Southwood Theatre
1423 W. Ben White Boulevard,
Austin,
TX
78704
1423 W. Ben White Boulevard,
Austin,
TX
78704
2 people
favorited this theater
The Southwood was built as a single screen in 1964 seating 868 by Trans Texas Theatres. It was twinned in 1974 and acquired by AMC. In 1982 it changed ownership again becoming part of the Presidio Theatres.
The building is a striking one with the exterior in a light colored linestone brick. A corner entrance to the theatre with an awning running around from the entrance down the side of the building.
Since closing it has had retail outlets in the gutted theatre one of which was a laser tag operation.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
One of the distinctive things about this theater is that the original seating was in curved rows so that all seats faced the center of the screen – but when it was split, the seating wasn’t changed. So you watched the movie with your seat facing the corner of the theater.
In the 80’s, this was a “dollar” theater for several years.
This theater is still a lasertag i was just on their website.
This one is at 1701 W. Ben White. Are there a bunch of laser tag places on this street?
http://www.blazertag.com/tour/tour.html
That’s pretty far away from the address above.
I agree, but Blazer Tag is also what you see when you google the address, map-wise.
Also, the chain should be unknown, and not AMC Theaters.
Then the address above must be wrong if the laser tag is located at 1701 W. Ben White Boulevard. The theater building couldn’t span that many numbers.
The Southwood was an AMC theater in 1981-1982. It was a dollar movie house. I worked there as an assistant manager my last year of college.
I’m sure that the auditorium was magnificent when it was a single-screen, but it was a bit awkward split down the middle.
In November 1987 I met my husband here. He was the General Manager at Southwood Theater (AMC) and he was also serving as the division manager for National Cinema Network for the Austin Region. He won division and national promotion contests with AMC and promoted with many non-profit agencies and radio stations in this region. His promotions from 1987 included the first benefits for the Capital Area Food Bank and the Austin Animal Shelters as well as many other non-profits matched with radio stations to promote a special events. 1987 is still known as the most giving year in Austin and it started right inside the Southwood dollar theater. I was selling advertisements for my new “Just 4 Kids Magazine” and since working with him at Southwood in 1987 we have continued to promote entertainment in this region, state and throughout the world.
This theater was the home of my first job in 1990 when I was 17 years old and it still holds the best memories. I worked here for 4 years and miss the people I met there. It was a great place. I wish everyone could experience a place like this, but they don’t seem to still exist.