Charlottetown Mall Cinemas
418 Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28204
418 Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28204
3 people
favorited this theater
The Charlottetown Mall Cinemas was located off of Queens Road near the main older CPCC campus and across the Midtown Square Mall. A hospital had sectioned off a good bit of her parking to accomidate for the overflow. The marquee stood as a shell of a sign yet still retains the word “CINEMAS”. The box office and the front doors were covered over with wooden planks and then the whole front area was fenced off.
Demolished in November 2005, the last time I personally knew of someone going to inspect her the roof in the lobby had severe water damage from the air condition being left on. There was also signs that her bathrooms and lobby had been pillaged and there were several homeless residents living in her hallways. Raccoons and rats have made Charlottetown their home as well.
Rumor has it that she and the former Shoney’s building in front of her will make way for a Home Depot.
Contributed by
Tammy Conner
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Recent comments (view all 29 comments)
Some excellent history, some images about General Cinema can be found at:
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Photos of General Cinema Theatres operating in North Carolina.
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Includes the marquee for the Charlottetown Mall Cinemas from either 1981 or 1982.
WASN’T THERE A TWIN DRIVE IN BUILT SOMEWHERE AROUND THERE AND I AM SURPRIZED NO ONE IN CHARLOTTE HAS WRITTEN ON THE THUNDERBIRD DRIVR IN. I KNOW IT WAS AN ABC THEATRE.
Charlottetowne Mall Cinemas opened in 1963 as one of the first twin theatres to be established in North Carolina. Owned and operated under General Cinema Corporation. The theatre closed in 1994,and was demolished in 2005 to make way for a Target and a Home Depot store.
FYI: The Charlottetowne Mall opened its doors to the public in 1959 as the first-ever indoor shopping center to be established in North Carolina. I don’t know if the mall is still in operation,but the last I heard it was renamed as Midtown Square Mall.
FYI: At the height of its opening,the Charlottetown Cinemas(which it was twin theatre back in 1963)mostly had rights to show exclusive roadshow enagements,which were mostly reserving seating,and were given either two or three showings daily. Most of the exclusive roadshow enagements were mostly the James Bond 007-Sean Connery films that played here that open to capacity crowds that went to see them: I know in one of the advertisement that a showing of “Goldfinger” was a roadshow enagement and so was “Thunderball” and “You Only Live Twice”. Not to mention other films were given the roadshow treatment at the Charlottetown as well including “The Greatest Story Ever Told”,and more,which it was a twin cinema during the mid-1960’s and early 1970’s,before it became a triplex theatre.
my brother and i worked there in winter 75. changing the theater marquee at the street. this was before it was moved to the hill. manager at the time was a real jerk, fired us and he got caught fondling one of the girls up front in ticket booth. had our photo taken by jeep hunter of the observer changing the marquee one night.
fondling a theatre girl,boy thats a new one.
fondling a theatre girl….these days that would be sexual harassment and statutory rape of a minor. serious charges here.
this sorry bastard of a manager deserved to be arrested too!!!
this also happened to a theatre manager in Durham too who was arrested for fondling an underage girl(statutory rape)after the young girl(who was an employee at the theatre) told police what happened to her on the job,and the next day when the manager show up for work,he was surrounded by local police and the district manager of Carmike Cinemas(which operated the cinema)and was arrested on serious charges of rape and incest of a minor.
These days if anyone did that on the job….towards any young girl,you will not only lose your job…you’ll be arrested too….its not worth it. During working hours,keep your hands to yourself,focus on your job and leave this young people alone during your shift at work.
Charlottetown Mall became one of the first indoor shopping centers to be built in the Southeast between Washington,DC and Atlanta,GA. Charlottetowne Mall was North Carolina’s first ever indoor shopping center and became Charlotte’s most popular destination center that opened to the public on October 28, 1959.
The mall had two levels that included a Bon Marche' Department Store(later Ivey’s),a Roses Five and Ten,
Eckerd Drugs,another department store,and on the lower level on the opposite end was a huge Colonial/Big Stat grocer.
The Charlottetowne Mall cinemas opened in 1963 as it was the first twin theatres to be established in North Carolina. A third screen was added in the mid-1970’s(By taking the original auditoriums and splitting it down the middle and it was also done in the 1980’s).
A fourth screen came during the 1980’s until its closing in the 1990’s. It has since been demolished.
I have found the original ads for the Grand Opening of the Charlottetown Mall Cinemas,also known as the Cinema I & II from 1963. I wish someone would put this information out there,but I have the original ad from the Charlotte Observer newspaper.