it had already been somewhat stripped, prior to demolition (as mentioned in an earlier post). However, the Plaza III turned out to have been relatively intact prior to the demolition; poppers, coke towers, menu boaards, screen, speakers, seating, etc. had all been there. It was almost as if Edwards had closed one night and never returned. Seeing such an intact theatre being torn apart was extra sad.
When I saw the pre-demolition photos of this theater, I realized that this is where I saw “Sleeping Beauty,” in about 1971 or so. This was the only time we attended this theater. We lived in Seal Beach then, and went to South Coast Plaza for shopping, but never for movies, save this one time.
Some Demolition photos of the South Plaza
Exit in Auditorium #3.
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Box Office
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Theatre lobby.
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Was this a twin or actually a triplex. I see mentioned in many comments as a triplex but the header says twin.
Opening ad.
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Opening ad as the Mann Theatres Triplex.
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Photo of the original single screen theatre.
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Photo of the original auditorium.
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My ex was at that Premiere night when Debbie Reynolds appeared. She has a photo or two from that night. Rats, I suppose I better ask her about that now. She was 17 years old when that occurred and we were married 3 months later. Scandalously young.
My parents, Sam and Dorothy, worked maintenace at the original single-screen theatre, from 1969, up until when it became a twin, and, later, when Edwards bought it up. Was sad to see the building get demolished.
Miscellaneous trivia: The South Coast opened as National General Corp’s 263rd theatre.
Today, the site is a well maintained grass lot; popular for office breaks and as a walkway to/from the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
Here’s a link to the demolition of the South Coast Plaza Theaters. Try to get past the music by Live. The video is sad enough already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtTXvwHeyn4
video