Northwest Plaza Cinema
Northwest Plaza,
St. Louis,
MO
63074
Northwest Plaza,
St. Louis,
MO
63074
4 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 24 comments)
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
The first time I ever went to a movie by myself was there. The Empire Strikes Back. Not it’s inital theatrical run, but a 1982 re-release. I didnt want to see The Last Unicorn.
That is super cool that there are two photos of this cinema! I so wish that I had photos of some of these great places myself. I first saw my favorite film here, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” I was so young that all I remember was that it was an incredible light show!
jmiller are you related to Bill Miller that operated the Melvin Theatre and later managed the Granada Theaatre for BAC?