Las Vegas Cinerama
3900 Paradise Road,
Las Vegas,
NV
89169
3900 Paradise Road,
Las Vegas,
NV
89169
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 38 of 38 comments
Nope, just one on Boulder Hwy. Trust me. :–) It was the Skyway Drive-In. The one you’re thinking of downtown just came to me (I think… LOL) It was The Guild. My mom and I went there a couple of times.
The Sunset was definitely on Cheyenne… I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights there. The on at Lamb & Sahara was the Desert 5 Drive-In. It always had five screens. Then it was the Century Desert 5 Theaters when it was converted to a walk-in. Now it’s a pathetic parking lot full of half-dead trees and graffiti. Bummer.
TeriAvenueKim – Wow you got a lot of great info that brings back a lot of memories. That theater I thought was on main st was really on 1st between Bridger & Carson. It’s where the Golden Nugget parking is now. It was right across from the Clark County Jail. And the name I think was called the Main theaters.
And I thought the Sunset drive-in was on Boulder Highway. I know there was the Skyway and another drive-in further down on Boulder highway. Could it be the Sky-Vue? Because I know there were two drive-ins on boulder HY. Not the one that use to be on Lamb and Sahara.
Probably because no one has submitted them… The Parkway Theater began as one screen, then split into three. It was in a strip mall adjacent to the Boulevard Mall and behind Bob’s Big Boy and the Broadway Tire Center on Maryland Parkway. The shopping center included the Boulevard Market that eventually became part of the new, bigger Dillard’s and a TJ Maxx. Not sure what’s there now besides the Dillard’s store. I live on the other side of town now (been in LV for 36 years :–).
The Parkway 1-2-3 didn’t become a BookStar, however. That was the Boulevard Theater located directly ON Maryland Parkway, across from the Target shopping center (which didn’t exist back then). It was a stand-alone on otherwise undeveloped land. The Boulevard began as one theater and was later split into two.
The drive-in you’re thinking of was the Sunset Drive-In and it was located on West Cheyenne, behind the North Las Vegas Airport. It became a swap meet with no theater poles eventually. They used to charge just $5.00 per person for admittance back in the ‘70s. The Nevada Drive-In was located either on Las Vegas Blvd. North or the Old Salt Lake Hwy. near Nellis Air Force Base (I only visited it a couple of times before it closed). This place was HUGE and had a great Western mural painted on the street-side of the screen.
The Cinemas 1-2-3 began as a differently-named, single screen theater YEARS ago, but my memory fails me on the name. I’m trying to remember a downtown theater with a balcony, but I can’t… The name “Main” doesn’t ring a bell. :–)
Hey TeriAvenueKim – How come there isn’t any mention of other Las Vegas theaters on this site? Do you remember these theaters?
The parkways 1 2 3 – It was next to the Boulevard mall.And there was another theater on Maryland Parkway right near there with a single screen. When it closed it became “Bookstar.'
There is one theater downtown right across from the jail called the “Main” I( think that was the name. It had an upper balcony. located on main st.
No mention of Cinemas 1 2 3 downtown, And no mention of Nevada drive-in. Located in North Las Vegas.
I forgot there was a drive-in on Craig rd but I foget the name.
Yep… It’s in “The Gauntlet.” That movie’s a hoot… More continuity/location errors than any other film made in/about Las Vegas. LOL I’ll have to see it again sometime to remember where they were headed when they show the Cinerama, but I know that when they were driving to Phoenix, it was up West Charleston to Red Rock Canyon. Heh heh heh…
And the house that gets all shot up…? That was on Flamingo Rd. near Pecos/McLeod. When I went to KO Knudson Jr. High in the early ‘70s, our school bus drove past it every day. Just an old abandoned place ready for demolition when they 'took it out’ in The Gauntlet. Pretty cool ending for the place.
Yeah that as a great theater. The seats closer to the back were the rocking seats. We use to always fight over who got a rocking seat.
Also, I think there is a good shot of the theater in Clint Eastwood’s movie “The Gauntlet.”(1977)
Richard, we may have been there at the same time! LOL I was 14 and loved “Night of the Living Dead” (And you’re right about “Ben” – it was BEYOND excruciating). After seeing it in the theater, my friends and I found that it moved rather quickly to late night TV with “The Vegas Vampire.” We watched it at every opportunity. Guess I was lucky – no nightmares. :–) I do remember, however, being VERY surprised that someone my age, along with my 10-year-old brother, were able to see something so shocking at a theater. One of the previous films we’d seen at the Cinerama Theater was “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” – yep… MUCH tamer, too!
I saw the double bill of “Night of the Living Dead” and “Ben"
at this cinema also. We were traveling in our Winnebago motor home on vacation in the summer of 1972. I was 15 at the time.
I had read about the Romero film in "Castle of Frankenstein” magazine and persuaded my parents to drop me off to the matinee to see these pictures
while they did some more sight seeing. These were the first films
I’d ever seen on curved screens and were not ideal for this venue.
It was a bit disorienting watching 1.85 movies with a curve. They
looked best in 70mm or Panavision. In any event, the Romero film
had excellent contrast so it was probably a camera negative print
rather than one of those poor internegative copies that were later
manufactured. I do recall “Ben” was shown first and was pretty
excrutiating to sit through. Then came the Romero film. A number
of parents stormed out of the theater with their children during
the cannibalism scenes which I found amusing. “Ben” was a PG movie
but “Night of the Living Dead” was released without a rating. Since
it opened the same year that the productiion code was abandoned and
classification system implemented, it was probably never submitted
to the MPAA. As a result, it was booked with considerably tamer
product. The Romero film gave me re-occuring nightmares.
Great stuff, lostmemory… Thanks!
I don’t believe it was replaced by the Hughes Center, however, because it was on the opposite side of Paradise Road. Great theater… Saw “Night of the Living Dead” and “Ben” there in 1970/71 give or take a year.
Thanks, would’ve been interesting to see, tho. What do you know about a process that tried out in Vegas called “SuperVision.”? Early 1980’s…basically a “high-quality” enlarging lens placed in front of the prime and/or anamorphic lens. I remember seeing a demo in Philly of 16mm “blown up” in this fashion to 35mm “dimensions.” I also have heard that this lens was used at one of the Oscar presentations many years ago, but that the theatrical experiments were in Las Vegas. Also, any pics/info available of the Nevada Drive-In in LV where CineMiracle was reportedly shown?
Charles, a 3.27:1 aspect ratio for 70mm projection? And a screen 30-some feet wider than the largest recorded indoor 3-screen installations? Are you sure someone gave you the correct dimensions? If this is true, this theatre most certainly needs to be thoroughly researched. Keep us informed, please.
If you watch the movie “The Gauntlet” with Clint Eastwood. There is a scene in which an ambulance gets blown up on a street. You can see a small part of the theatre in that scene.