Hollywood Cinema

Kieranx on May 28, 2010 at 2:29 pm

I remember this theatre very well and very fondly. My first trip here was in the Fall of 1980. I was 10. At this point, the theatre was purely second run. The first film I saw here was Ffolkes, with Roger Moore. The movie was a bore, but I fell instantly in love with the house and tried to go back as much as possible, which drove my mom crazy because it was a schlep from our house and there was crappy parking, so she usually just dropped me off. Saw Gloria, Raise the Titanic, Time Bandits, and my third viewing of Xanadu, which was the one and only time I ever went to the theatre at night.

The house itself was a bit faded, but it seemed really grandiose to me. I had never been inside another theatre like it during my childhood. (The main auditorium for the 163rd Street Theatre in N. Miami was similar, but lacked the old world glamour.) The lobby was circular (or it seemed circular because there was a circular stairway/ramp up to the auditorium). The snack bar sold ice cream, which in 1980, was a rarity and the first time I ever saw such a thing, so I was very impressed. There were several doors leading into the auditorium and it seemed as though there were thousands of seats. I remember getting up several times during both Ffolkes and Gloria to run around and try watching the film from different vantage points in the house to see what looked best.

I also remember that at the back right section of the house, there was a small area that was barred off with metal railing and sort of raked. I was later told this used to be the smoking section of the theatre, also another first.

I stopped coming to the theatre a couple of years later. I can’t remember why, because we were usually nearby. It might have been because I stepped up my attendance at movies on their first run and had seen everything by the time it played there. I may have gone a couple more times, but I honestly can’t remember. I do remember the last time I went, though. It was May of 1985, and I went to see The Breakfast Club (probably for the third or fourth time) after school one afternoon. I took the bus over and went to a nearly empty matinee. And a year later, I had left Florida. I was back in Hollywood last Thanksgiving after 20 years and we drove around the circle, but I couldn’t quite recall the exact location of the theatre. I think i saw where it used to be, but I don’t remember what was in its place.