The new-build Coronado Twin Theatre opened on March 6, 1985 with “The Karate Kid” and “Falling in Love” for Warren Theatres Circuit. It replaced the original Coronado which burned in early August 1984. The venue closed with regular films as the Coronado Twin Cinema on January 3, 1994 with “Addams Family Values” as its only feature and was used for sporadic events thereafter.
Valeria Allen and her son, James Edgar Allen, announced the Coronado Theatre project in 1940. Plans by architect O.T. Thurman of El Paso were approved in 1942. The building started and appears to have been stopped due to Wartime shortages. It finally opened on February 3, 1948 with “ Romance of Rosy Ridge.”
The Allens sold the theater in July of 1981 to Warren Theatres Circuit. The venue burned down on August 2, 1984 making its last show, “Purple Hearts” on July 31, 1984. The new-build Coronado Twin Theatre opened on March 8, 1985.
The Star Theatre opened in 1912. It became the Palace Theatre on February 22, 1930 when it was wired for sound beginning with the film, “Broadway.” It was. closed after being gutted by a June 20, 1944 fire before reopening in August.
When James Edgar Allen and his mother, Valeria, opened the Chief Drive-In along with Interstate Theatres Enterprises (ITE) on April 17, 1954, the Palace was downgraded to weekend operation showing a mix of Spanish and English language films. The Palace closed on October 5, 1957 with Romeo and Juliet. The neighboring Western Auto store expanded into the space in 1985.
Griffith Amusement and Morris Robertson teamed up for an August 3, 1937 grand opening as the White Sands Theater (it may have had a late July soft launch). Commonwealth Theatres closed July 11, 1985 as the Sands Theatre with “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” Three weeks later, they would then close the Sierra Theatre.
The original Star Theatre was opened by Katherine Lambert and Ruby Golden in the Kepley Building on November 9, 1907. The Star faded in May of 1919. The Star Theatre was replaced at Jefferson and Banker by Hoffman & Woidt Grocery in 1919.
November 22, 1927 grand opening ad in photos. Final showing March 30, 1956 - likely the end of a 30-year leasing agreement - with “The Vanishing American” and “Headline Hunters.”
The Laskin-Seigel Circuit headed by Elmer R. Laskin upgraded the Seaside Park in the 1920s creating the Roland Court Theatre as part of the Spanish Mission retail and theatrical space, the Royal Court Building at 17th Street just off of Atlantic Avenue. Architects Rudolph, Cooke & Van Leeuwen created four retail spaces, office space and the theater opening June 1, 1926. “Court” was dropped by the venue within a year becoming the Roland Theatre which was equipped for sound to remain viable.
William Crockett took on the venue then building the Bayne Theatre in 1932. David Pender joined Crockett to form the Crockett-Pender Theatre Circuit, later Crockett & Associates. He would add the Beach Theatre in 1947 to his portfolio.
The Roland, itself, however, was undersized and scuffled during the Depression era closing twice and refurbished twice on its way to a second-run discount venue. It survived a 20-year leasing period closing in the 1940s - apparently after the August 23, 1947 screenings of “Spoilers of the North” and “Vigilantes of Boomtown. Thereafter, the venue was offered for lease. It became a live event space in 1950 for one season of the Beach Little Theatre before they left for a larger space. In 1963, that organization returned to the Roland Theatre one last time under the moniker of the Courtyard Playhouse. A shot just prior to demolition shows that the Royal Court Building looking almost identical to when it was built 80+ years earlier.
Bill Crockett & Associates launched the Beach Theatre with an invitational screening of “The Yearling” on July 1, 1947 followed by a general public “Formal Opening” the next day. Virginia Beach Mayor Warfield Leeke addressed the crowd impressed by the 1,142 seat auditorium. Architect Vernon A. Moore was trying to thread the needle between Colonial architecture and a more conventional streamline moderne approach landing somewhere in the middle. Historical murals of Old Dominion were on each wall of the post-War movie house. A definite Colonial approach was found in the heavily decorated lobby and lounge areas.
In 1954, the auditorium was equipped with widescreen projection to present CinemaScope titles. In the refresh, a cleaner visual style favored in that era replaced some of the original flourishes and cleaned out the lobby area. The Beach Theatre folded its umbrella reaching the end of a 35-year leasing agreement in January of 1982 as operated by final owner, Plitt Southern Theatres.
After a stint as a live theatre, the venue got big crowds as a haunted house tourist attraction. Operating from 1986 to September 2, 2007, the Haunted Fun House received some 15,000 patrons annually… until city inspectors deemed the walls of the theatre unsafe. The former auditorium and the lobby were completely gutted in favor of an indoor miniature golf attraction. The theater became virtually unrecognizable by 2008. Pictures of its past and present, along with its Grand Opening ad are in the photos section.
Closed permanently on January 30, 2025 as one of the last true multiplexes operating on a sub-run, discount dollar house policy citing end of a 20-year leasing agreement. How hard was it to get a “second run” theatrical film in 2025? They closed with Despicable Me 4 (from July 3, 2024), Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (September 2, 2024), Wild Robot (September 27, 2024), Venom: The Last Dance (October 25, 2024), and the only recent title of the lot, Kraven, the Hunter (December 13, 2024). We salute you, Picture Show at Alamonte Springs.
The opening of the cinema claimed 2,200 seats, 2 auditoriums with 70mm projection capability (highly doubtful), and 8 THX auditoriums (lol). When Rand was raided and put out of business, inflated theater capabilities was among many of the Circuit’s transgressions. This buildout appears to be about par.
Rand’s Lewisville location was reportedly to be followed closely by new operations in Grapevine (which did open), the Bachman Lake location in Dallas (never completed), Bridge Creek in Austin (did open), Governor’s Square in Clarksville, TN (only got half of the building completed but opened with 5 screens), and Round Rock. This location made it more than a year before tax evasion took place. Two months later, the entire home office and each cinema had auctions to raise whatever funds could be gotten from the Rand locations.
The original Cosy Theatre was opened by E.L. Cooper in December of 1910 with films and 200 chairs in the Temple Building. According to the local newspaper, Dr. I.U. Temple created the space for the theater in the building by taking an existing one-story, single-purpose building and adding a floor to make it a multipurpose building in 1910; the 1906 opening date above is in error. Cooper took the south half of the building to create the nickelodeon. His neighbor was the Walsh Grocery. Cooper had other nickelodeons in Oregon including Portland and Woodburn.
Downey and Rhodes took on the Cosy and expanded its footprint to contain an uncozy 600 seats, changing the front and changing the venue’s name to the Temple Theatre on September 23, 1915. Cooper then took on the Orpheum un-retiring the Cosy nameplate in April of 1916 by renaming it as the Cosy on April 21, 1916.
Guy G. Matlock got a monopoly in local theaters by taking over the Cosy and having the Pastime, Alta, and the Temple which became the Arcade on April 21, 1917. The Cosy closed briefly during the influenza pandemic of 1918 along with all theaters locally. The Cosy then closed permanently on March 6, 1919 with Olive Thomas in “Indiscreet Corinne.” The theater’s contents went to a theater in Athena and the building was converted for retail. Greulich & Matlock’s Pendleton Amusements would open the Rivoli two years later ending the remaining late-era nickelodeon venues in town.
And the first film theater in town was the Frazer Theater (aka Frazer’s Theater) which was a live house that put on its first film show on October 31, 1905 before converting to a full-time picture show in 1906. The existing Star Theatre moved from live acts to film with fewer live acts in 1907. The first full-time movie theater that hadn’t converted from a live stage was the Dime Theater opening on October 15, 1907 followed by the longer-lasting Matlock’s Pastime Theater launching March 22, 1908.
Spiess Theatres opened The Cinema on November 6, 1981 with “The Watcher in the Woods,” “Paternity,” and “Arthur” along with its arcade, The Video Invasion. A more formal grand opening took place a bit later. On January 10, 1986, Moyer Theatres (aka Tom Moyer Luxury Theatres) took on the venue changing its name from The Cinema to Pendleton Cinemas. After its lease expiry in 2001, Bruce Humphrey’s Destiny Theatres took on the location. It closed on July 2, 2015.
Pendleton Amusement’s Greulich & Matlock opened the Rivoli Theatre to the plans of Sutton & Whitney, architects from Portland. Originally planned as a 1,500 seat road show house that could stage both live events and major films, funding fell short and they landed on the Rivoli, a $110,000, 850-seat movie house at opening on September 10, 1921 with Mary Elden in “The Old Nest.” The operators bought the same 2 manual 7 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ as Sid Grauman did in his L.A. Million Dollar Theater with Henri G. LeBel playing on opening night. The Nifty Nook candy shop in the theatre served as the de facto concession provider.
Under Fox West Coast Theatres, the venue installed sound in September of 1928 to remain viable and widescreen projection in the 1950s to compete against television. Operators closed the venue in February of 1970 for a major refresh entirely gutting the interior of the theater eliminating the balcony and reducing seat count. That theater opened as the New Rivoli Theatre on December 25, 1970 with “Dirty Dingus McGee.” In 1978, the “New” was dropped.
Owner of the United Artists, Marie Hutchens took on the venue selling both the United Artists - which became a church - and, in 1982, the Rivoli to Ferris Elckel who bought it for $65,000 (and $25,000 additional for projection) who reopened it was the Centre Theatre on August 27, 1982 as the Centre Theatre. The theater wasn’t a hit and was twinned becoming the Centre Twin Theatre on May 27, 1983. With folks off to the newer theater, the Centre closed August 25, 1984. It was sold in 1987 for just $28,000.
The venue was purchased in 2010 and donated as a non-profit renovation project in 2011 that has since reopened.
Launched Feb. 7, 1936 with “The Bride Comes Home” and “Let ‘em Have It.“ Harry A. Herzog was the architect of the streamline moderne venue. The theatre was on the rocks closing at the end of lease on November 5, 1981 with “Arthur.”
Fox West Coast Theatres took over the venue - and the Rivoli - from the Matlock’s in 1927 on a 15-year sublease. West Coast took the Alta into the sound era in July 2, 1929 to remain altaviable. Silva Matlock then took back the venues operating to her retirement in 1958
Indeed… and then Cineplex Odeon sublet the Goose Creek Cinemas 6, the Plitt 4 (later San Jacinto 4) and Baytown 6 (San Jacinto 6) plexes to Cineco, an independent from Dallas on July 24, 1996. Cineco then dropped the Goose Creek 6 in 1997 with the lease reverting to Cineplex Odeon - which would soon be purchased by Loews forming Loews Cineplex. That entity decided not to reopen the Goose Creek ending its run at the 15-year opt out of that leasing arrangement. Cineco then dropped the San Jacinto 4 and 6 at the end of January 1999. Loews Cineplex exercised their leasing rights on both of those properties.
Fortunately, there was just enough time to rush the short subjects to safety (unconfirmed). The venue was also known as the Nu Gulf Theater - without the hyphen. And, in case it comes up, there had been a plain old, Gulf Theatre, in town as well.
Capacity 1,436 - 2x 258 and 4x 230 auditoria. Cinemark took on the venue on August 26, 1983. Plitt Theatres took on the - then - Cinemark locations becoming the Goose Creek Cinemas 6 on January 1, 1984.
The Alamo Theater was opened August 29, 1937 with “God’s Country and the Woman” supported by the Disney Silly Symphony, “Woodland Café,” the Pete Smith comedy, “Ski Skill” and the Robert Benchley short, “Romance of Digestion.”
The Alamo had replaced the Nu-Gulf Theatre that had blown up a year earlier. Both were located in the Tri-Cities town of Pelly which was folded - along with the other two Tri-Cities of Baytown and Goose Creek - into the singular, Baytown, in 1948. A year later, the Alamo Theatre of Baytown closed on October 2, 1949.
The new-build Coronado Twin Theatre opened on March 6, 1985 with “The Karate Kid” and “Falling in Love” for Warren Theatres Circuit. It replaced the original Coronado which burned in early August 1984. The venue closed with regular films as the Coronado Twin Cinema on January 3, 1994 with “Addams Family Values” as its only feature and was used for sporadic events thereafter.
Valeria Allen and her son, James Edgar Allen, announced the Coronado Theatre project in 1940. Plans by architect O.T. Thurman of El Paso were approved in 1942. The building started and appears to have been stopped due to Wartime shortages. It finally opened on February 3, 1948 with “ Romance of Rosy Ridge.”
The Allens sold the theater in July of 1981 to Warren Theatres Circuit. The venue burned down on August 2, 1984 making its last show, “Purple Hearts” on July 31, 1984. The new-build Coronado Twin Theatre opened on March 8, 1985.
The Star Theatre opened in 1912. It became the Palace Theatre on February 22, 1930 when it was wired for sound beginning with the film, “Broadway.” It was. closed after being gutted by a June 20, 1944 fire before reopening in August.
When James Edgar Allen and his mother, Valeria, opened the Chief Drive-In along with Interstate Theatres Enterprises (ITE) on April 17, 1954, the Palace was downgraded to weekend operation showing a mix of Spanish and English language films. The Palace closed on October 5, 1957 with Romeo and Juliet. The neighboring Western Auto store expanded into the space in 1985.
James Edgar Allen and his mother, Valeria, opened the Chief along with Interstate Theatres Enterprises (ITE) on April 17, 1954.
Griffith Amusement and Morris Robertson teamed up for an August 3, 1937 grand opening as the White Sands Theater (it may have had a late July soft launch). Commonwealth Theatres closed July 11, 1985 as the Sands Theatre with “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” Three weeks later, they would then close the Sierra Theatre.
May 3, 1956 grand opening with “The Lieutenant Wore Skirts”
Commonwealth Amusement closed here with for films with “E.T.” on August 6, 1985.
The original Star Theatre was opened by Katherine Lambert and Ruby Golden in the Kepley Building on November 9, 1907. The Star faded in May of 1919. The Star Theatre was replaced at Jefferson and Banker by Hoffman & Woidt Grocery in 1919.
November 22, 1927 grand opening ad in photos. Final showing March 30, 1956 - likely the end of a 30-year leasing agreement - with “The Vanishing American” and “Headline Hunters.”
The Laskin-Seigel Circuit headed by Elmer R. Laskin upgraded the Seaside Park in the 1920s creating the Roland Court Theatre as part of the Spanish Mission retail and theatrical space, the Royal Court Building at 17th Street just off of Atlantic Avenue. Architects Rudolph, Cooke & Van Leeuwen created four retail spaces, office space and the theater opening June 1, 1926. “Court” was dropped by the venue within a year becoming the Roland Theatre which was equipped for sound to remain viable.
William Crockett took on the venue then building the Bayne Theatre in 1932. David Pender joined Crockett to form the Crockett-Pender Theatre Circuit, later Crockett & Associates. He would add the Beach Theatre in 1947 to his portfolio.
The Roland, itself, however, was undersized and scuffled during the Depression era closing twice and refurbished twice on its way to a second-run discount venue. It survived a 20-year leasing period closing in the 1940s - apparently after the August 23, 1947 screenings of “Spoilers of the North” and “Vigilantes of Boomtown. Thereafter, the venue was offered for lease. It became a live event space in 1950 for one season of the Beach Little Theatre before they left for a larger space. In 1963, that organization returned to the Roland Theatre one last time under the moniker of the Courtyard Playhouse. A shot just prior to demolition shows that the Royal Court Building looking almost identical to when it was built 80+ years earlier.
Bill Crockett & Associates launched the Beach Theatre with an invitational screening of “The Yearling” on July 1, 1947 followed by a general public “Formal Opening” the next day. Virginia Beach Mayor Warfield Leeke addressed the crowd impressed by the 1,142 seat auditorium. Architect Vernon A. Moore was trying to thread the needle between Colonial architecture and a more conventional streamline moderne approach landing somewhere in the middle. Historical murals of Old Dominion were on each wall of the post-War movie house. A definite Colonial approach was found in the heavily decorated lobby and lounge areas.
In 1954, the auditorium was equipped with widescreen projection to present CinemaScope titles. In the refresh, a cleaner visual style favored in that era replaced some of the original flourishes and cleaned out the lobby area. The Beach Theatre folded its umbrella reaching the end of a 35-year leasing agreement in January of 1982 as operated by final owner, Plitt Southern Theatres.
After a stint as a live theatre, the venue got big crowds as a haunted house tourist attraction. Operating from 1986 to September 2, 2007, the Haunted Fun House received some 15,000 patrons annually… until city inspectors deemed the walls of the theatre unsafe. The former auditorium and the lobby were completely gutted in favor of an indoor miniature golf attraction. The theater became virtually unrecognizable by 2008. Pictures of its past and present, along with its Grand Opening ad are in the photos section.
Closed permanently on January 30, 2025 as one of the last true multiplexes operating on a sub-run, discount dollar house policy citing end of a 20-year leasing agreement. How hard was it to get a “second run” theatrical film in 2025? They closed with Despicable Me 4 (from July 3, 2024), Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (September 2, 2024), Wild Robot (September 27, 2024), Venom: The Last Dance (October 25, 2024), and the only recent title of the lot, Kraven, the Hunter (December 13, 2024). We salute you, Picture Show at Alamonte Springs.
The opening of the cinema claimed 2,200 seats, 2 auditoriums with 70mm projection capability (highly doubtful), and 8 THX auditoriums (lol). When Rand was raided and put out of business, inflated theater capabilities was among many of the Circuit’s transgressions. This buildout appears to be about par.
Rand’s Lewisville location was reportedly to be followed closely by new operations in Grapevine (which did open), the Bachman Lake location in Dallas (never completed), Bridge Creek in Austin (did open), Governor’s Square in Clarksville, TN (only got half of the building completed but opened with 5 screens), and Round Rock. This location made it more than a year before tax evasion took place. Two months later, the entire home office and each cinema had auctions to raise whatever funds could be gotten from the Rand locations.
Renovation scrapped. Permanently closed.
The original Cosy Theatre was opened by E.L. Cooper in December of 1910 with films and 200 chairs in the Temple Building. According to the local newspaper, Dr. I.U. Temple created the space for the theater in the building by taking an existing one-story, single-purpose building and adding a floor to make it a multipurpose building in 1910; the 1906 opening date above is in error. Cooper took the south half of the building to create the nickelodeon. His neighbor was the Walsh Grocery. Cooper had other nickelodeons in Oregon including Portland and Woodburn.
Downey and Rhodes took on the Cosy and expanded its footprint to contain an uncozy 600 seats, changing the front and changing the venue’s name to the Temple Theatre on September 23, 1915. Cooper then took on the Orpheum un-retiring the Cosy nameplate in April of 1916 by renaming it as the Cosy on April 21, 1916.
Guy G. Matlock got a monopoly in local theaters by taking over the Cosy and having the Pastime, Alta, and the Temple which became the Arcade on April 21, 1917. The Cosy closed briefly during the influenza pandemic of 1918 along with all theaters locally. The Cosy then closed permanently on March 6, 1919 with Olive Thomas in “Indiscreet Corinne.” The theater’s contents went to a theater in Athena and the building was converted for retail. Greulich & Matlock’s Pendleton Amusements would open the Rivoli two years later ending the remaining late-era nickelodeon venues in town.
And the first film theater in town was the Frazer Theater (aka Frazer’s Theater) which was a live house that put on its first film show on October 31, 1905 before converting to a full-time picture show in 1906. The existing Star Theatre moved from live acts to film with fewer live acts in 1907. The first full-time movie theater that hadn’t converted from a live stage was the Dime Theater opening on October 15, 1907 followed by the longer-lasting Matlock’s Pastime Theater launching March 22, 1908.
Spiess Theatres opened The Cinema on November 6, 1981 with “The Watcher in the Woods,” “Paternity,” and “Arthur” along with its arcade, The Video Invasion. A more formal grand opening took place a bit later. On January 10, 1986, Moyer Theatres (aka Tom Moyer Luxury Theatres) took on the venue changing its name from The Cinema to Pendleton Cinemas. After its lease expiry in 2001, Bruce Humphrey’s Destiny Theatres took on the location. It closed on July 2, 2015.
Pendleton Amusement’s Greulich & Matlock opened the Rivoli Theatre to the plans of Sutton & Whitney, architects from Portland. Originally planned as a 1,500 seat road show house that could stage both live events and major films, funding fell short and they landed on the Rivoli, a $110,000, 850-seat movie house at opening on September 10, 1921 with Mary Elden in “The Old Nest.” The operators bought the same 2 manual 7 rank Wurlitzer pipe organ as Sid Grauman did in his L.A. Million Dollar Theater with Henri G. LeBel playing on opening night. The Nifty Nook candy shop in the theatre served as the de facto concession provider.
Under Fox West Coast Theatres, the venue installed sound in September of 1928 to remain viable and widescreen projection in the 1950s to compete against television. Operators closed the venue in February of 1970 for a major refresh entirely gutting the interior of the theater eliminating the balcony and reducing seat count. That theater opened as the New Rivoli Theatre on December 25, 1970 with “Dirty Dingus McGee.” In 1978, the “New” was dropped.
Owner of the United Artists, Marie Hutchens took on the venue selling both the United Artists - which became a church - and, in 1982, the Rivoli to Ferris Elckel who bought it for $65,000 (and $25,000 additional for projection) who reopened it was the Centre Theatre on August 27, 1982 as the Centre Theatre. The theater wasn’t a hit and was twinned becoming the Centre Twin Theatre on May 27, 1983. With folks off to the newer theater, the Centre closed August 25, 1984. It was sold in 1987 for just $28,000.
The venue was purchased in 2010 and donated as a non-profit renovation project in 2011 that has since reopened.
Launched Feb. 7, 1936 with “The Bride Comes Home” and “Let ‘em Have It.“ Harry A. Herzog was the architect of the streamline moderne venue. The theatre was on the rocks closing at the end of lease on November 5, 1981 with “Arthur.”
Fox West Coast Theatres took over the venue - and the Rivoli - from the Matlock’s in 1927 on a 15-year sublease. West Coast took the Alta into the sound era in July 2, 1929 to remain altaviable. Silva Matlock then took back the venues operating to her retirement in 1958
Indeed… and then Cineplex Odeon sublet the Goose Creek Cinemas 6, the Plitt 4 (later San Jacinto 4) and Baytown 6 (San Jacinto 6) plexes to Cineco, an independent from Dallas on July 24, 1996. Cineco then dropped the Goose Creek 6 in 1997 with the lease reverting to Cineplex Odeon - which would soon be purchased by Loews forming Loews Cineplex. That entity decided not to reopen the Goose Creek ending its run at the 15-year opt out of that leasing arrangement. Cineco then dropped the San Jacinto 4 and 6 at the end of January 1999. Loews Cineplex exercised their leasing rights on both of those properties.
The Laport Theatre was still operating in the 1980s showing Spanish language films. It’s correct address is 430 W. Main Street.
Fortunately, there was just enough time to rush the short subjects to safety (unconfirmed). The venue was also known as the Nu Gulf Theater - without the hyphen. And, in case it comes up, there had been a plain old, Gulf Theatre, in town as well.
Capacity 1,436 - 2x 258 and 4x 230 auditoria. Cinemark took on the venue on August 26, 1983. Plitt Theatres took on the - then - Cinemark locations becoming the Goose Creek Cinemas 6 on January 1, 1984.
The Alamo Theater was opened August 29, 1937 with “God’s Country and the Woman” supported by the Disney Silly Symphony, “Woodland Café,” the Pete Smith comedy, “Ski Skill” and the Robert Benchley short, “Romance of Digestion.”
The Alamo had replaced the Nu-Gulf Theatre that had blown up a year earlier. Both were located in the Tri-Cities town of Pelly which was folded - along with the other two Tri-Cities of Baytown and Goose Creek - into the singular, Baytown, in 1948. A year later, the Alamo Theatre of Baytown closed on October 2, 1949.
The Bay Theatre launched on June 4, 1942 with Gene Tierney in “Rings on Her Finger”