Opened as a twin on June 22, 1969, according to the LA Times. Here is part of an article on that date:
Southern California’s first Cinema I & II, a $1 million dual theater complex designed to meet adult and general family entertainment needs, just opened at the Montclair Plaza shopping center. This is the forerunner of 40 proposed Southland Cinema I & II theaters, according to Arthur Silber, West Coast manager for General Cinema, Inc.
Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta, Los Angeles and San Francisco architectural firm, designed the 1,500 seat structure for owners Montclair Associates and lessee General Cinema.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the Bradford (PA) Era dated 3/11/46:
Cairo (AP)– A woman was killed and 30 persons were injured when a time bomb exploded last night |in the Miami Movie Theater in downtown Cairo. The explosion occurred during the playing of the Egyptian national anthem and threw the audience into a panic. Crowds massed around the theater as the injured, including some British soldiers, were carried out.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the New Castle (PA) News, dated 6/11/56:
CHICAGO (UP) â€" The nationwide search for the shotgun killer of three persons set off a near riot in a jammed movie theater Sunday night. About 3,000 persons jammed the street outside the Granada Theater on the North Side when they heard that police had trapped killer Lawrence Neumann inside. Two women fainted in the crush. The crowd got out of control and 15 squads of police already on the scene had to radio for reinforcements. The police were waiting their chance to nab a member of the audience who matched Neumann’s description. But when they caught up with him, it turned out the man was not Neumann.
Here is an article from the Oelwein Daily Register dated 3/2/70:
WEST UNION â€" “How many, please?” “How much is the popcorn?” “Where’s the bathroom?” It has been a long time since those questions were posed in West Union, 3 ½ years to be exact, but they are being asked here, now. The Avalon Theater has re-opened.
At Sunday’s grand opening, a good crowd composed largely of young people, attended the premier showing of Elvis Presley’s new movie “Change of Habit”. For West Union citizens accustomed to watching television at home each night or journeying out of town to see a movie, the Avalon Theater offers another choice.
A combined investment by the city and theater manager Duane Vorwald of $40,000 was needed to re-open the Avalon. The money was well-spent. Located on Vine Street, only the outside remains to be remodeled. Inside everything is new. Chandeliers hang overhead in the lobby. The walls are paneled. Carpeting on the floor and a concession stand of glittering metal and polished glass give the 250-seat movie house a touch of elegance. Sunday, there were flowers everywhere.
The Avalon will have movies every night of the week except Wednesdays. If the movie is good enough, it will run Wednesdays too. It all depends on the moviegoers.
For Vorwald, the theater business is a second job. He’s also a salesman. Thus, operating theaters in Elkader and West Union requires the assistance of his family. Wife Meralda sells tickets, keeps the books and cleans up. Daughter Nancy works behind the concession stands. Son Kevin will become the full-time manager of the Avalon.
It’s a good looking place. The scats are comfortable, the schedule of upcoming movies impressive, and the popcorn is good, too. Call the Avalon Theater a nice place to visit and if you do, the West
Union Chamber of Commerce will call their city a nice place to live. Quite a combination for northeast Iowa.
Here is an article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette dated 12/12/56:
Roy Metcalfe, operator of the Times theater, has leased the Palace theater from the Palace Theater Company, it was announced Saturday. He takes over the theater immediately, having acquired it on a long-term lease. He will also continue to operate the Times.
The Palace is a return-movie theater. The Times presents both first-run and return films. The Palace building continues to be the property of the heirs of A. J. Diebold and Mike Ford, the theater’s founders. The families have operated the theater almost continuously. William J. McGuire has managed it for many years. The Diebold-Ford Interests also own the State theater building in Cedar Rapids, which is leased by Tri-States theaters.
Metcalfe has been in show business for 26 years and in Cedar Rapids for 10 years. His wife assists him in theater operation. Metcalfe said Saturday that he plans to remodel the Palace.
This LA Times article is dated 3/19/17, which conflicts with the 1926 opening date:
PORTLAND-March 18-The Broadway Theater at Stark and Broadway, which was built for the Orpheum management and which is Portland’s largest theater, with a seating capacity of 2000, has been sold by Jensen and Von Herberg, owners of the Columbia Theater.
The date for its reopening as a motion picture house under the management of Jensen and Von Herberg will be determined in the near future and it is probable that the name of the house will be continued.
Jensen and Von Herberg are now operating moving picture theaters in Portland, Seattle and Butte, where they recently completed a new building at the cost of $250,000.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article dated June 16, 1930:
RIVERSIDE, June 15-Saving them the disgrace of terms in San Quentin by granting probation, Superior Judge Morton yesterday refused to turn loose without punishment two of the three boys who staged the bold Golden State Theater safe robbery, and sentenced them to serve terms of six months at the junior division of the county prison camp in the San Jacinto mountains.
The three boys gained entrance to the Seventh Street theater building through a balcony door, wheeled the safe to a side fire exit and onto a platform. They were frightened away by a door opening in a nearby restaurant, but returned forty five minutes later, toppled the safe into a car they had stolen, and drove away.
The safe was left in the car on a lonely West Riverside quarry road. There it was discovered about eight hours later by officials of the theater who started out in search of the strong box and became suspicious upon seeing the three boys returning from West Riverside.
Fearing they were suspected, the three fled to Arizona. The third youth got off the freight train to get a drink and was left behind. Pricking consciences sent the other two back to their homes.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the LA Times dated 3/28/44:
Pausing frequently to regain her self-control, Mrs. Hazel Lorette yesterday testified before a coroner’s jury to facts that led to the fatal shooting of her husband, James Lorette, 44, as he attempted to prevent the burglary of a theater last Friday.
Her eyes filling with tears, Mrs. Lorette recounted how she and her husband were awakened by the sounds of breaking glass in the theater below their apartment at 8609 Compton Avenue. “My husband got a .25-caliber automatic from a living room drawer and then went to investigate. I saw him walk down the street and then cry out "Come out with your hands up'. A voice answered, ‘All right, we’re coming’, then I heard two shots. I saw my husband stagger and fall to the ground, then I heard two more shots”.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article dated April 6, 1949:
District Attorney Simpson yesterday conducted a reverse showup in an attempt to clear the strange Marcal robbery, for which one man has been convicted and a second man is now claiming credit.
Six stenographers from Simpson’s staff were in the showup with Wilda Bieber, 19, former cashier of the theater, while the newly confessed bandit, Charles P. McGranahan, ex-sailor, vainly attempted to point her out as his victim.
Miss Bieber, who is now a ballet dancer, recently gave testimony before Judge Clement Nye which resulted in the conviction of Calvin Fowler, 29, bartender. Fowler was sentencec to serve from five years to life in San Quentin for the robbery, which occurred on January 15, 1948.
McGranahan was arrested in Glendale on March 17 and according to Glendale police has confessed to five holdups. He was placed in teh same County Jail cell with Fowler, and on learning from the latter that Fowler had been convicted of the Marcal Theater holdup, immediately “confessed” to that robbery.
After the showup, Deputy District Attorney S. Ernest Roll said he and the other officers are convinced that McGranahan is merely attempting to take the blame to save Flower a trip to prison. Miss Bieber’s only comment was, “It was Fowler, all right. McGranahan looks like a mere child”. Roll said further investigation will be conducted.
Here are excerpts from an LA Times article dated 6/23/52:
Crime careers of two Arizona men came to a quick end early yesterday when the pair ran a boulevard stop at a dizzy speed. Shortly after they had been halted by deputy sheriffs at Temple City for the traffic violation, one of the pair admitted that he had robbed an Arcadia drive-in theater shortly before and had been involved in a highway accident and chase in which a shot was fired at a man and woman.
The man confessed to the theater robbery and chase, but told investigators that he had been drunk and was asleep in the car when the robbery and chase took place. The theater held up was the Edwards Drive-in, Peck Road and Live Oak Avenue, Arcadia. Miss Wananda M. Smith, cashier, reported that she was entering the receipts into a record book when a bandit entered her enclosure armed with a pistol. He took the currency worth about $135, and hit her on the back before leaving. He also pulled out the telephones.
IMPA is the International Motion Picture Almanac. It lists drive-ins by year under location, owner and car capacity. You might be able to find one on eBay or alibris.com.
Joe Vogel, there was a Strand Theater in the 4400 block of South Broadway some years ago. That may be a candidate for my 8/12/07 photo, although the theater would have to had lasted until the 1990s. I’ll keep looking.
Two men and a girl were taken into custody by police yesterday following the robbery of a theater at 1122 N. Western, Wednesday night. According to Detective Russell Smith, a 6-foot bandit held up Miss Dorothy Kemp, cashier, and escaped in a car driven by a girl.
Bob Calvert, 20, usher, chased the bandit car to Santa Monica Boulevard and Normandie Avenue, where the bandit assertedly threatened him with a gun. The bandit then fled from the automobile.
A short time later, police arrested Miss Verna Barber, 21, in a gas station at 3426 Beverly Boulevard. She was taken to the Central Robbery Bureau and questioned. From information supplied by the girl, police took Fred Freeman, 30, into custody at 1100 E. 68th Street. Freeman confessed to robbing the theater and also admitted holding up three other theaters during the last few weeks.
Freeman then implicated Jack Greenwell, 31, who was taken into custody at 30th Street and Western Avenue. Greenwell denied any part in the holdups.
Police blame sneak thieves for the the theft of a money sack containing $100 in currency from a safe in the office of Bard’s Hollywood Theater at Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. The theft was reported yesterday by a theater employee who said the thief entered the place while the attendants were out for a moment.
A pedestrial bandit yesterday held up Maurice Sherman, assistant manager of the Four Star Theater, 5112 Wilshire Boulevard, as he was walking to a nearby bank, and robbed him of $90. Sherman said the bandit fled south on Sycamore Avenue after warning him to continue walking east on Wilshire Boulevard.
Ed, any recollection or information on an Art Cinema in Pittsburgh? It was mentioned in this July 1951 newspaper article:
http://tinyurl.com/5w49j6
Here is an October 10, 1967 article about the opening from the Daily Collegian:
http://tinyurl.com/6nfrco
Opened as a twin on June 22, 1969, according to the LA Times. Here is part of an article on that date:
Southern California’s first Cinema I & II, a $1 million dual theater complex designed to meet adult and general family entertainment needs, just opened at the Montclair Plaza shopping center. This is the forerunner of 40 proposed Southland Cinema I & II theaters, according to Arthur Silber, West Coast manager for General Cinema, Inc.
Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta, Los Angeles and San Francisco architectural firm, designed the 1,500 seat structure for owners Montclair Associates and lessee General Cinema.
Finally I get to talk about the Phillies while staying on topic. Go Phils.
COME TO THE OFFICIAL 2008 WORLD SERIES FILM THEATRICAL PREMIERE
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Relive the magic of the Phillies bringing the World Series Championship back to Philadelphia!
Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Terrence Howard
Screening at Five Theater Locations
Red Carpet Event features World Series Trophy at Bridge Cinema Delux in Philadelphia.
Tickets Available Now to the Official 2008 World Series Film Premiere at Theaters Near You
Film Screening: Monday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m. (all theaters)
Red Carpet Event at Bridge Cinema Delux in Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA
2008 World Series DVD.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the Bradford (PA) Era dated 3/11/46:
Cairo (AP)– A woman was killed and 30 persons were injured when a time bomb exploded last night |in the Miami Movie Theater in downtown Cairo. The explosion occurred during the playing of the Egyptian national anthem and threw the audience into a panic. Crowds massed around the theater as the injured, including some British soldiers, were carried out.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the New Castle (PA) News, dated 6/11/56:
CHICAGO (UP) â€" The nationwide search for the shotgun killer of three persons set off a near riot in a jammed movie theater Sunday night. About 3,000 persons jammed the street outside the Granada Theater on the North Side when they heard that police had trapped killer Lawrence Neumann inside. Two women fainted in the crush. The crowd got out of control and 15 squads of police already on the scene had to radio for reinforcements. The police were waiting their chance to nab a member of the audience who matched Neumann’s description. But when they caught up with him, it turned out the man was not Neumann.
Here is an article from the Oelwein Daily Register dated 3/2/70:
WEST UNION â€" “How many, please?” “How much is the popcorn?” “Where’s the bathroom?” It has been a long time since those questions were posed in West Union, 3 ½ years to be exact, but they are being asked here, now. The Avalon Theater has re-opened.
At Sunday’s grand opening, a good crowd composed largely of young people, attended the premier showing of Elvis Presley’s new movie “Change of Habit”. For West Union citizens accustomed to watching television at home each night or journeying out of town to see a movie, the Avalon Theater offers another choice.
A combined investment by the city and theater manager Duane Vorwald of $40,000 was needed to re-open the Avalon. The money was well-spent. Located on Vine Street, only the outside remains to be remodeled. Inside everything is new. Chandeliers hang overhead in the lobby. The walls are paneled. Carpeting on the floor and a concession stand of glittering metal and polished glass give the 250-seat movie house a touch of elegance. Sunday, there were flowers everywhere.
The Avalon will have movies every night of the week except Wednesdays. If the movie is good enough, it will run Wednesdays too. It all depends on the moviegoers.
For Vorwald, the theater business is a second job. He’s also a salesman. Thus, operating theaters in Elkader and West Union requires the assistance of his family. Wife Meralda sells tickets, keeps the books and cleans up. Daughter Nancy works behind the concession stands. Son Kevin will become the full-time manager of the Avalon.
It’s a good looking place. The scats are comfortable, the schedule of upcoming movies impressive, and the popcorn is good, too. Call the Avalon Theater a nice place to visit and if you do, the West
Union Chamber of Commerce will call their city a nice place to live. Quite a combination for northeast Iowa.
Here is an article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette dated 12/12/56:
Roy Metcalfe, operator of the Times theater, has leased the Palace theater from the Palace Theater Company, it was announced Saturday. He takes over the theater immediately, having acquired it on a long-term lease. He will also continue to operate the Times.
The Palace is a return-movie theater. The Times presents both first-run and return films. The Palace building continues to be the property of the heirs of A. J. Diebold and Mike Ford, the theater’s founders. The families have operated the theater almost continuously. William J. McGuire has managed it for many years. The Diebold-Ford Interests also own the State theater building in Cedar Rapids, which is leased by Tri-States theaters.
Metcalfe has been in show business for 26 years and in Cedar Rapids for 10 years. His wife assists him in theater operation. Metcalfe said Saturday that he plans to remodel the Palace.
The LA Times reported on September 17, 1908 that the La Petite Theater on Third Street had been sold by Gatty Jones to A.P. Tugwell.
OK. It also should have said sold to Jensen et al, not by.
This LA Times article is dated 3/19/17, which conflicts with the 1926 opening date:
PORTLAND-March 18-The Broadway Theater at Stark and Broadway, which was built for the Orpheum management and which is Portland’s largest theater, with a seating capacity of 2000, has been sold by Jensen and Von Herberg, owners of the Columbia Theater.
The date for its reopening as a motion picture house under the management of Jensen and Von Herberg will be determined in the near future and it is probable that the name of the house will be continued.
Jensen and Von Herberg are now operating moving picture theaters in Portland, Seattle and Butte, where they recently completed a new building at the cost of $250,000.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article dated June 16, 1930:
RIVERSIDE, June 15-Saving them the disgrace of terms in San Quentin by granting probation, Superior Judge Morton yesterday refused to turn loose without punishment two of the three boys who staged the bold Golden State Theater safe robbery, and sentenced them to serve terms of six months at the junior division of the county prison camp in the San Jacinto mountains.
The three boys gained entrance to the Seventh Street theater building through a balcony door, wheeled the safe to a side fire exit and onto a platform. They were frightened away by a door opening in a nearby restaurant, but returned forty five minutes later, toppled the safe into a car they had stolen, and drove away.
The safe was left in the car on a lonely West Riverside quarry road. There it was discovered about eight hours later by officials of the theater who started out in search of the strong box and became suspicious upon seeing the three boys returning from West Riverside.
Fearing they were suspected, the three fled to Arizona. The third youth got off the freight train to get a drink and was left behind. Pricking consciences sent the other two back to their homes.
Here is an excerpt from an article in the LA Times dated 3/28/44:
Pausing frequently to regain her self-control, Mrs. Hazel Lorette yesterday testified before a coroner’s jury to facts that led to the fatal shooting of her husband, James Lorette, 44, as he attempted to prevent the burglary of a theater last Friday.
Her eyes filling with tears, Mrs. Lorette recounted how she and her husband were awakened by the sounds of breaking glass in the theater below their apartment at 8609 Compton Avenue. “My husband got a .25-caliber automatic from a living room drawer and then went to investigate. I saw him walk down the street and then cry out "Come out with your hands up'. A voice answered, ‘All right, we’re coming’, then I heard two shots. I saw my husband stagger and fall to the ground, then I heard two more shots”.
Here is an excerpt from an LA Times article dated April 6, 1949:
District Attorney Simpson yesterday conducted a reverse showup in an attempt to clear the strange Marcal robbery, for which one man has been convicted and a second man is now claiming credit.
Six stenographers from Simpson’s staff were in the showup with Wilda Bieber, 19, former cashier of the theater, while the newly confessed bandit, Charles P. McGranahan, ex-sailor, vainly attempted to point her out as his victim.
Miss Bieber, who is now a ballet dancer, recently gave testimony before Judge Clement Nye which resulted in the conviction of Calvin Fowler, 29, bartender. Fowler was sentencec to serve from five years to life in San Quentin for the robbery, which occurred on January 15, 1948.
McGranahan was arrested in Glendale on March 17 and according to Glendale police has confessed to five holdups. He was placed in teh same County Jail cell with Fowler, and on learning from the latter that Fowler had been convicted of the Marcal Theater holdup, immediately “confessed” to that robbery.
After the showup, Deputy District Attorney S. Ernest Roll said he and the other officers are convinced that McGranahan is merely attempting to take the blame to save Flower a trip to prison. Miss Bieber’s only comment was, “It was Fowler, all right. McGranahan looks like a mere child”. Roll said further investigation will be conducted.
Here are excerpts from an LA Times article dated 6/23/52:
Crime careers of two Arizona men came to a quick end early yesterday when the pair ran a boulevard stop at a dizzy speed. Shortly after they had been halted by deputy sheriffs at Temple City for the traffic violation, one of the pair admitted that he had robbed an Arcadia drive-in theater shortly before and had been involved in a highway accident and chase in which a shot was fired at a man and woman.
The man confessed to the theater robbery and chase, but told investigators that he had been drunk and was asleep in the car when the robbery and chase took place. The theater held up was the Edwards Drive-in, Peck Road and Live Oak Avenue, Arcadia. Miss Wananda M. Smith, cashier, reported that she was entering the receipts into a record book when a bandit entered her enclosure armed with a pistol. He took the currency worth about $135, and hit her on the back before leaving. He also pulled out the telephones.
The Lincoln was part of the Famous Players chain in 1963.
At present the Plaza shows movies and is also used for live performances.
http://tinyurl.com/6ahgpy
The theater is listed at 1442 N. Carey in this archival item:
http://tinyurl.com/5un52a
In 1963 the Van Croix was part of Kent Theaters, headquartered in Vero Beach. President was Fred Kent.
IMPA is the International Motion Picture Almanac. It lists drive-ins by year under location, owner and car capacity. You might be able to find one on eBay or alibris.com.
Joe Vogel, there was a Strand Theater in the 4400 block of South Broadway some years ago. That may be a candidate for my 8/12/07 photo, although the theater would have to had lasted until the 1990s. I’ll keep looking.
Here is an LA Times story dated 2/14/41:
Two men and a girl were taken into custody by police yesterday following the robbery of a theater at 1122 N. Western, Wednesday night. According to Detective Russell Smith, a 6-foot bandit held up Miss Dorothy Kemp, cashier, and escaped in a car driven by a girl.
Bob Calvert, 20, usher, chased the bandit car to Santa Monica Boulevard and Normandie Avenue, where the bandit assertedly threatened him with a gun. The bandit then fled from the automobile.
A short time later, police arrested Miss Verna Barber, 21, in a gas station at 3426 Beverly Boulevard. She was taken to the Central Robbery Bureau and questioned. From information supplied by the girl, police took Fred Freeman, 30, into custody at 1100 E. 68th Street. Freeman confessed to robbing the theater and also admitted holding up three other theaters during the last few weeks.
Freeman then implicated Jack Greenwell, 31, who was taken into custody at 30th Street and Western Avenue. Greenwell denied any part in the holdups.
From the LA Times, 12/3/24:
Police blame sneak thieves for the the theft of a money sack containing $100 in currency from a safe in the office of Bard’s Hollywood Theater at Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. The theft was reported yesterday by a theater employee who said the thief entered the place while the attendants were out for a moment.
Small item from the NYT dated 10/12/63:
A movie projectionist was shot and robbed yesterday in the projection booth of Roosevelt Theater, Seventh Avenue, the police reported today.
From the LA Times, June 1, 1939:
A pedestrial bandit yesterday held up Maurice Sherman, assistant manager of the Four Star Theater, 5112 Wilshire Boulevard, as he was walking to a nearby bank, and robbed him of $90. Sherman said the bandit fled south on Sycamore Avenue after warning him to continue walking east on Wilshire Boulevard.