This dear old thing is still there……and has toilet-seats too! In Newcastle’s re birth about to happen, it is actually now in a good spot to reinvent itself because with the CBD is so dead, it is the fringe – where the Regent is – and the suburbs, where the action and interest will be.
It is a real silent movie theatre and deserves some entrepreneurial spirit.
this lovely 20s building would be very well appreciated today as a 4 screen boutique complex……one (with $) would extend the balcony to the back wall for a big main 500 cinema, and after removing the stalls floor and digging it out a bit, can easily make 3 x 120 seaters and a foyer with new facilities…..it’s just so easy!……..
One of the truly momentus occasions in the Regent’s glamorous history has happened this week. The owner, the fabulous and truly loved Rowena Millgrove has passed away. She died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Sunday Jan 11th and was celebrated at a cathedral service and Regent wake on Thursday Jan 15……..all in a style befitting Wollongong’s favourite ‘Aunty Mame’. Consumer drones like Angelique listed here might moan at The Regent not suiting mall tastes, but if any person bothered to visit The Regent in the past few years and say hello to the glorious Rowena (pronounced RONA) they would find one of the truly great women of any age thre, happy and shining, greeting the crowd and showcasing her beloved Regent. In recent times, do-gooders and enthusiastic amateurs have descended on Rowena’s life like ego-centric bullies insisting on ‘having/saving’ The Regent, but true to her perfect style, Rowena avoided them all and continued on presenting first run films in her 1630 seat mermaids palace: the underwater fantasy that The Regent is…(if consumer drones bother to look and think). I went to the funeral, didn’t meet Angelyque (gee, funny about that), and celebrated the unique and special life of Rowena. I spiritually kissed her goodbye from the upstairs balcony, as I just sat and cried for the passing of someone I truly loved for 30 years. I am heartbroken to know I can never call her again and say hello and see her hilarious charming enthusiasm – and thrill to see ME (!) that always made just going there to see her an unwavering excitement. A delicious stylish honest and real woman, gone from The Regent and gone fron the lives of those like me who thought she was the bestest funniest and most lovely ‘aunt’ they could ever want to have in their lives. Angelyque should only know, but then again people like her just never ever know anything about anything, do they………….
A beautiful bird flew out of our lives last Thursday and I am sadder for it.
The Regent’s future will be decided in February. No doubt Angelyque will be happy the place can be fixed up and placed in better hands for her to bulldoze into and grab a Coke. If it survives. I think Rowena has already planned a suprise for all of us.
PAUL BRENNAN .au
The theatre might be a true wonder but the staff need to go to hospitality school – if they ever went at all. If you visit they will NOT let you in. No matter if you politely point out that you are a visitor and have heard how wonderful the theatre is, and are keen to admire it. They will NOT let you in. If you phone to ask or make an appointment they are NOT interested. They are only interested in you buying a concert ticket, or hiring the venue. But they will NOT let you ‘have a look’. Apparently they have not realised there is a buck to be made from ‘theatre tours’ but maybe they will, and then with cash possible from weekend paid tours they MIGHT realise happy keen visitors will gladly pay to go on a tour of the theatre. But this Palais Management is not that sensible. They are rude and they are stupid. Did I say rude?
However, in this new century of the public’s intolerance of seige minded idiots barricading great venues from the daylight, things might soon change.
Between 1960 and 1968 it ran Greek films as did many other suburban cinemas in Sydney; They were operated by Mr Chris Louis and his family who are a great immigrant success story in Sydney. Pre TV they might have been allowed a quiet night to rent a cinema to show a European film, then, post TV they were offered the freehold for about 10c each. They bought them up and become one of the biggest cinema owner chains in Sydney, saving a dozen or so from the bulldozer. It was because of their film interests that many suburban cinemas remained: the Redfern Lawson, the Rosebery Marina, The Earlwood Chelsea, Enmore Hoyts, Newtown Hub, and with cousins in Melbourne, the same deal. Some remain, some are dilapidated and some, like Enmore are a major showplace. this one was twinned and still is today, Sydney’s major Arthouse venue.
Now operated as some wacky church, it has structural issues and termites. I am not sure what came first and what caused what. The last time I was in there, was 1997 and only the downstairs was used to yell alot about Jesus. The upstairs was unused, in disrepair and had junk everywhere. I need to use the word ‘idiot’ but am not sure where in the above information it fits. A real mess. Also, the CBD of dear old newcastle is about to undergo a massive renovation and I would think that this area of town is a target. If the Royal can be shuttered and kept safely until commonsense and money can be applied, then there is an excellent chance for this perfectly usable building to re birth. BUT the whole street is so abandoned and depressed, it looks like a ghost town. Not to say it can’t all be fixed. Maybe we need some of our wealthy companies and personnes to speak up. After all, it is MONEY that is the answer and they have it. It is called Civic duty and pride. Anyone? .au
January 2004:The Roxy IS being preserrved and now renovated. My understanding as of right this minute is that the main upstairs cinema will be restored as is and used for premieres and events. the 2 stupid concrete box horrors downstairs will be made into a nightclub and a restaurant. The front and building perimiter is being restored and renovated along with all the best aspects of thsi sensational venue. A big thankyou to whoever is the entrepreneur and you can contact me anytime .au
I have the newsreel of the Bob hope visit. I have saved it for 30 years as I found it in the rubbish and screened it at my own cinema on special nights. I saw a films there was when I was 8 like HATARI. It mostly ran Paramount and Allied Artist films in the 50s/60s. All the Elvis and Jerry Lewis pix too. I think the management hated those and really preferred more “Audrey” sophisticated fare.
The PE was all blue and gold and right up till the last days had a theatre organ played by Noreen hennessy. She would lurch forward and announce “My song for you this session is…..etc” She was lovely and looked like someone’s Aunty – which no doubt she really was. He most infamous claim to fame was the first night of BILLY BUDD and poor young Billy was swinging from the yard arm…as the credits rolled, Noreen erupted loudly with ANCHORS AWEIGH, in an apparent attempt to be nautical and cheer us all up.
The crying premiere audience collapsed with laughter and Noreen made the news. The PE was the first of the major cinema demiolitions and really let us know that if it could come down then anything could. And of course did. The last film was BECKETT but not before a repeat season of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS. All very Prince Edward. Now of couse, we have more shops and offices.
The St James was another of Sydney’s celebrated Henry White designs like the cherished State nearby and the lost lamented Wintergarden at Rose Bay. Apart from the 3 level auditorium, its cameo designs and nouveau 20s style, it was maintained to a perfect 20s degree and style by MGM as their premier house. Oddly though, in 1959 they hung huge swags of cream satin screen curtains covering half the side walls as well. This was to give the impression that there was this huge cinerama type screen behined. They did this to open BEN HUR and then screened the film in 35mm cinemascope. The St James never did have 70mm even with all the 70mm MGM films released. Just in the closing weeks, MGM sensibly ran a festival of classics and made them available to us 15 year olds at just 50c a ticket. you can imagine the stampede, and the cinema every time I attended was packed. I saw WIZ OF OZ. HUCK FINN, SINGIN IN THE RAIN etc in this period and for a short last time was able to run all over this elegant theatre with my friends. Above the theatre was the most beautiful 20s shopping block with the most exclusive shops and edesigners in Sydney. It was famous for being the nth degree in exclusive female shopping. It was truly like something from LOVELY TO LOOK AT or any MGM technicolour musical in real life. The sale of all MGM’s cinemas in 1971 by the new Kekorian admin in the USA was the reason for the closure and demolition. I went to the auction and saw the unveiled stage and walls for the first time in my life. So beautiful, side boxes, balconies and frescoes.
To add insult to injury, the c/s screen fitted within the old proscenium so all this dumb drapery from 1959 was just for before-the show effect and the awesome 20s decor was hidden all those years. Then a bulldozer ground the whole lot to dust in the name of progress and someone got richer from that.
From 1954-77 The Paris was a very well run first release operation by Hoyts with TODD-AO installation as part of its celebrated profile. It premiered AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, CAN CAN, THE ALAMO, MAGNIFICENT MEN IN FLYING MACHINES and a long moveover of SOUND OF MUSIC. Having 70mm meant all types of roadshow releases appeared, even scary the 1973 musical LOST HORIZON. I last went there in 1975 and saw SHAMPOO, and the Legend Of hell House (!)
Hoyts closed all their best cinemas, city and suburbs in a binge during 1977 after they opened the George Street City concrete box multiplex. The shuttered cinemas like the Mayfair, Town, Century and in the subs at Chatswood and Bondi Jct were their longest serving and best designed and operated cinemas – all deco and all renovated even as late as 1973. Madness.
Now, of course all they are gone and the George St horror remains. The Paris was a long and rather narrow, but the celebrated Walter Burly Griffin design was such a feature and a success it assisted they eye to see the huge floating screen. Not even being a WB Griffin design could save it from the stupidity of 70s demolition. Today a big apartment block is there.
As is in every city, there is at least one bewildering horror loss: in Sydney on the north shore it is certainly this one. It was so well run, and so beautifully restored, even in its final years that the shock of the 1986 demolition is still greeted with head shaking. The decor then was dark blue and cream…chrome trim and railings etc….very German/ocean liner/deco.
I saw BLADE RUNNER there in 1982 and as usual, this sensational deco cinema was packed. It made it through the video boom of 1983/4 and then was demolished simply to create a concrete twin..and guess the result….the new twin has never been popular. Even today, it is a ho hum operation with cookie cutter progamming. Nearby the opulent deco Cremorne Orpheum was re-opened in 1987 and has expanded to become the north shore’s most successfull and celebrated art deco masterpiece cinema….just like the Kings was until the corporate suits “fixed it”. The silly thing is, it could have been sensibly converted into a ¾ plex and still retained the look and style of a Kings Theatre. Like the Orpheum did, just up the road.
The concrete twin will be demolished soon as it just doesn’t work and the Oprheum nearby beats the boxoffice on a weekly basis. They had it at Mosman but it was trashed in the name of corporate progress. As usual. Yeesh!
This huge corner/junction cinema held about 1600 and closed in April 1960.
Apparently (according to my parents) it was still very much a 1920s style and had that old classy hotel feel. It ran stylish films and one of the last SEPARATE TABLES really suited the decor of the cinema too. In 1960 it was only open on saturdays from 5.30pm and ran a double feature, repeating the first film again at 9.30pm. It seems quite a few Saturday only Sydney cinemas (like Hoyts at Hurlstone Park) also ran this way, Adding a kids matinee at 1.30..sometimes. However, they did not make it through winter 1960 and quite a number of this type of operation shut that year. The photo above actually comes from a Tram Buffs book, and if you have the chance to get and of these tram books, there is alot of pix with cinemas in the background, since the stops were often at the cinema door, ot the cinema was at a junction that allowed for good tram pix. Try and find them or go to the tram buffs sites or club contacts, you will be suprised how many unseen cinema photos turn up this way. The site is still a petrol station. Boring.
It was replaced with a supermarket and the furnishings went up the hill to the sensational 2100 seat Bondi Junction Star. Of course if it was better programmed and nurtured,it would have benn the premier (wealthy) Eastern Suburbs cinema, like the nearby Vogue became in the 70s-90s as the Village twin, now with a land value alone of about $10 million. The Hoyts above was a beautiful 1933 deco renovation and was very much a deluxe house. Other crummier Hoyts cinemas remained and were kept but this one, for some weird reason only known to Hoyts at the time ($$$ probably) was cut short and trashed. It was truly beautiful.
I saw the James Bond Film MOONRAKER here in 1979 and the theatre was very much in its original design, straight in off the street to deckchairs and flip up seats or upstairs to the ‘lounge’ and under the lattice ceiling. It was a good big old style 20s theatre and was comfortable and spacious. The screen was really big and the film looked very good. I went to the Regal the same week (see that site) and realised this cinema was much older but of equally interesting design.The Capitol was white and grey, even inside, like the colours you get on Hydranges plant. A lovely old fashioned but fully functioning cinema. What is there today is the usual ugliness, all made of boring concrete and pipes and painted lime green or pink or something mixed like that.
Repulsive in every way. It even was in 1976 when it opened and public disgust made the owners in the 90s clean it up. Today it is just one big gaudy rabbit warren of horrible boxes that show crap movies.
One of Sydney’s most infamous demolitions in the ‘vandalism for profit’ category in the 80s, THE WINTERGARDEN is now the subject of much disgust and awe by a new generation of 30 year olds who cannot believe this gorgeous cinema was destroyed. I wandered through the intact cinema in 1986 which was left open so it could be vandalised. So I photographed it all and now I show everyone I can. I souveniered ANYTHING I wanted. The two main reasons for the loss of this astonishing 2100 seat venue, simply is that the very wealthy clientiele of Rose Bay and nearby would drive right past it to see the same film in the city. The other was the ‘Mr Burns’ personality of the last old manager who would regularly make destructive statements to the media that the theatre was crummy and not worth saving. Thanks to him, the heritage value was diminished and eventually through bad programming and shoddy customer service it closed. The new owners got a re development consent passed and then sold the site for a huge sum. Disgraceful conduct by wealthy bastards all round.
The other sites that were the Sydney demoilitions of appalling vandalism were: The 2100 seat gothic masterpiece Summer Hill Grosvenor 1930-70, The snazzy deco deluxe 2000 seater Ashfield Hoyts 1926/38-1974, The Manly Embassy/Odeon and of course exquisite The Prince Edward in the City. Horror!
PAUL BRENNAN .au
I saw SUNBURN with Farrah Fawcett (I mean she was in it, not next to me) at the very stylish deco cinema in 1979. Business ws bad and the manager was cranky. However, as a 2 level late 30s deco design it was a winner. All hidden neon ceiling lighting and opaque glass prism lights; the decor in autumn colours. It should have been maintained and could well have lived on as a major showplace if only the mindset had been there. Sadly Coolangatta is not known for its elegance or appreciation of quality and the loss of this cinema proves it. Of course the concrete horror that has replaced it is boring and indistinct. PAUL BRENNAN .au
The thoughtless and insulting comments above by “angelic” above are exactly what assists advocates of The Regent’s demolishion when the hard working elderly owner sadly passes on. The Regent is a superb and thankfully intact example of a massive 1950s glamour cinema purpose built and lovingly maintained by a truly stylish and much loved woman who could have closed it and sold it years ago. Instead she remains to this day a cherished city identity (why not say Hello to her next time?) who spends all the cinema’s imcome on seeing The Regent cleaned and in perfectly practical use. Instead of complaining about petty wear and tear, if you love it so much, why not offer to help – and show some respect. PAUL BRENNAN .au
What a wonderful restoration and enthusiastic renovation and service.
Check THE ORPHEUM CREMORNE, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA for an equal eyeful.
everything about this poor theatre is just tragic…
.au
This dear old thing is still there……and has toilet-seats too! In Newcastle’s re birth about to happen, it is actually now in a good spot to reinvent itself because with the CBD is so dead, it is the fringe – where the Regent is – and the suburbs, where the action and interest will be.
It is a real silent movie theatre and deserves some entrepreneurial spirit.
this lovely 20s building would be very well appreciated today as a 4 screen boutique complex……one (with $) would extend the balcony to the back wall for a big main 500 cinema, and after removing the stalls floor and digging it out a bit, can easily make 3 x 120 seaters and a foyer with new facilities…..it’s just so easy!……..
aaron……..pleease! Manny or Menny?
One of the truly momentus occasions in the Regent’s glamorous history has happened this week. The owner, the fabulous and truly loved Rowena Millgrove has passed away. She died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Sunday Jan 11th and was celebrated at a cathedral service and Regent wake on Thursday Jan 15……..all in a style befitting Wollongong’s favourite ‘Aunty Mame’. Consumer drones like Angelique listed here might moan at The Regent not suiting mall tastes, but if any person bothered to visit The Regent in the past few years and say hello to the glorious Rowena (pronounced RONA) they would find one of the truly great women of any age thre, happy and shining, greeting the crowd and showcasing her beloved Regent. In recent times, do-gooders and enthusiastic amateurs have descended on Rowena’s life like ego-centric bullies insisting on ‘having/saving’ The Regent, but true to her perfect style, Rowena avoided them all and continued on presenting first run films in her 1630 seat mermaids palace: the underwater fantasy that The Regent is…(if consumer drones bother to look and think). I went to the funeral, didn’t meet Angelyque (gee, funny about that), and celebrated the unique and special life of Rowena. I spiritually kissed her goodbye from the upstairs balcony, as I just sat and cried for the passing of someone I truly loved for 30 years. I am heartbroken to know I can never call her again and say hello and see her hilarious charming enthusiasm – and thrill to see ME (!) that always made just going there to see her an unwavering excitement. A delicious stylish honest and real woman, gone from The Regent and gone fron the lives of those like me who thought she was the bestest funniest and most lovely ‘aunt’ they could ever want to have in their lives. Angelyque should only know, but then again people like her just never ever know anything about anything, do they………….
A beautiful bird flew out of our lives last Thursday and I am sadder for it.
The Regent’s future will be decided in February. No doubt Angelyque will be happy the place can be fixed up and placed in better hands for her to bulldoze into and grab a Coke. If it survives. I think Rowena has already planned a suprise for all of us.
PAUL BRENNAN .au
The theatre might be a true wonder but the staff need to go to hospitality school – if they ever went at all. If you visit they will NOT let you in. No matter if you politely point out that you are a visitor and have heard how wonderful the theatre is, and are keen to admire it. They will NOT let you in. If you phone to ask or make an appointment they are NOT interested. They are only interested in you buying a concert ticket, or hiring the venue. But they will NOT let you ‘have a look’. Apparently they have not realised there is a buck to be made from ‘theatre tours’ but maybe they will, and then with cash possible from weekend paid tours they MIGHT realise happy keen visitors will gladly pay to go on a tour of the theatre. But this Palais Management is not that sensible. They are rude and they are stupid. Did I say rude?
However, in this new century of the public’s intolerance of seige minded idiots barricading great venues from the daylight, things might soon change.
Between 1960 and 1968 it ran Greek films as did many other suburban cinemas in Sydney; They were operated by Mr Chris Louis and his family who are a great immigrant success story in Sydney. Pre TV they might have been allowed a quiet night to rent a cinema to show a European film, then, post TV they were offered the freehold for about 10c each. They bought them up and become one of the biggest cinema owner chains in Sydney, saving a dozen or so from the bulldozer. It was because of their film interests that many suburban cinemas remained: the Redfern Lawson, the Rosebery Marina, The Earlwood Chelsea, Enmore Hoyts, Newtown Hub, and with cousins in Melbourne, the same deal. Some remain, some are dilapidated and some, like Enmore are a major showplace. this one was twinned and still is today, Sydney’s major Arthouse venue.
Now operated as some wacky church, it has structural issues and termites. I am not sure what came first and what caused what. The last time I was in there, was 1997 and only the downstairs was used to yell alot about Jesus. The upstairs was unused, in disrepair and had junk everywhere. I need to use the word ‘idiot’ but am not sure where in the above information it fits. A real mess. Also, the CBD of dear old newcastle is about to undergo a massive renovation and I would think that this area of town is a target. If the Royal can be shuttered and kept safely until commonsense and money can be applied, then there is an excellent chance for this perfectly usable building to re birth. BUT the whole street is so abandoned and depressed, it looks like a ghost town. Not to say it can’t all be fixed. Maybe we need some of our wealthy companies and personnes to speak up. After all, it is MONEY that is the answer and they have it. It is called Civic duty and pride. Anyone? .au
January 2004:The Roxy IS being preserrved and now renovated. My understanding as of right this minute is that the main upstairs cinema will be restored as is and used for premieres and events. the 2 stupid concrete box horrors downstairs will be made into a nightclub and a restaurant. The front and building perimiter is being restored and renovated along with all the best aspects of thsi sensational venue. A big thankyou to whoever is the entrepreneur and you can contact me anytime .au
I have the newsreel of the Bob hope visit. I have saved it for 30 years as I found it in the rubbish and screened it at my own cinema on special nights. I saw a films there was when I was 8 like HATARI. It mostly ran Paramount and Allied Artist films in the 50s/60s. All the Elvis and Jerry Lewis pix too. I think the management hated those and really preferred more “Audrey” sophisticated fare.
The PE was all blue and gold and right up till the last days had a theatre organ played by Noreen hennessy. She would lurch forward and announce “My song for you this session is…..etc” She was lovely and looked like someone’s Aunty – which no doubt she really was. He most infamous claim to fame was the first night of BILLY BUDD and poor young Billy was swinging from the yard arm…as the credits rolled, Noreen erupted loudly with ANCHORS AWEIGH, in an apparent attempt to be nautical and cheer us all up.
The crying premiere audience collapsed with laughter and Noreen made the news. The PE was the first of the major cinema demiolitions and really let us know that if it could come down then anything could. And of course did. The last film was BECKETT but not before a repeat season of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS. All very Prince Edward. Now of couse, we have more shops and offices.
The St James was another of Sydney’s celebrated Henry White designs like the cherished State nearby and the lost lamented Wintergarden at Rose Bay. Apart from the 3 level auditorium, its cameo designs and nouveau 20s style, it was maintained to a perfect 20s degree and style by MGM as their premier house. Oddly though, in 1959 they hung huge swags of cream satin screen curtains covering half the side walls as well. This was to give the impression that there was this huge cinerama type screen behined. They did this to open BEN HUR and then screened the film in 35mm cinemascope. The St James never did have 70mm even with all the 70mm MGM films released. Just in the closing weeks, MGM sensibly ran a festival of classics and made them available to us 15 year olds at just 50c a ticket. you can imagine the stampede, and the cinema every time I attended was packed. I saw WIZ OF OZ. HUCK FINN, SINGIN IN THE RAIN etc in this period and for a short last time was able to run all over this elegant theatre with my friends. Above the theatre was the most beautiful 20s shopping block with the most exclusive shops and edesigners in Sydney. It was famous for being the nth degree in exclusive female shopping. It was truly like something from LOVELY TO LOOK AT or any MGM technicolour musical in real life. The sale of all MGM’s cinemas in 1971 by the new Kekorian admin in the USA was the reason for the closure and demolition. I went to the auction and saw the unveiled stage and walls for the first time in my life. So beautiful, side boxes, balconies and frescoes.
To add insult to injury, the c/s screen fitted within the old proscenium so all this dumb drapery from 1959 was just for before-the show effect and the awesome 20s decor was hidden all those years. Then a bulldozer ground the whole lot to dust in the name of progress and someone got richer from that.
From 1954-77 The Paris was a very well run first release operation by Hoyts with TODD-AO installation as part of its celebrated profile. It premiered AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, CAN CAN, THE ALAMO, MAGNIFICENT MEN IN FLYING MACHINES and a long moveover of SOUND OF MUSIC. Having 70mm meant all types of roadshow releases appeared, even scary the 1973 musical LOST HORIZON. I last went there in 1975 and saw SHAMPOO, and the Legend Of hell House (!)
Hoyts closed all their best cinemas, city and suburbs in a binge during 1977 after they opened the George Street City concrete box multiplex. The shuttered cinemas like the Mayfair, Town, Century and in the subs at Chatswood and Bondi Jct were their longest serving and best designed and operated cinemas – all deco and all renovated even as late as 1973. Madness.
Now, of course all they are gone and the George St horror remains. The Paris was a long and rather narrow, but the celebrated Walter Burly Griffin design was such a feature and a success it assisted they eye to see the huge floating screen. Not even being a WB Griffin design could save it from the stupidity of 70s demolition. Today a big apartment block is there.
As is in every city, there is at least one bewildering horror loss: in Sydney on the north shore it is certainly this one. It was so well run, and so beautifully restored, even in its final years that the shock of the 1986 demolition is still greeted with head shaking. The decor then was dark blue and cream…chrome trim and railings etc….very German/ocean liner/deco.
I saw BLADE RUNNER there in 1982 and as usual, this sensational deco cinema was packed. It made it through the video boom of 1983/4 and then was demolished simply to create a concrete twin..and guess the result….the new twin has never been popular. Even today, it is a ho hum operation with cookie cutter progamming. Nearby the opulent deco Cremorne Orpheum was re-opened in 1987 and has expanded to become the north shore’s most successfull and celebrated art deco masterpiece cinema….just like the Kings was until the corporate suits “fixed it”. The silly thing is, it could have been sensibly converted into a ¾ plex and still retained the look and style of a Kings Theatre. Like the Orpheum did, just up the road.
The concrete twin will be demolished soon as it just doesn’t work and the Oprheum nearby beats the boxoffice on a weekly basis. They had it at Mosman but it was trashed in the name of corporate progress. As usual. Yeesh!
This huge corner/junction cinema held about 1600 and closed in April 1960.
Apparently (according to my parents) it was still very much a 1920s style and had that old classy hotel feel. It ran stylish films and one of the last SEPARATE TABLES really suited the decor of the cinema too. In 1960 it was only open on saturdays from 5.30pm and ran a double feature, repeating the first film again at 9.30pm. It seems quite a few Saturday only Sydney cinemas (like Hoyts at Hurlstone Park) also ran this way, Adding a kids matinee at 1.30..sometimes. However, they did not make it through winter 1960 and quite a number of this type of operation shut that year. The photo above actually comes from a Tram Buffs book, and if you have the chance to get and of these tram books, there is alot of pix with cinemas in the background, since the stops were often at the cinema door, ot the cinema was at a junction that allowed for good tram pix. Try and find them or go to the tram buffs sites or club contacts, you will be suprised how many unseen cinema photos turn up this way. The site is still a petrol station. Boring.
It was replaced with a supermarket and the furnishings went up the hill to the sensational 2100 seat Bondi Junction Star. Of course if it was better programmed and nurtured,it would have benn the premier (wealthy) Eastern Suburbs cinema, like the nearby Vogue became in the 70s-90s as the Village twin, now with a land value alone of about $10 million. The Hoyts above was a beautiful 1933 deco renovation and was very much a deluxe house. Other crummier Hoyts cinemas remained and were kept but this one, for some weird reason only known to Hoyts at the time ($$$ probably) was cut short and trashed. It was truly beautiful.
I saw the James Bond Film MOONRAKER here in 1979 and the theatre was very much in its original design, straight in off the street to deckchairs and flip up seats or upstairs to the ‘lounge’ and under the lattice ceiling. It was a good big old style 20s theatre and was comfortable and spacious. The screen was really big and the film looked very good. I went to the Regal the same week (see that site) and realised this cinema was much older but of equally interesting design.The Capitol was white and grey, even inside, like the colours you get on Hydranges plant. A lovely old fashioned but fully functioning cinema. What is there today is the usual ugliness, all made of boring concrete and pipes and painted lime green or pink or something mixed like that.
Repulsive in every way. It even was in 1976 when it opened and public disgust made the owners in the 90s clean it up. Today it is just one big gaudy rabbit warren of horrible boxes that show crap movies.
One of Sydney’s most infamous demolitions in the ‘vandalism for profit’ category in the 80s, THE WINTERGARDEN is now the subject of much disgust and awe by a new generation of 30 year olds who cannot believe this gorgeous cinema was destroyed. I wandered through the intact cinema in 1986 which was left open so it could be vandalised. So I photographed it all and now I show everyone I can. I souveniered ANYTHING I wanted. The two main reasons for the loss of this astonishing 2100 seat venue, simply is that the very wealthy clientiele of Rose Bay and nearby would drive right past it to see the same film in the city. The other was the ‘Mr Burns’ personality of the last old manager who would regularly make destructive statements to the media that the theatre was crummy and not worth saving. Thanks to him, the heritage value was diminished and eventually through bad programming and shoddy customer service it closed. The new owners got a re development consent passed and then sold the site for a huge sum. Disgraceful conduct by wealthy bastards all round.
The other sites that were the Sydney demoilitions of appalling vandalism were: The 2100 seat gothic masterpiece Summer Hill Grosvenor 1930-70, The snazzy deco deluxe 2000 seater Ashfield Hoyts 1926/38-1974, The Manly Embassy/Odeon and of course exquisite The Prince Edward in the City. Horror!
PAUL BRENNAN .au
I saw SUNBURN with Farrah Fawcett (I mean she was in it, not next to me) at the very stylish deco cinema in 1979. Business ws bad and the manager was cranky. However, as a 2 level late 30s deco design it was a winner. All hidden neon ceiling lighting and opaque glass prism lights; the decor in autumn colours. It should have been maintained and could well have lived on as a major showplace if only the mindset had been there. Sadly Coolangatta is not known for its elegance or appreciation of quality and the loss of this cinema proves it. Of course the concrete horror that has replaced it is boring and indistinct. PAUL BRENNAN .au
The thoughtless and insulting comments above by “angelic” above are exactly what assists advocates of The Regent’s demolishion when the hard working elderly owner sadly passes on. The Regent is a superb and thankfully intact example of a massive 1950s glamour cinema purpose built and lovingly maintained by a truly stylish and much loved woman who could have closed it and sold it years ago. Instead she remains to this day a cherished city identity (why not say Hello to her next time?) who spends all the cinema’s imcome on seeing The Regent cleaned and in perfectly practical use. Instead of complaining about petty wear and tear, if you love it so much, why not offer to help – and show some respect. PAUL BRENNAN .au