Northwest Plaza Cinema
Northwest Plaza,
St. Louis,
MO
63074
Northwest Plaza,
St. Louis,
MO
63074
2 people
favorited this theater
Not to be confused with Wehrenberg’s Northwest 9 Cine, the GCC Northwest Cinema sat on a separate piece of property within the Northwest Plaza mall in St. Ann and opened in 1969 as a single screen. It’s sister theatres the Grandview, Northland, Jamestown and Sunset Hills were all twin screens). Sometime during the 1970’s it was expanded to a four screen. When GCC pulled out of the St. Louis area and the mall was remodeled, the theatre was closed.
Contributed by
Chris Utley
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
To boil it down: GCC opened the Northwest Plaza as a single screen operation in June 1969; converted it to a twin in December 1974; and into a 4-plex in April 1982.
In October 1989 it was announced Wehrenberg would take over GCC’s Missouri theatres 10/31. GCC closed the Northwest Plaza on 10/29, just two days before the Wehrenberg takeover date.
The opening of the Northwest Plaza 9 Cine occurred November 17, 1989.
All the early reports about this theater in Boxoffice do indicate that it opened as a single-screen house, and a very large one at that. The announcement of the June 25, 1969, opening appeared in Boxoffice of June 30, and said that the Northwest Plaza Cinema had 1,700 seats. A slightly longer item in Boxoffice of July 14 included a small photo of the theater, though it looks like it was taken before the building was completed, as there’s no signage.
A brief notice in Boxoffice of November 18, 1974, said that GCC had closed the house for twinning, and the reopening was scheduled for December 20.
WOW! So hard to believe that building held just 1 screen! Even when they converted it to 4 screens, accomodations were never…EVER…cramped!
Looks like there’s room enough for 6 screens in there!
I second the comments by Chris. This theater was HUGE!!! They probably could have gone to six screens in that building and it still would not have felt cramped. Too bad this one got torn down. Favorite memories of this place are seeing Jungle Book, Chariots Of Fire, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at this theater. Thanks for the memories, NWP!
I worked at NWP from ‘79 to '84 and it really was a treasure of a place. In fact, my wife and I had our first date there in '78 (The Big Fix with Richard Dreyfuss). My brother-in-law was one of the last managers there, and with his help was able to salvage two seats from the balcony (along with a wide armrest table with a floor light). And with much restoration (and a lot of gum to remove from underneath) I have a nicely-restored pair of seats that I believe are the very two from our first date. Ah the memories.
GREAT STORY about the seats! Heh…my mother actually took me to a matinee of “The Big Fix” there when I was a kid. LOL!
I made an errors in this theatre’s info when I submitted it to CT years ago. 1. The city needs to be changed/updated to St. Ann, MO (instead of St. Louis). 2. The theatre opened as a single screener in 1969 (see JAlex’s post for more detailed info).
Thank you for the picture! I don’t care if it’s a little grainy…THAT is the Northwest Plaza Cinema I remember!!
Yes – great photo there, Chris. Good to have. Funny story: you mentioned that it opened in ‘69, and while I was working there (in 1981) I had the pleasure of knowing the projectionists that worked there. One of them worked there the day it opened – 12 years earlier. Those guys -and they were all well over 60 years old – they had to walk ALL the way up those steps to get to the booth on the top level. Some were heavy smokers and so it was not unusual to see them sitting in an aisle seat – taking a rest – as they made their way up.
when they torn down the old cinema i went up there and grabed 2 of the chairs. they used to recline out. i repainted them leaving the old gum in place..i use these chairs in my own movie basement