Would Wehrenberg consider taking this place back? My gut feeling is they wouldn’t, but they could still operate it as a discount house, I guess…I know, just wishful thinking on my part, but hey, it’s fun to speculate!!!
OK, I’m looking at Google Maps and the layout of the Plaza and Shoppes at Sunset Hills. I’m guessing the theater was where the Longhorn Steak House is now. Keep in mind I said I was “guessing”, since the theater was an outlot. Can anyone confirm/correct on this?
I only saw one movie here…“Fantasia”, when it was re-released in 1990. I remember driving by it many, many times when parents and I would visit the Science and Natural History Museums, which were in a park in Clayton at that time. When I last visited that neighborhood, it was really dead…hardly any activity at all on a weekday summer night. That’s not how it used to be…
My wife and I went to this theater to see How To Train Your Dragon in June of 2010. Glad to see it’s still operating, but it’s showing its age even more now. It was a hot day when we went and there was a fan running in the front of the theater. This was in the biggest of the 3 screening rooms. Ticket prices are back to $1 now. Love the memories of this place, but I think it might not be too much longer before age catches up to it.
Based on what I remember from newspaper ads, the Maplewood was showing only foreign films in its final years. Never saw a movie there, but remember going car shopping with my Dad in that area one weekend and seeing the marquee, which read “Fine Foreign Films”.
If I recall correctly, Wehrenberg Theaters publicly announced they would never again operate a theater in the St. Louis city limits after closing the Union Station.
The Cave Springs seems to be the “forgotten” theater in St. Charles County. Chuck’s location info is correct. This theater was at the corner of Mexico and Jungerman, right behind the Venture store, next door to the old National Weather Service office and across the street from Cave Springs Lanes bowling center. It later became Royal Oaks Chrysler/Jeep but is now vacant. Sadly, I never went to this theater. I guess Mid-America was thinking this would eventually replace the I-70 Drive-In…turns out it was Mid-America that got replaced!!!
What’s interesting is…my wife and I went here in June 2009 to see The Proposal, while we were visiting. We were also impressed with the theater, but couldn’t help but notice that the decor looked EXACTLY like the new AMC Theater in Tustin, CA, which is near where we live. I mean it was almost exactly the same!! Found that a little odd, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
That’s what I thought, JAlex…I couldn’t remember Wehrenberg ever running that place. Thanks for clearing that up…and thanks for the closing date. That does sound about right.
This was where I saw my first movie as a 3-year old child, when my parents took me to see Jungle Book. I’ve been a huge movie/theater fan every since…and it all started here…
In Wehrenberg’s 100th Anniversary book, the Plaza is listed as a theater they operated? Is that true? It had to have been in 1983-84 timeframe and could only have been for a very short time (less than a year), as it closed in either ‘83 or '84.
Those photos are depressing, Chuck…well, any closed theater is depressing. This looks a lot like the Halls Ferry 14 after it closed and before it was torn down. Wonder if Wehrenberg is using the building for storage of old equipment, like they did with the Halls Ferry?
Thanks, JAlex and Cholla, for the updates on C4C. Sad to hear it was getting run down in its final years, because I have so many memories of this place. So they went dollar show in ‘87…that would be during my last year of graduate school at University of Illinois. I was just too wiped out from graduate study to do anything when I was home. I still, however, think Cinema 4 Center would have made a better dollar show location than St. Andrews, if it were still standing, but since Wehrenberg ran it, they were bound to close it soon once the St. Charles 10 opened.
Actually, Needy, my last post should have said Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters IN ST. LOUIS in 1990. There were still GCC theaters in other parts of the country, as I discovered when I moved to Southern California in 1991.
Also, I apologize for my poor spelling in my original post. This editor started acting strange by not scrolling down once I came to the bottom of the box. I’m using the Firefox browser…could that have something to do with that happening?
Needy: You are correct, Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters back in 1990 (I think). However, that was before GCC officially went out of business. When that happened, AMC acquired the remaining GCC theaters in the rest of the country.
Oh, OK…I got the screens mixed up. I was thinking of the screen whose back was to I-70. Only drove past the Mexico Road screen once or twice and don’t remember it. Of course, that part of Mexico Road was rather hilly and undeveloped back then. Thanks for pointing that out, Cholla!
By the way, was Screen #1 the screen whose back was to Mexico Road or I-70? Can’t remember…
I second the comments by Chris. This theater was HUGE!!! They probably could have gone to six screens in that building and it still would not have felt cramped. Too bad this one got torn down. Favorite memories of this place are seeing Jungle Book, Chariots Of Fire, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at this theater. Thanks for the memories, NWP!
Here’s something that popped up in the “General Cinema Locations” thread on Cinematour.com: a training video for ticketing cashiers for the Montclair Cinema. Enjoy!
For those posters on here who worked at South County Cinema…or any other GCC theater for that matter, check out this video from YouTube (no, I didn’t post it). I originally found out about this from a post in the “General Cinema Locations” thread on cinematour.com…it’s a training video for ticketing cashiers for GCC’s Montclair Plaza Cinema in Montclair, CA. Enjoy!!
Just out of curiosity, what is now on the site of where the Creve Coeur Cine used to be?
Where exactly was the Four Seasons Shopping Center located?
Would Wehrenberg consider taking this place back? My gut feeling is they wouldn’t, but they could still operate it as a discount house, I guess…I know, just wishful thinking on my part, but hey, it’s fun to speculate!!!
Well, I was close :)
OK, I’m looking at Google Maps and the layout of the Plaza and Shoppes at Sunset Hills. I’m guessing the theater was where the Longhorn Steak House is now. Keep in mind I said I was “guessing”, since the theater was an outlot. Can anyone confirm/correct on this?
I only saw one movie here…“Fantasia”, when it was re-released in 1990. I remember driving by it many, many times when parents and I would visit the Science and Natural History Museums, which were in a park in Clayton at that time. When I last visited that neighborhood, it was really dead…hardly any activity at all on a weekday summer night. That’s not how it used to be…
My wife and I went to this theater to see How To Train Your Dragon in June of 2010. Glad to see it’s still operating, but it’s showing its age even more now. It was a hot day when we went and there was a fan running in the front of the theater. This was in the biggest of the 3 screening rooms. Ticket prices are back to $1 now. Love the memories of this place, but I think it might not be too much longer before age catches up to it.
Based on what I remember from newspaper ads, the Maplewood was showing only foreign films in its final years. Never saw a movie there, but remember going car shopping with my Dad in that area one weekend and seeing the marquee, which read “Fine Foreign Films”.
If I recall correctly, Wehrenberg Theaters publicly announced they would never again operate a theater in the St. Louis city limits after closing the Union Station.
Didn’t Mid-America Theaters run this place for a while in the 70s?
The Cave Springs seems to be the “forgotten” theater in St. Charles County. Chuck’s location info is correct. This theater was at the corner of Mexico and Jungerman, right behind the Venture store, next door to the old National Weather Service office and across the street from Cave Springs Lanes bowling center. It later became Royal Oaks Chrysler/Jeep but is now vacant. Sadly, I never went to this theater. I guess Mid-America was thinking this would eventually replace the I-70 Drive-In…turns out it was Mid-America that got replaced!!!
What’s interesting is…my wife and I went here in June 2009 to see The Proposal, while we were visiting. We were also impressed with the theater, but couldn’t help but notice that the decor looked EXACTLY like the new AMC Theater in Tustin, CA, which is near where we live. I mean it was almost exactly the same!! Found that a little odd, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
That’s actually a rather cool looking building! Shame it burned down…
That status now applied to the entire mall, not just the theater!
That’s what I thought, JAlex…I couldn’t remember Wehrenberg ever running that place. Thanks for clearing that up…and thanks for the closing date. That does sound about right.
This was where I saw my first movie as a 3-year old child, when my parents took me to see Jungle Book. I’ve been a huge movie/theater fan every since…and it all started here…
In Wehrenberg’s 100th Anniversary book, the Plaza is listed as a theater they operated? Is that true? It had to have been in 1983-84 timeframe and could only have been for a very short time (less than a year), as it closed in either ‘83 or '84.
Those photos are depressing, Chuck…well, any closed theater is depressing. This looks a lot like the Halls Ferry 14 after it closed and before it was torn down. Wonder if Wehrenberg is using the building for storage of old equipment, like they did with the Halls Ferry?
Thanks, JAlex and Cholla, for the updates on C4C. Sad to hear it was getting run down in its final years, because I have so many memories of this place. So they went dollar show in ‘87…that would be during my last year of graduate school at University of Illinois. I was just too wiped out from graduate study to do anything when I was home. I still, however, think Cinema 4 Center would have made a better dollar show location than St. Andrews, if it were still standing, but since Wehrenberg ran it, they were bound to close it soon once the St. Charles 10 opened.
Actually, Needy, my last post should have said Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters IN ST. LOUIS in 1990. There were still GCC theaters in other parts of the country, as I discovered when I moved to Southern California in 1991.
Also, I apologize for my poor spelling in my original post. This editor started acting strange by not scrolling down once I came to the bottom of the box. I’m using the Firefox browser…could that have something to do with that happening?
Needy: You are correct, Wehrenberg bought out the remaining GCC theaters back in 1990 (I think). However, that was before GCC officially went out of business. When that happened, AMC acquired the remaining GCC theaters in the rest of the country.
Oh, OK…I got the screens mixed up. I was thinking of the screen whose back was to I-70. Only drove past the Mexico Road screen once or twice and don’t remember it. Of course, that part of Mexico Road was rather hilly and undeveloped back then. Thanks for pointing that out, Cholla!
By the way, was Screen #1 the screen whose back was to Mexico Road or I-70? Can’t remember…
I second the comments by Chris. This theater was HUGE!!! They probably could have gone to six screens in that building and it still would not have felt cramped. Too bad this one got torn down. Favorite memories of this place are seeing Jungle Book, Chariots Of Fire, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at this theater. Thanks for the memories, NWP!
Here’s something that popped up in the “General Cinema Locations” thread on Cinematour.com: a training video for ticketing cashiers for the Montclair Cinema. Enjoy!
View link
For those posters on here who worked at South County Cinema…or any other GCC theater for that matter, check out this video from YouTube (no, I didn’t post it). I originally found out about this from a post in the “General Cinema Locations” thread on cinematour.com…it’s a training video for ticketing cashiers for GCC’s Montclair Plaza Cinema in Montclair, CA. Enjoy!!
View link