Responding to Scottneff query: The Commonwealth, and then the UA city offices were at the Continental Theatre. The UA corporate headquarters were in Englewood/DTC, not a mile or so from the Greenwood Plaza. The corporate hq building currently houses National Cinemedia (co-owned by Regal, who bought UA).
I was working for UA Theatres corporate hq in the 1990s – don’t think this was a United Artists location. I attended a few shows here in the early 90s and never got in free!
Opened as a newly constructed venue in the mid-1990s as part of the multi-state Super Saver Cinemas chain. At some point it became Silver Cinemas, and finally the locally-owned (Littleton, CO – based) Elvis Cinemas, which took over the three Super Saver venues in the Denver metro area.
Follow this link to a site about 70mm projectors. Scroll to the bottom to view a photo of projectionist John Templeton posing with two behemoth DP70 projectors in the North Star Drive-In booth:
http://www.in70mm.com/dp70/country/usa/colorado/index.htm
Thanks for the correction Ronnie21 – memory plays tricks when you get older. Another correction – since I wrote that 2009 entry, I now say I met my ex-wife at the theatre.
I worked for the Sattellite Theatre Network, a project begun by UA Theatres in the 1990s. The Greenwood Plaza was our laboratory as well. The first digital projector in a Denver theatre was installed here – you can catch a glimpse of it in this video shot in the Greenwood projection booth in the mid-1990s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vImi-neXo4I
HodgePodge – many many thanks for the photos – it’s nice to have pics of the theaters in their hayday. Can you tell us more about the attempted burglary and explosives?
I have a photo of the old drive-in mentioned in the Stan Malone comment from 2005 above. The shot was taken in 1994, and the concession stand is occupied by a horse. How do we get a new entry listed for that venue?
How things continue to change…while the theater looks the same in those recent shots vs mine from 1995, the neighborhood around it has grown. In the 1995 shot, you can see a small older building next to the theater; the more recent shots, that structure is gone and something much bigger has replaced it.
1995: View link
I’m thinking the theater is managed by a non-profit that might be connected with the City of Muskogee – perhaps a call to City Hall might be the best place to start.
I visited the UA Emery Bay theater a couple of times while working for United Artists – it did not have stadium seating through those years (1989 – 1997).
I spent a few minutes visiting with owner Irene Pacey in Kanapolis this weekend. I had spotted the screen while driving through town, and she and her husband were nearby – Irene’s mother, recently deceased, lived across the street from the theater.
Irene’s father built the Kanopolis Drive-In and opened it in 1952. The family had run the theater every year since then until around 2006, when health issues left them no choice but to temporarily close. While the theater is still closed, Irene says all the projection equipment is intact and ready to roll.
A hailstorm broke fences and damaged the screen, but Irene – a retired nurse and city council member in nearby Ellsworth – would like to re-open. Here’s hoping that can happen. The drive-in is in good shape, and it would undoubtably be a local attraction – it was open for over fifty years!
One note: unless my powers of estimation are really off, there’s little chance you could get 740 cars into the Kanopolis. The lot doesn’t look nearly that big.
Comparing the photo from the 1990’s linked above with the Roadside Oklahoma photos, I’d say Roadside has the wrong part of the mall. There are some hefty roof supports in the older photo which do not appear in the later one; it’s possible those columns were removed, I guess. I drove through the shopping center about a year ago, and I could not tell which building housed the theater – and I worked there for about six months! But that was a couple of decades ago…
The name of the theater on this header should be “Reding” with a single R.
Chuck 1231, I can confirm that the Roxy is indeed a live venue. I attended a screening during the April 2009 Bare Bones Film Festival at the Roxy, and I sold a photo of the theater for use in promoting their summer 2010 live music lineup.
The Orpheum on a muggy summer day in 1996 – they must have been showing the original 1960 version of “Psycho”, as the remake came out two years after this photo: View link
The Fox in Leadville is on the right side of this 1942 photo of the a fire consuming buildings located between the Lake County Courthouse and the theater: View link
And for further transformations: the clothing retailers who used the venue for years filed bankruptcy in 2008; the Boomer is now to become a Chipotle Mexican Grill location: View link
Responding to Scottneff query: The Commonwealth, and then the UA city offices were at the Continental Theatre. The UA corporate headquarters were in Englewood/DTC, not a mile or so from the Greenwood Plaza. The corporate hq building currently houses National Cinemedia (co-owned by Regal, who bought UA).
I was working for UA Theatres corporate hq in the 1990s – don’t think this was a United Artists location. I attended a few shows here in the early 90s and never got in free!
Opened as a newly constructed venue in the mid-1990s as part of the multi-state Super Saver Cinemas chain. At some point it became Silver Cinemas, and finally the locally-owned (Littleton, CO – based) Elvis Cinemas, which took over the three Super Saver venues in the Denver metro area.
A unique aerial view of the Cinema 70: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58299528@N05/5372145350/in/set-72157625851339136/
Follow this link to a site about 70mm projectors. Scroll to the bottom to view a photo of projectionist John Templeton posing with two behemoth DP70 projectors in the North Star Drive-In booth: http://www.in70mm.com/dp70/country/usa/colorado/index.htm
Thanks for the correction Ronnie21 – memory plays tricks when you get older. Another correction – since I wrote that 2009 entry, I now say I met my ex-wife at the theatre.
I worked for the Sattellite Theatre Network, a project begun by UA Theatres in the 1990s. The Greenwood Plaza was our laboratory as well. The first digital projector in a Denver theatre was installed here – you can catch a glimpse of it in this video shot in the Greenwood projection booth in the mid-1990s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vImi-neXo4I
HodgePodge – many many thanks for the photos – it’s nice to have pics of the theaters in their hayday. Can you tell us more about the attempted burglary and explosives?
I have a photo of the old drive-in mentioned in the Stan Malone comment from 2005 above. The shot was taken in 1994, and the concession stand is occupied by a horse. How do we get a new entry listed for that venue?
So is the Cooper 1-2-3 a separate entity from the Cinema 70, Ute 70 and Cooper 70?
How things continue to change…while the theater looks the same in those recent shots vs mine from 1995, the neighborhood around it has grown. In the 1995 shot, you can see a small older building next to the theater; the more recent shots, that structure is gone and something much bigger has replaced it.
1995: View link
I’m thinking the theater is managed by a non-profit that might be connected with the City of Muskogee – perhaps a call to City Hall might be the best place to start.
I visited the UA Emery Bay theater a couple of times while working for United Artists – it did not have stadium seating through those years (1989 – 1997).
And finally, some photos – from 2006, including the projection booth:
http://travel.webshots.com/album/570817272PTZXVO
Just found this little history of the Kanopolis Drive-In – written by either owner Irene or perhaps her sister?
View link
I spent a few minutes visiting with owner Irene Pacey in Kanapolis this weekend. I had spotted the screen while driving through town, and she and her husband were nearby – Irene’s mother, recently deceased, lived across the street from the theater.
Irene’s father built the Kanopolis Drive-In and opened it in 1952. The family had run the theater every year since then until around 2006, when health issues left them no choice but to temporarily close. While the theater is still closed, Irene says all the projection equipment is intact and ready to roll.
A hailstorm broke fences and damaged the screen, but Irene – a retired nurse and city council member in nearby Ellsworth – would like to re-open. Here’s hoping that can happen. The drive-in is in good shape, and it would undoubtably be a local attraction – it was open for over fifty years!
One note: unless my powers of estimation are really off, there’s little chance you could get 740 cars into the Kanopolis. The lot doesn’t look nearly that big.
Comparing the photo from the 1990’s linked above with the Roadside Oklahoma photos, I’d say Roadside has the wrong part of the mall. There are some hefty roof supports in the older photo which do not appear in the later one; it’s possible those columns were removed, I guess. I drove through the shopping center about a year ago, and I could not tell which building housed the theater – and I worked there for about six months! But that was a couple of decades ago…
The name of the theater on this header should be “Reding” with a single R.
Chuck 1231, I can confirm that the Roxy is indeed a live venue. I attended a screening during the April 2009 Bare Bones Film Festival at the Roxy, and I sold a photo of the theater for use in promoting their summer 2010 live music lineup.
The Teton in September 2002 – that stone facade means photos taken through the years look pretty much alike!
View link
The Orpheum on a muggy summer day in 1996 – they must have been showing the original 1960 version of “Psycho”, as the remake came out two years after this photo:
View link
Some older shots of the Peak – first, from circa 1990:
View link
And then from February 1997:
View link
View link
The Fox in Leadville is on the right side of this 1942 photo of the a fire consuming buildings located between the Lake County Courthouse and the theater:
View link
The Ute on the right in this Colorado Springs street scene from 1945:
View link
Chuck, doesn’t look like the Normal, but the Castle in the posted link…
And for further transformations: the clothing retailers who used the venue for years filed bankruptcy in 2008; the Boomer is now to become a Chipotle Mexican Grill location:
View link