Fiesta Theater

71dude on September 22, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Last day was Sept. 1, 1986 with “The Fly”. The Bank Cinema closed a few days earlier.

edblank on June 14, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Associated Theatres opened the Fiesta in the summer of 1967 with “In the Heat of the Night,” which played for 11 weeks to the kind of good attendance required to help establish a moviehouse.

Its capacity was estimated at both 542 and 524.

Although it’s true that a parking garage occupied several levels above the nicely appointed basement moviehouse, the building’s street level space was occupied for decades by a restaurant.

Some notable films to open here were “In Cold Blood” (6 weeks), “Yours, Mine and Ours” (9), a moveover roadshow engagement of “Funny Girl” (weeks 11 through 52), “Cactus Flower” (11), “MAS*H” (11), “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” (8), “A New Leaf” (8), “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (8), “Dirty Harry” (13), “What’s Up, Doc?” (15), “Butterflies Are Free” (8), “Paper Moon” (11)“ and "Sleeper” (9), “Blazing Saddles” (7), “Murder on the Orient Express” (10) and “Murder by Death” (16).

About midway through the 14-week run of “Network,” the Fiesta off and on had to start sharing movies with at least one of the encroaching suburban houses. Despite the sharing, “Saturday Night Fever” held on for 18 weeks.

Although there may have been a horror film or two during the 1980s as Downtown’s other larger, dilapidated theaters closed for refurbishing or conversion into other uses, gory films were never the Fiesta’s forte. They did invade the Stanley, Warner, Gateway and Fulton, though.