Yes, the Temple Theatre struck me as being an old structure, as well. These long gone movie theatres, as well as the ones that have survived, give a pretty good idea of the growth patterns of Atlanta. You could probably draw strong parallel between developments in Atlanta and many other parts of the country.
If my dad had not been a movie buff and taken me to the movies in Atlanta beginning in the 1950’s, I never would have known about some of these theaters – or the way people lived in those years, for that matter. This is more than an idle interest in old movie theaters, it’s an interesting aspect of sociology.
The only thing that would have mitigated against the use of a site in College Park as a recording studio in the ‘60’s and '70’s was the noise from the (previous) Atlanta Airport (located on Virginia Avenue in those days). Soundproofing a recording studio in that area would have been tough. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, though. Nevertheless, the airport noise only got worse over the years.
Sounds like it was literally a community theater at one time. That means it might have served as a venue for amateur theatricals put on my members of the community and possibly as a meeting hall for social groups. Of course, it still might have fucntioned as a movie theater at one time. Hopefully, someone who actually remembers it can fill us in.
It’s worth remembering that theaters go through transitions. The Loew’s Grand and the Erlanger Theatre on Peachtree Street were built as opera houses. Atlanta even had burlesque theaters back in the 1930’s!
It’s very likely that there was another theater in Little Five Points more than fifty years ago. The first suburbs of Atlanta were West End and Inman Park. West End had at least three movie theaters at one time: the West End Theatre on Lee Street; the Gordon Theatre on Gordon Road; and the Cascade Theatre on Gordon Road (near the juncture of Cascade Road).
Little Five Points, which was adjacent to Inman Park, was also an early suburb of Atlanta. The street number of 1142 Euclid Avenue, NE, would have placed the Palace Theatre on the north side of Euclid Avenue, closer to Moreland Avenue. That means that it would have been east of the Little Five Points Theatre at 1103 Euclid Avenue and the Euclid Theatre at 1099 Euclid Avenue, both on the south side of the street. All three theaters would have been in the general vicinity of what was once Bass High School.
Although I never remember actually seeing another movie theater in Little Five Points in the 1950’s, I would consider it very probable that there was one. It’s a pity I can’t ask my dad about it. He attended Bass High and he would have known for sure.
The Techwood Theatre was a second run house that was located near the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (that’s Georgia Tech, folks). The theater was west of the Varsity Drive-In and the viaduct over I-85 on North Avenue. Although it did occasionally show first run features that were on multiple runs in the 1960’s, it was never really a first run venue.
My dad used to take me to the Techwood occasionally back in the 1950’s. What I remember most about the theater was its Neo-Classical facade. Apart from that, 500 sets sounds about right. When I went there so many years ago the theater seemed well maintained.
There was a Bankhead Drive-In at 3350 Bankhead Highway, NW. However, I was not aware of another hardtop theater on the Bankhead Highway (now the Donald Lee Hollowell Highway) other than the Grove Theater at 1576 Bankhead Highway, NW.
However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t one. Possibly the hardtop Bankhead Theatre closed circa 1950. According to the copies of the Atlanta Telephone Directory and the Atlanta Journal from the early 1950’s, the only “Bankhead Theatre” was the drive-in cited earlier. Although I grew up in Atlanta, I was never aware of the College Park Theatre or the Sylvan Theatre, either. Hopefully, someone whose memory of Atlanta stretches back further than mine can give us some details.
the Bankhead Highway is now known as the Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. While I never actually knew the Grove Theatre when I was growing up, I do remember the ads in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the theatre. As a matter of curiosity, I’d like to know if the building that originally housed the Grove Theatre is still standing.
My best guess is that the theatre probably closed sometime in the 1960’s. Hopefully, someone who reads this post will have some more specific memories.
The future does not bode well for motion picture exhibition as we have known it. As of this writing, the technology exists for high speed interconnect delivery of programming to home computers that interface with home theater systems. It is just a matter of time before a system is marketed at a price point that seems affordable to the middle class. When the public can download High Definition programming, and/or buy a uniform standard for High Definition DVD (are you listening Sony/Philips and Toshiba?), thousands of movie theaters in the country will probably close. It could even resemble the situation that occurred after the 1948 Federal Court Consent Decree that required the “Big Five” studios to divest themselves of their holdings in exhibition. From 1948 into the mid 1950’s, thousands of movie theaters closed across the country. History may be about to repeat itself.
In addition, the recent Supreme court decision affirming the right of local governments to condemn private property by eminent domain for the benefit of private developers could affect many movie theaters eventually. In time, you can expect numerous movie theaters to go out of business and the land sold or condemned for development.
Personally, I hate the thought that some day going out to see a movie in a theater may be regarded as a quaint ritual practiced by an earlier generation. At that point, it would be like comparing it to people listening to radio programs before the advent of television. Does that comparison bother you? Well, I hope so!
You are right – today the studios are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. As of this writing, the current box office slump has lasted nineteen weeks. The screen ads are becoming a real sore spot for much of the public. With the price of parking and concessions, it’s just more economical to rent the DVD.
Currently, the studios still need the exhibitors to launch a movie release and prepare the market for the eventual DVD release. When they figure out how to make movie theaters redundant, expect things to change dramatically.
Only a Federal Anti-Trust suit can stop the media conglomerates from monopolizing film and electronic media. So, try writing you congressman – it’s time to break up the media conglomerates!
Patsy – The Georgia Pacific Tower stands on the site that the Loew’s Grand once occupied. It’s a forty story plus office tower. If memory serves, it is, or was, the tallest building in downtown Atlanta. Whenever I see it, I am reminded of the Loew’s Grand and it’s neighbor, the Paramount Theatre (demolished in 1960).
Considering the value of prime real estate on Peachtree Street, it’s hard to see how the Loew’s Grand could have been saved. The City of Atlanta (the government, that is) wanted the tax revenues that a new office tower would bring. When you consider the recent Supreme Court decision affirming the right of local government to condemn private property by eminent domain for the benefit of private investors, it doesn’t bode well for vintage movie theaters.
Friends in Atlanta have told me that the fire that damaged the lobby (circa 1978) of the Loew’s Grand was highly suspicious, to say the least. As I understand it, that fire was the determining factor that led to the building being condemned once and for all.
Ron – Yes, the 1967 re-release of GWTW was a mutilation. Seeing it at the Loew’s Grand didn’t really help much. The technicians responsible for that dubious distinction actually won an technical Academy Award! The most recent DVD release is infinitely better!
However, I did see the 1961 re-release at the Loew’s Grand. That memory has stood out for over forty years!
When the Loew’s Tara originally opened as a single screen I thought the presentation was especially good. It rivalled that of the Phipps Plaza Theatre. The Tara appeared to have a wall to wall screen on 2:35 ratio pictures.
Does anyone know if the Loew’s Tara was equipped for 70mm projection and stereophonic sound? The reason that I ask is that OLIVER (1968) and PAINT YOUR WAGON (1970) were both released in 70mm blow up prints with stereo soundtracks. Furthermore, they were both released in dye transfer Technicolor, as well. They both looked terrific at the Tara, as well as MAROONED (1969) that was also released in a 70mm blowup with a stereo soundtrack (but only in Eastmancolor).
The first picture that I remember seeing there was THE LION IN WINTER (1968). STRAW DOGS (1971) was another memorable experience. As a single screen theater, the Loew’s Tara was a real contender.
The days of “twinning” and multiplexes have caused a lot of people to forget what it was like to see a film on a really big screen. That’s the real pity!
Checking www.imdb.com, I learned that COME BLOW YOUR HORN was actually a Paramount release.
Looking up United Artists releases on the imdb.com, refreshed my memory. During the 1960’s, and I also remember seeing: WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT, BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN, THE GRADUATE, CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S, HANNIBAL BROOKS, THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN, THE LANDLORD, THE HAWAIIANS On visits back to Atlanta in the 1970’s: BANANAS, FUZZ, EVERYTHING THAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX …, WHITE LIGHTNING, and THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT. Also managed to miss a few I would have liked to have seen there. Nice theater in those days!
450 seats sounds just right for the Ponce de Leon Theatre. It was roughly similar to the bygone West End Theatre that once stood on Lee Street in West End, as well as the Kirkwood Theatre cited earlier.
Fifty years ago I saw westerns starring Randolph Scott and Alan Ladd at the Ponce de Leon.
Do you know if the building that housed this theater is still standing? Although I remember the movie theater that was actually on the Fort McPherson Base, I don’t believe that I ever knew this theater. Was it in the vicinity of Sylvan High School?
Do you have any idea of the years of operation?
There seems to have been a group of Atlanta movie theaters that closed before I had a conscious memory. Learning about them almost amounts to archaeology!
The Ponce de Leon Theatre stood on the north side of Ponce de Leon Avenue, several doors east of the intersection where Boulevard intersects Ponce de Leon Avenue from the south and becomes Monroe Drive north of Ponce de Leon Avenue. The only street address that I am aware of is 506 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE.
This was one of the neighborhood theaters that my dad took me to in the 1950’s. As nearly as I can recall, it was a relatively small theater like the Kirkwood Theatre at 1965 Boulevard Drive, SE.
The Ponce de Leon Theatre closed circa 1956. The building stood empty for many years. To the best of my knowledge, the property was never used by any other business. As I recall, it was demolished in the early 1970’s.
Strongly recommend that you see Rick McKay’s documentary, BROADWAY, THE GOLDEN AGE: BY THE LEGENDS THAT WERE THERE (2003). It says so much about a truly fabulous age in New York art and entertainment that is barely a memory.
In a certain way, the Beekman Theatre was part of that era.
On a different note:
From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, June 22, 2005
Re: The Merger of AMC and Loew’s
“I think the exhibition business is at a crossroads,” said Paul del Rossi, former chief executive of General Cinemas, which filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago before being bought by AMC. “The major players in the exhibition business are now controlled by venture capitalists, and they have different long-term views than traditional theater owners.”
Although the industry isn’t facing the dire situation it did in the 1990s, when a glut of theaters forced several exhibitors to file for bankruptcy protection, business has slowed for the big companies, helping to fuel the current consolidation wave. AMC, for example, reported a $10.7-million loss last year.
Other recent deals include last week’s acquisition by Canadian theater chain Cineplex Galaxy of Viacom Inc.’s Famous Players, a move that gives the consolidated company 60% of the Canadian market. Century Theatres in Northern California this year was reported to have hired an investment bank to find a buyer.
Consolidation benefits theater chains by lowering their administrative and supply costs, and also by potentially giving larger chains more leverage to negotiate better “film terms” with the studios. Currently, studios keep 60% to 70% of a movie’s first-weekend gross. With the DVD release timeframe shrinking from six months to as little as three months for most movies, mergers also could put theaters in a better position to push for DVDs to be released later.
John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents the majority of U.S. exhibitors, said the exhibition industry was fundamentally sound but currently in a bad cycle.
“We are not having a great year, but we have been in this position before,” Fithian said. “When the quality and the quantity of the movies come back, our patrons will come back to see them. The sky is not falling.”
Box-office sales are down 7% to date this year, and admissions are on track to fall for the third straight year.
Old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
“I think the exhibition business is at a crossroads,” said Paul del Rossi, former chief executive of General Cinemas, which filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago before being bought by AMC. “The major players in the exhibition business are now controlled by venture capitalists, and they have different long-term views than traditional theater owners.”
Although the industry isn’t facing the dire situation it did in the 1990s, when a glut of theaters forced several exhibitors to file for bankruptcy protection, business has slowed for the big companies, helping to fuel the current consolidation wave. AMC, for example, reported a $10.7-million loss last year.
Other recent deals include last week’s acquisition by Canadian theater chain Cineplex Galaxy of Viacom Inc.’s Famous Players, a move that gives the consolidated company 60% of the Canadian market. Century Theatres in Northern California this year was reported to have hired an investment bank to find a buyer.
Consolidation benefits theater chains by lowering their administrative and supply costs, and also by potentially giving larger chains more leverage to negotiate better “film terms” with the studios. Currently, studios keep 60% to 70% of a movie’s first-weekend gross. With the DVD release timeframe shrinking from six months to as little as three months for most movies, mergers also could put theaters in a better position to push for DVDs to be released later.
John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents the majority of U.S. exhibitors, said the exhibition industry was fundamentally sound but currently in a bad cycle.
“We are not having a great year, but we have been in this position before,” Fithian said. “When the quality and the quantity of the movies come back, our patrons will come back to see them. The sky is not falling.”
Box-office sales are down 7% to date this year, and admissions are on track to fall for the third straight year.
Old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
Independendent exhibitors have been the life’s blood of the foreign film market and the independent film movement. Preserving the independent production and exhibition market should be one of the chief causes for concern of a Federal Anti-Trust Suit against the media conglomerates. Stimulating an alternative marketplace, distinct from the big studios' commercial product, seems not only reasonable but necessary if we hope to sustain a free market.
Some of the primary independent production companies such as Miramax and New Line were acquired by the majors. Nearly all of the major studios have specially subdivisions for independent and foreign film distribution. However, the real concern is stimulating competition in this market in production/distribution as well as exhibition. It should not be almost exclusively controlled by media conglomerates
This is an area for serious industry study.
Some of my favorite films of the last twenty years were titles that the corporate multiplexes would not touch, i.e. DREAMCHILD (1985); MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990); and PONETTE (1996). Look them up on imdb.com.
Fundamentally, I agree with you. Human beings are social animals and basically crave communal activity. Nothing will entirely replace going out to the theater, whether it is to see movies or live performances.
In England, Sony literally paid for the conversion of a large number of British cinemas to their new digital projection system, providing the equipment and the installation gratis. So, the precedent has already been set for conversion.
Yes, different applications of digital technology are inevitable. Exactly which applications will come to dominate the marketplace remains to be seen. In the meantime, the real issue will be profitablity for movie exhibitors. If the current downward trend at the box office is not merely a seasonal fluctuation, but a real change in public taste then exhibitors are headed for trouble.
In view of current trends, I see two remedies:
The Federal Government needs to break up the media conglomerates. As it has been pointed out by media critics, an increasingly greater amount of information is controlled by progressively fewer people. Anti-Trust Laws were passed in order to deal with this kind of situation.
Conversely, the Federal Government needs to explore allowing the movie studios to own a larger stake in exhibition, although not up to pre-1948 levels.. The studios need the theatrical openings to launch their eventual DVD sales. Exhibitors want to survive. By allowing a merger of the studios' and exhibitors' mutual interests, movie exhibition may be able to survive in a changing economy.
You may remember the closing scene in the 1971 movie version of Larry McMurtry’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, directed by Peter Bogdonovich. The characters played by Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges attend the final show at the neighborhood theater in the Texas town where they grew up. It is literally the last picture show for this theater. As we know, that scene was being played out all across the country. Obviously, it was repeated all over the Atlanta area in those years.
The coming changes in digital technology could mean a change nearly as dramatic as the one that occured in the motion picture industry over fifty years ago. It will be fascinating to watch it unfold and see if history really does have a way of repeating itself.
Yes, “out of sight, out of mind” explains some of the collective amnesia in the Atlanta area concerning the past. Now that you mention it, I was only vaguely aware that College Park had actually once been the home of a college. My visits to Atlanta over the years have only reinforced the impression that the percentage of the population that is native to the area is shrinking. There simply aren’t as many people there who remember Atlanta in the early to mid-twentieth century as there used to be.
As I have pointed out in some of my previous posts, there were roughly a dozen neighborhood movie theaters that closed in the early to mid 1950’s. These were theaters that catered to the white population in a racially segregated era. Actually, I never knew theaters like the American, the Brookhaven, the Cameo, the Cascade, or the Fairview/Memorial at all. So, I don’t doubt that there was once a movie house in College Park.
My own fascination with the changing movie exhibition market is concerned with what is happening right now. As you are probably aware, at this writing the industry is having its worst box office slump in twenty years. Recently, actor Morgan Freeman stated in an on camera TV interview that he is investing in a system for high speed internet delivery of motion pictures to home theatre systems with computer convergence.
Yes, things are about to the change again. It seems to me that there are lessons to be learned by looking at the decline of America’s movie theaters from the late 1940’s into the 1950’s. It would make a great market study for someone who is working on a business degree.
CORRECTION: Regarding the closing date for the DeKalb Theatre (at 130 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue) mentioned in my earler post – the date that I cited was only an educated guess. Although I suspect that it closed circa 1953/54, I do not have a confirmed date. The DeKalb Theatre was on the north side of the Decatur courthouse square, opposite the location of the Decatur Theatre (just off the the south side of the square).
Jack – The exterior of the building that once housed the Glen Theatre was intact in 2003. When I actually went into the pawn shop to take a look, it appeared that the shop’s selling floor occupied only about half of the front of the building. The back half appeared to be partioned off.
Unless you had known that it used to be a movie theater, you might not have guessed it upon entering that store. Having known the Glen Theatre well from having attended it in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, I had difficulty seeing any continuity at all.
There was NEVER anything distinctive about the Glen Theatre. It was strictly a neighborhood grind house that changed its program two or three times a week. It seemed to be a kind of bare bones operation. However, it certainly did business in the years that I attended it. On Saturdays they usually booked horror/science fiction movies; westerns; and/or war movies. Realize that by the mid to late 1960’s, the racial makeup of this area was changing. Mercifully, I never knew it as a porn house.
Curiously enough, I did not find a listing for the Glen Theatre in the photocopies of the 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory and the Atlanta Journal from the same year that I have used for reference. Frankly, I can’t recall attending the theatre before about 1957/58, so I really don’t know when it opened.
One possible resource that I have never had the chance to explore would be the City of Atlanta Business License Records. Of course, since I don’t live in the Atlanta area now it’s not a convenient research tool for me. However, if you have the time and curiosity, I’ll bet you could track down where the records are stored. They are probably on microfilm or computer files. Given access, you could learn the years of operation for the Atlanta area movie houses. Who knows, the archives of the City of Atlanta might even contain more specific information.
Remember, that communities like Decatur, Marietta, East Point, Hapeville, and College Park were all seperately incorporated cities. As a matter of fact, Decatur and Marietta were both proud of the fact that their city charters predated that of the City of Atlanta. Each of these incorporated cities have completely seperate records.
Frankly, I was surprised to read your post about the College Park Theatre. Back in the early ‘60’s I knew some fellow baby boomers who were also movie buffs who lived in College Park. They never mentioned a hardtop neighborhood theater there. The local movie theater of choice seemed to have been the Roosevelt Drive-In on the Roosevelt Highway.
For roughly ten years, from about 1962 to 1971, I was well acquainted with College Park and I can’t recall anything that resembled a shuttered movie house. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, though. Chances are you could learn something if you started to investigate at the College Park City Hall.
The Glen Theatre was at the juncture of Glenwood Road and Candler Road in the Glenwood business district in DeKalb County, aproximately 3 ½ miles south of Decatur. The Glen was a very unpretenious neighborhood grind house. The last time I was in Atlanta in 2003, the building had been converted to a pawn shop.
The Glenwood Drive-In was further south on Candler Road, as I recall. It opened in the the mid-1950’s. It seems to have been demolished years ago.
The Decatur Theatre should not be confused with the DeKalb Theatre located at 130 Ponce de Leon Avenue, just off the courthouse square in Decatur. The DeKalb closed in 1954. The building was gutted and the space was converted to a J.C. Penny store. The building in turn was demolished to make way for new construction.
Having grown up in DeKalb County, I attended both the Decatur and the Glen very often. They were completely seperate and distinct.
The Euclid Theatre was one of my favorite Atlanta neighborhood theaters in the 1950’s. My dad took me there often in those years. We saw a lot of westerns and action picures there, such as John Wayne movies like HONDO and BLOOD ALLEY. The theatre continued to be known as the Euclid Theatre until the last time I attended it in 1961. Unfortunately, I can’t remember exactly when it closed. According to my best recollection, it was not renamed until some years later. A search of the Atlanta Telephone Directories and the microfilm files of the Atlanta Journal and at the Atlanta Public Library would probably clarify matters.
Interesting that you would mention George Ellis. He always seemed like a nice man. He was memorable for playing “Bestoink Dooley,” the host of Channel 5, WAGA-TV’s Friday night Big Movie Shocker in the early 1960’s. For all his clowning as the host, he was probably responsible for seeing that the Universal horror movies originally distributed to television in the “Shock Theater” packages were treated with some respect. WAGA-TV broadcast each of the Universal series' in chronological order of release and without cutting the running time.
Personally, I have very warm memories of going to the Euclid Theatre as a kid. The air conditioning was great there on hot summer days!
The Empire Theatre seems to have been one of a group of Atlanta theaters that went out of business in the 1950’s. The theater was still in business in 1954, according to photocopies that I have of the movie section of the Atlanta Journal. The location would have been across Georgia Avenue from the location of present day Turner Field.
In the 1950’s this was essentially a slum area. The neigborhood was the focus of an urban renewal project in the 1950’s and 1960’s that cleared the land that was used to erect the Fulton County Stadium (which opened in 1965). This was in turn was demolished prior to the 1996 Olympics hosted by the city of Atlanta. Turner Field took the place of the previous stadium.
This urban renewal project that began in the 1950’s would change the east side of Atlanta in the subsequent years. Other neighborhood movie theaters in the this vicinity like the the Fairview/Memorial at 657 Memorial Drive, SW and the Temple at 456 Temple Avenue, SW
would also close in that era. Eventually, the racial makeup of Atlanta’s east side would change dramatically.
Apparently the Empire Theatre was demolished some years ago. Hopefully, someone whose memory of Atlanta goes back further than mine will be able to give us more specifics.
The 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory lists the Memorial Theatre at 657 Memorial Drive, SE. The newspaper listings that I have from that period do not list either the Fairview or the Memorial Theatre. The address would have been in the general vicinity of Oakland Cemetary. Apparently, the building must have been demolished years ago. In 2003 there was nothing corresponding to the number 657 address on Memorial Drive. It would have stood on the South side of the street, as I recall.
Having grown up on the East side of Atlanta, I was very familiar with Memorial Drive. Frankly, I cannot remember anything that was recognizable as a closed movie theater in that area.
My educated guess is that the Fairview/Memorial was one of a group
of neighborhood theatres that closed in the early to mid 1950’s. In the same general vicinity, due East of downtown Atlanta, was the long gone Empire Theatre at 42 Georgia Avenue, SW (opposite present day Turner Field), as well as the Temple Theatre at 456 Cherokee Avenue, SE (still standing in 2003).
Yes, the Temple Theatre struck me as being an old structure, as well. These long gone movie theatres, as well as the ones that have survived, give a pretty good idea of the growth patterns of Atlanta. You could probably draw strong parallel between developments in Atlanta and many other parts of the country.
If my dad had not been a movie buff and taken me to the movies in Atlanta beginning in the 1950’s, I never would have known about some of these theaters – or the way people lived in those years, for that matter. This is more than an idle interest in old movie theaters, it’s an interesting aspect of sociology.
The only thing that would have mitigated against the use of a site in College Park as a recording studio in the ‘60’s and '70’s was the noise from the (previous) Atlanta Airport (located on Virginia Avenue in those days). Soundproofing a recording studio in that area would have been tough. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, though. Nevertheless, the airport noise only got worse over the years.
Sounds like it was literally a community theater at one time. That means it might have served as a venue for amateur theatricals put on my members of the community and possibly as a meeting hall for social groups. Of course, it still might have fucntioned as a movie theater at one time. Hopefully, someone who actually remembers it can fill us in.
It’s worth remembering that theaters go through transitions. The Loew’s Grand and the Erlanger Theatre on Peachtree Street were built as opera houses. Atlanta even had burlesque theaters back in the 1930’s!
It’s very likely that there was another theater in Little Five Points more than fifty years ago. The first suburbs of Atlanta were West End and Inman Park. West End had at least three movie theaters at one time: the West End Theatre on Lee Street; the Gordon Theatre on Gordon Road; and the Cascade Theatre on Gordon Road (near the juncture of Cascade Road).
Little Five Points, which was adjacent to Inman Park, was also an early suburb of Atlanta. The street number of 1142 Euclid Avenue, NE, would have placed the Palace Theatre on the north side of Euclid Avenue, closer to Moreland Avenue. That means that it would have been east of the Little Five Points Theatre at 1103 Euclid Avenue and the Euclid Theatre at 1099 Euclid Avenue, both on the south side of the street. All three theaters would have been in the general vicinity of what was once Bass High School.
Although I never remember actually seeing another movie theater in Little Five Points in the 1950’s, I would consider it very probable that there was one. It’s a pity I can’t ask my dad about it. He attended Bass High and he would have known for sure.
The Techwood Theatre was a second run house that was located near the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (that’s Georgia Tech, folks). The theater was west of the Varsity Drive-In and the viaduct over I-85 on North Avenue. Although it did occasionally show first run features that were on multiple runs in the 1960’s, it was never really a first run venue.
My dad used to take me to the Techwood occasionally back in the 1950’s. What I remember most about the theater was its Neo-Classical facade. Apart from that, 500 sets sounds about right. When I went there so many years ago the theater seemed well maintained.
There was a Bankhead Drive-In at 3350 Bankhead Highway, NW. However, I was not aware of another hardtop theater on the Bankhead Highway (now the Donald Lee Hollowell Highway) other than the Grove Theater at 1576 Bankhead Highway, NW.
However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t one. Possibly the hardtop Bankhead Theatre closed circa 1950. According to the copies of the Atlanta Telephone Directory and the Atlanta Journal from the early 1950’s, the only “Bankhead Theatre” was the drive-in cited earlier. Although I grew up in Atlanta, I was never aware of the College Park Theatre or the Sylvan Theatre, either. Hopefully, someone whose memory of Atlanta stretches back further than mine can give us some details.
According to the Atlanta Time Machine website at:
View link
the Bankhead Highway is now known as the Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. While I never actually knew the Grove Theatre when I was growing up, I do remember the ads in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the theatre. As a matter of curiosity, I’d like to know if the building that originally housed the Grove Theatre is still standing.
My best guess is that the theatre probably closed sometime in the 1960’s. Hopefully, someone who reads this post will have some more specific memories.
The future does not bode well for motion picture exhibition as we have known it. As of this writing, the technology exists for high speed interconnect delivery of programming to home computers that interface with home theater systems. It is just a matter of time before a system is marketed at a price point that seems affordable to the middle class. When the public can download High Definition programming, and/or buy a uniform standard for High Definition DVD (are you listening Sony/Philips and Toshiba?), thousands of movie theaters in the country will probably close. It could even resemble the situation that occurred after the 1948 Federal Court Consent Decree that required the “Big Five” studios to divest themselves of their holdings in exhibition. From 1948 into the mid 1950’s, thousands of movie theaters closed across the country. History may be about to repeat itself.
In addition, the recent Supreme court decision affirming the right of local governments to condemn private property by eminent domain for the benefit of private developers could affect many movie theaters eventually. In time, you can expect numerous movie theaters to go out of business and the land sold or condemned for development.
Personally, I hate the thought that some day going out to see a movie in a theater may be regarded as a quaint ritual practiced by an earlier generation. At that point, it would be like comparing it to people listening to radio programs before the advent of television. Does that comparison bother you? Well, I hope so!
You are right – today the studios are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. As of this writing, the current box office slump has lasted nineteen weeks. The screen ads are becoming a real sore spot for much of the public. With the price of parking and concessions, it’s just more economical to rent the DVD.
Currently, the studios still need the exhibitors to launch a movie release and prepare the market for the eventual DVD release. When they figure out how to make movie theaters redundant, expect things to change dramatically.
Only a Federal Anti-Trust suit can stop the media conglomerates from monopolizing film and electronic media. So, try writing you congressman – it’s time to break up the media conglomerates!
Patsy – The Georgia Pacific Tower stands on the site that the Loew’s Grand once occupied. It’s a forty story plus office tower. If memory serves, it is, or was, the tallest building in downtown Atlanta. Whenever I see it, I am reminded of the Loew’s Grand and it’s neighbor, the Paramount Theatre (demolished in 1960).
Considering the value of prime real estate on Peachtree Street, it’s hard to see how the Loew’s Grand could have been saved. The City of Atlanta (the government, that is) wanted the tax revenues that a new office tower would bring. When you consider the recent Supreme Court decision affirming the right of local government to condemn private property by eminent domain for the benefit of private investors, it doesn’t bode well for vintage movie theaters.
Friends in Atlanta have told me that the fire that damaged the lobby (circa 1978) of the Loew’s Grand was highly suspicious, to say the least. As I understand it, that fire was the determining factor that led to the building being condemned once and for all.
Ron – Yes, the 1967 re-release of GWTW was a mutilation. Seeing it at the Loew’s Grand didn’t really help much. The technicians responsible for that dubious distinction actually won an technical Academy Award! The most recent DVD release is infinitely better!
However, I did see the 1961 re-release at the Loew’s Grand. That memory has stood out for over forty years!
When the Loew’s Tara originally opened as a single screen I thought the presentation was especially good. It rivalled that of the Phipps Plaza Theatre. The Tara appeared to have a wall to wall screen on 2:35 ratio pictures.
Does anyone know if the Loew’s Tara was equipped for 70mm projection and stereophonic sound? The reason that I ask is that OLIVER (1968) and PAINT YOUR WAGON (1970) were both released in 70mm blow up prints with stereo soundtracks. Furthermore, they were both released in dye transfer Technicolor, as well. They both looked terrific at the Tara, as well as MAROONED (1969) that was also released in a 70mm blowup with a stereo soundtrack (but only in Eastmancolor).
The first picture that I remember seeing there was THE LION IN WINTER (1968). STRAW DOGS (1971) was another memorable experience. As a single screen theater, the Loew’s Tara was a real contender.
The days of “twinning” and multiplexes have caused a lot of people to forget what it was like to see a film on a really big screen. That’s the real pity!
…THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, WOMEN IN LOVE … and some not worth mentioning …
Checking www.imdb.com, I learned that COME BLOW YOUR HORN was actually a Paramount release.
Looking up United Artists releases on the imdb.com, refreshed my memory. During the 1960’s, and I also remember seeing: WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT, BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN, THE GRADUATE, CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY’S, HANNIBAL BROOKS, THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN, THE LANDLORD, THE HAWAIIANS On visits back to Atlanta in the 1970’s: BANANAS, FUZZ, EVERYTHING THAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX …, WHITE LIGHTNING, and THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT. Also managed to miss a few I would have liked to have seen there. Nice theater in those days!
450 seats sounds just right for the Ponce de Leon Theatre. It was roughly similar to the bygone West End Theatre that once stood on Lee Street in West End, as well as the Kirkwood Theatre cited earlier.
Fifty years ago I saw westerns starring Randolph Scott and Alan Ladd at the Ponce de Leon.
Do you know if the building that housed this theater is still standing? Although I remember the movie theater that was actually on the Fort McPherson Base, I don’t believe that I ever knew this theater. Was it in the vicinity of Sylvan High School?
Do you have any idea of the years of operation?
There seems to have been a group of Atlanta movie theaters that closed before I had a conscious memory. Learning about them almost amounts to archaeology!
The Ponce de Leon Theatre stood on the north side of Ponce de Leon Avenue, several doors east of the intersection where Boulevard intersects Ponce de Leon Avenue from the south and becomes Monroe Drive north of Ponce de Leon Avenue. The only street address that I am aware of is 506 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE.
This was one of the neighborhood theaters that my dad took me to in the 1950’s. As nearly as I can recall, it was a relatively small theater like the Kirkwood Theatre at 1965 Boulevard Drive, SE.
The Ponce de Leon Theatre closed circa 1956. The building stood empty for many years. To the best of my knowledge, the property was never used by any other business. As I recall, it was demolished in the early 1970’s.
Strongly recommend that you see Rick McKay’s documentary, BROADWAY, THE GOLDEN AGE: BY THE LEGENDS THAT WERE THERE (2003). It says so much about a truly fabulous age in New York art and entertainment that is barely a memory.
In a certain way, the Beekman Theatre was part of that era.
On a different note:
From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, June 22, 2005
Re: The Merger of AMC and Loew’s
“I think the exhibition business is at a crossroads,” said Paul del Rossi, former chief executive of General Cinemas, which filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago before being bought by AMC. “The major players in the exhibition business are now controlled by venture capitalists, and they have different long-term views than traditional theater owners.”
Although the industry isn’t facing the dire situation it did in the 1990s, when a glut of theaters forced several exhibitors to file for bankruptcy protection, business has slowed for the big companies, helping to fuel the current consolidation wave. AMC, for example, reported a $10.7-million loss last year.
Other recent deals include last week’s acquisition by Canadian theater chain Cineplex Galaxy of Viacom Inc.’s Famous Players, a move that gives the consolidated company 60% of the Canadian market. Century Theatres in Northern California this year was reported to have hired an investment bank to find a buyer.
Consolidation benefits theater chains by lowering their administrative and supply costs, and also by potentially giving larger chains more leverage to negotiate better “film terms” with the studios. Currently, studios keep 60% to 70% of a movie’s first-weekend gross. With the DVD release timeframe shrinking from six months to as little as three months for most movies, mergers also could put theaters in a better position to push for DVDs to be released later.
John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents the majority of U.S. exhibitors, said the exhibition industry was fundamentally sound but currently in a bad cycle.
“We are not having a great year, but we have been in this position before,” Fithian said. “When the quality and the quantity of the movies come back, our patrons will come back to see them. The sky is not falling.”
Box-office sales are down 7% to date this year, and admissions are on track to fall for the third straight year.
Old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES June 22, 2005
Re: Merger of AMC and Loew’s Theaters
“I think the exhibition business is at a crossroads,” said Paul del Rossi, former chief executive of General Cinemas, which filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago before being bought by AMC. “The major players in the exhibition business are now controlled by venture capitalists, and they have different long-term views than traditional theater owners.”
Although the industry isn’t facing the dire situation it did in the 1990s, when a glut of theaters forced several exhibitors to file for bankruptcy protection, business has slowed for the big companies, helping to fuel the current consolidation wave. AMC, for example, reported a $10.7-million loss last year.
Other recent deals include last week’s acquisition by Canadian theater chain Cineplex Galaxy of Viacom Inc.’s Famous Players, a move that gives the consolidated company 60% of the Canadian market. Century Theatres in Northern California this year was reported to have hired an investment bank to find a buyer.
Consolidation benefits theater chains by lowering their administrative and supply costs, and also by potentially giving larger chains more leverage to negotiate better “film terms” with the studios. Currently, studios keep 60% to 70% of a movie’s first-weekend gross. With the DVD release timeframe shrinking from six months to as little as three months for most movies, mergers also could put theaters in a better position to push for DVDs to be released later.
John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, a trade organization that represents the majority of U.S. exhibitors, said the exhibition industry was fundamentally sound but currently in a bad cycle.
“We are not having a great year, but we have been in this position before,” Fithian said. “When the quality and the quantity of the movies come back, our patrons will come back to see them. The sky is not falling.”
Box-office sales are down 7% to date this year, and admissions are on track to fall for the third straight year.
Old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.”
Independendent exhibitors have been the life’s blood of the foreign film market and the independent film movement. Preserving the independent production and exhibition market should be one of the chief causes for concern of a Federal Anti-Trust Suit against the media conglomerates. Stimulating an alternative marketplace, distinct from the big studios' commercial product, seems not only reasonable but necessary if we hope to sustain a free market.
Some of the primary independent production companies such as Miramax and New Line were acquired by the majors. Nearly all of the major studios have specially subdivisions for independent and foreign film distribution. However, the real concern is stimulating competition in this market in production/distribution as well as exhibition. It should not be almost exclusively controlled by media conglomerates
This is an area for serious industry study.
Some of my favorite films of the last twenty years were titles that the corporate multiplexes would not touch, i.e. DREAMCHILD (1985); MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990); and PONETTE (1996). Look them up on imdb.com.
Fundamentally, I agree with you. Human beings are social animals and basically crave communal activity. Nothing will entirely replace going out to the theater, whether it is to see movies or live performances.
In England, Sony literally paid for the conversion of a large number of British cinemas to their new digital projection system, providing the equipment and the installation gratis. So, the precedent has already been set for conversion.
Yes, different applications of digital technology are inevitable. Exactly which applications will come to dominate the marketplace remains to be seen. In the meantime, the real issue will be profitablity for movie exhibitors. If the current downward trend at the box office is not merely a seasonal fluctuation, but a real change in public taste then exhibitors are headed for trouble.
In view of current trends, I see two remedies:
The Federal Government needs to break up the media conglomerates. As it has been pointed out by media critics, an increasingly greater amount of information is controlled by progressively fewer people. Anti-Trust Laws were passed in order to deal with this kind of situation.
Conversely, the Federal Government needs to explore allowing the movie studios to own a larger stake in exhibition, although not up to pre-1948 levels.. The studios need the theatrical openings to launch their eventual DVD sales. Exhibitors want to survive. By allowing a merger of the studios' and exhibitors' mutual interests, movie exhibition may be able to survive in a changing economy.
You may remember the closing scene in the 1971 movie version of Larry McMurtry’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, directed by Peter Bogdonovich. The characters played by Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges attend the final show at the neighborhood theater in the Texas town where they grew up. It is literally the last picture show for this theater. As we know, that scene was being played out all across the country. Obviously, it was repeated all over the Atlanta area in those years.
The coming changes in digital technology could mean a change nearly as dramatic as the one that occured in the motion picture industry over fifty years ago. It will be fascinating to watch it unfold and see if history really does have a way of repeating itself.
Yes, “out of sight, out of mind” explains some of the collective amnesia in the Atlanta area concerning the past. Now that you mention it, I was only vaguely aware that College Park had actually once been the home of a college. My visits to Atlanta over the years have only reinforced the impression that the percentage of the population that is native to the area is shrinking. There simply aren’t as many people there who remember Atlanta in the early to mid-twentieth century as there used to be.
As I have pointed out in some of my previous posts, there were roughly a dozen neighborhood movie theaters that closed in the early to mid 1950’s. These were theaters that catered to the white population in a racially segregated era. Actually, I never knew theaters like the American, the Brookhaven, the Cameo, the Cascade, or the Fairview/Memorial at all. So, I don’t doubt that there was once a movie house in College Park.
My own fascination with the changing movie exhibition market is concerned with what is happening right now. As you are probably aware, at this writing the industry is having its worst box office slump in twenty years. Recently, actor Morgan Freeman stated in an on camera TV interview that he is investing in a system for high speed internet delivery of motion pictures to home theatre systems with computer convergence.
Yes, things are about to the change again. It seems to me that there are lessons to be learned by looking at the decline of America’s movie theaters from the late 1940’s into the 1950’s. It would make a great market study for someone who is working on a business degree.
CORRECTION: Regarding the closing date for the DeKalb Theatre (at 130 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue) mentioned in my earler post – the date that I cited was only an educated guess. Although I suspect that it closed circa 1953/54, I do not have a confirmed date. The DeKalb Theatre was on the north side of the Decatur courthouse square, opposite the location of the Decatur Theatre (just off the the south side of the square).
Jack – The exterior of the building that once housed the Glen Theatre was intact in 2003. When I actually went into the pawn shop to take a look, it appeared that the shop’s selling floor occupied only about half of the front of the building. The back half appeared to be partioned off.
Unless you had known that it used to be a movie theater, you might not have guessed it upon entering that store. Having known the Glen Theatre well from having attended it in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, I had difficulty seeing any continuity at all.
There was NEVER anything distinctive about the Glen Theatre. It was strictly a neighborhood grind house that changed its program two or three times a week. It seemed to be a kind of bare bones operation. However, it certainly did business in the years that I attended it. On Saturdays they usually booked horror/science fiction movies; westerns; and/or war movies. Realize that by the mid to late 1960’s, the racial makeup of this area was changing. Mercifully, I never knew it as a porn house.
Curiously enough, I did not find a listing for the Glen Theatre in the photocopies of the 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory and the Atlanta Journal from the same year that I have used for reference. Frankly, I can’t recall attending the theatre before about 1957/58, so I really don’t know when it opened.
One possible resource that I have never had the chance to explore would be the City of Atlanta Business License Records. Of course, since I don’t live in the Atlanta area now it’s not a convenient research tool for me. However, if you have the time and curiosity, I’ll bet you could track down where the records are stored. They are probably on microfilm or computer files. Given access, you could learn the years of operation for the Atlanta area movie houses. Who knows, the archives of the City of Atlanta might even contain more specific information.
Remember, that communities like Decatur, Marietta, East Point, Hapeville, and College Park were all seperately incorporated cities. As a matter of fact, Decatur and Marietta were both proud of the fact that their city charters predated that of the City of Atlanta. Each of these incorporated cities have completely seperate records.
Frankly, I was surprised to read your post about the College Park Theatre. Back in the early ‘60’s I knew some fellow baby boomers who were also movie buffs who lived in College Park. They never mentioned a hardtop neighborhood theater there. The local movie theater of choice seemed to have been the Roosevelt Drive-In on the Roosevelt Highway.
For roughly ten years, from about 1962 to 1971, I was well acquainted with College Park and I can’t recall anything that resembled a shuttered movie house. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, though. Chances are you could learn something if you started to investigate at the College Park City Hall.
No, absolutely not!
The Glen Theatre was at the juncture of Glenwood Road and Candler Road in the Glenwood business district in DeKalb County, aproximately 3 ½ miles south of Decatur. The Glen was a very unpretenious neighborhood grind house. The last time I was in Atlanta in 2003, the building had been converted to a pawn shop.
The Glenwood Drive-In was further south on Candler Road, as I recall. It opened in the the mid-1950’s. It seems to have been demolished years ago.
The Decatur Theatre should not be confused with the DeKalb Theatre located at 130 Ponce de Leon Avenue, just off the courthouse square in Decatur. The DeKalb closed in 1954. The building was gutted and the space was converted to a J.C. Penny store. The building in turn was demolished to make way for new construction.
Having grown up in DeKalb County, I attended both the Decatur and the Glen very often. They were completely seperate and distinct.
As W.C. Fields might have put it, “DRAT!!!!!!!”
That is the only polite way that I can express it.
I loved the Beekman Theatre and I will miss it!
The Euclid Theatre was one of my favorite Atlanta neighborhood theaters in the 1950’s. My dad took me there often in those years. We saw a lot of westerns and action picures there, such as John Wayne movies like HONDO and BLOOD ALLEY. The theatre continued to be known as the Euclid Theatre until the last time I attended it in 1961. Unfortunately, I can’t remember exactly when it closed. According to my best recollection, it was not renamed until some years later. A search of the Atlanta Telephone Directories and the microfilm files of the Atlanta Journal and at the Atlanta Public Library would probably clarify matters.
Interesting that you would mention George Ellis. He always seemed like a nice man. He was memorable for playing “Bestoink Dooley,” the host of Channel 5, WAGA-TV’s Friday night Big Movie Shocker in the early 1960’s. For all his clowning as the host, he was probably responsible for seeing that the Universal horror movies originally distributed to television in the “Shock Theater” packages were treated with some respect. WAGA-TV broadcast each of the Universal series' in chronological order of release and without cutting the running time.
Personally, I have very warm memories of going to the Euclid Theatre as a kid. The air conditioning was great there on hot summer days!
The Empire Theatre seems to have been one of a group of Atlanta theaters that went out of business in the 1950’s. The theater was still in business in 1954, according to photocopies that I have of the movie section of the Atlanta Journal. The location would have been across Georgia Avenue from the location of present day Turner Field.
In the 1950’s this was essentially a slum area. The neigborhood was the focus of an urban renewal project in the 1950’s and 1960’s that cleared the land that was used to erect the Fulton County Stadium (which opened in 1965). This was in turn was demolished prior to the 1996 Olympics hosted by the city of Atlanta. Turner Field took the place of the previous stadium.
This urban renewal project that began in the 1950’s would change the east side of Atlanta in the subsequent years. Other neighborhood movie theaters in the this vicinity like the the Fairview/Memorial at 657 Memorial Drive, SW and the Temple at 456 Temple Avenue, SW
would also close in that era. Eventually, the racial makeup of Atlanta’s east side would change dramatically.
Apparently the Empire Theatre was demolished some years ago. Hopefully, someone whose memory of Atlanta goes back further than mine will be able to give us more specifics.
The 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory lists the Memorial Theatre at 657 Memorial Drive, SE. The newspaper listings that I have from that period do not list either the Fairview or the Memorial Theatre. The address would have been in the general vicinity of Oakland Cemetary. Apparently, the building must have been demolished years ago. In 2003 there was nothing corresponding to the number 657 address on Memorial Drive. It would have stood on the South side of the street, as I recall.
Having grown up on the East side of Atlanta, I was very familiar with Memorial Drive. Frankly, I cannot remember anything that was recognizable as a closed movie theater in that area.
My educated guess is that the Fairview/Memorial was one of a group
of neighborhood theatres that closed in the early to mid 1950’s. In the same general vicinity, due East of downtown Atlanta, was the long gone Empire Theatre at 42 Georgia Avenue, SW (opposite present day Turner Field), as well as the Temple Theatre at 456 Cherokee Avenue, SE (still standing in 2003).
Hopefully, someone has more specifics.