Plaza Theatre
600 George Street,
Sydney,
NSW
2000
600 George Street,
Sydney,
NSW
2000
1 person
favorited this theater
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BEFORE THE PLAZA The site was home to several theatres, beginning with the Atheneum Hall which opened in 1907. It was renamed the Oxford Theatre for live events in 1908 and then the Colonial, a 1200 seat theatre in 1910 which showed films. Hoyts took over in 1917 with the name DeLuxe. See photo section for the DeLuxe. The Plaza opened on April 11, 1930 with “Dynamite” Demille’s first talkie. The Sydney Morning Herald reported “Mr. Eddie Fitch, formerly of the Oriental Theatre, Chicago, has been engaged as organist for Hoyts' new Plaza Theatre. Mr. Fitch came to Australia last year and has been acting as organist at Hoyts Regent Theatres in Melbourne and Brisbane.”
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mcdonalds plaza lobby…best looking mcdonalds i’ve ever been in
Early photo of Plaza neon sign being erected:
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1962 exterior photo of the crowds attending Cinerama presentation:
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1966 exterior photo with Cinerama signage:
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Loved this theatre when it was a showcase of Cinerama, have very faint memories of “How the West was Won” in 3 strip format which for a very young boy was awesome!! I’m glad at least some of the interior is still there and the exterior is just great, the younger generation have no idea what going “to the pictures” was like in the 50’s and 60’s in those fantastic movie palaces – most of todays movie houses are unbelievably depressing, cheap and nasty!
This was not one of my favourite Cinemas but when I visit Sydney often eat there it makes a much better McDonalds Restaurant.
Hi Cinemamad — it had poles, but I don’t recall any obstructed views.
It had poles inside the cinema holding up the ceiling luckily I never had to sit behind one.
A terrific theatre. As a young boy I think my earliest visit was to see ICE STATION ZEBRA. The size of the screen blew me away. Other memorable movies included THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, TOWERING INFERNO and, I’m pretty sure Dario Argento’s DEEP RED and William Girdler’s GRIZZLY screened there, too.
It didn’t matter how good or bad the film, being in the Plaza always made me feel special. Apart from the screen size and grandeur of the interior design, what I remember especially is that everything sounded awesome in there.
The northern end of the site ( planet hollywood ) was occupied by Orbit 600 video arcade from 1981 till 1994. the site were the rapallo stood, next to the paramount also became Westworld video arcade around 1980 and remained an arcade with acouple of name/owner changes until only this year did it shut down. got some great new (old)photos of the regent including two colour shots, upload when site is updated.
photos taken dec 2008
exterior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3200354692/
lobby (McDonalds)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3200358168/
Some recent photos of the Plaza, Sydney are here.
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The Mc Donalds retains some of the original features, in what is basically a rather dark and modern McDos, but in the Planet Hollywood, perhaps appropriately for faux Hollywood,the cinema is all gone. It is still impressive from the outside, but as the street is narrow and busy, an unobstructed photo is hard to get.