Ambassador Theatre
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
115 Fayetteville Street,
Raleigh,
NC
27601
2 people
favorited this theater
The Ambassador Theatre was the foremost movie theater in Raleigh for decades.
The Ambassador Theatre showcased the films of M~G~M, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, etc. At least one premiere took place there — “Bright Leaf” in 1950.
It was demolished in March 1989 when Fayetteville Street was turned into a mall.
Contributed by
Edward Wright
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Recent comments (view all 42 comments)
Yup, there was a McDonald’s restaurant located in a former movie theater on Hillsborough St. facing North Carolina State University.
As I recall the McDonald’s closed and later became a bookstore providing college student’s supplies called Hillsborough St. Textbooks.
Here is a link to a picture of their marquee:
http://www.indyweek.com/pdf/052709/Textbooks.jpg
Maybe someone can identify the name of the theater originally. I imagine it is already listed on this site!
Here is a more current picture of the former movie theatre on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh, across from NCSU campus, that had a McDonald’s restaurant in it back in the 1980’s:
View link
Ok, everyone for those interested the former McDonald’s later Hillsborough St. Textbooks was originally the Varsity Theater.
I’ll post photo links (of the bookstore anyway) at the Varsity Theater, Raleigh, NC link here on Cinema Treasures.
Hey, thanks.it is a pity MCDONALDS left. Ithink I took pictures inside the hamburger stand, I remember one sheets framed around the resturant. LECO lights shinning down on the tables.
I found a picture i took of the marquee on the Varsity. MCDONALDS was in the space of the marquee.
The architect was Erle G Stillwell.
I can state the the Ambassador was not a Cinerama theatre, because I was there at the time that “Grimm” and “West” would have been shown in that process. I had to go to Charlotte, which was the only venue in the state to have Cinerama capability.
B&W newsreel footage of the 1950 world premiere of WB’s “Bright Leaf” can be viewed here: British Pathe
THE SOUND OF MUSIC played at the Ambassador Theatre for an astounding 61 weeks during its initial run in 1965. Not only did it broke all attendance records,but other films like CLEOPATRA, HOW THE WEST WAS WON,and BEN-HUR had capacity crowds during its run at this theatre.
Viewed “2001 A SPACE ODDESSEY” 70mm in 1969 prior to flying away for short Navy career!