Comments from scottfavareille

Showing 151 - 175 of 387 comments

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Ritz Theatre on Jun 13, 2005 at 8:50 am

The first film the Mitcheels showed there (as an XXX house) was “Resurrection of Eve” as first-run. The week prior it played a triple bill of three films with Mick Jagger: Gimme Shelter, Performance, and Ned Kelly.

Behind the Green Door first played in Hayward at the Hayward theater a block down the street on Mission. That theater had gone XXX in early 1973, several months prior to the Ritz, and actually even suffered from an occasional police raid. (And prior to it going XXX, the Hayward theater had been showing soft X fare like Swinging Pussycats frequently.)

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Avon 42nd Street Theatre on Jun 13, 2005 at 8:34 am

Operated by the Avon chain, who ran numerous (mostly storefront) theaters in and around Times Square.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Capri Cinema on Jun 13, 2005 at 8:33 am

Chelly Wilson operated this theater. I understand it was demolished & turned into a parking lot.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Fox Cabaret on Jun 9, 2005 at 10:13 am

According to Robin Bougie of www.cinemasewer.com, this converted to video porn about a year ago. It did show prints of XXX films from the 1970’s and the 1980’s, most not in the greatest of shape, but it did attract an audience.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Cinematheque 16 Moviehouse on Jun 7, 2005 at 12:14 pm

Some of these 16mm houses would go to hard porn. Was this one of them?

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Ormont Theatre on Jun 7, 2005 at 12:13 pm

Did this ever show XXX fare? It was also not unusual to see “arthouse” theaters from the 1950’s era convert to “adults only” sex films booking in the 1960’s and then XXX by about 1973.

Also, was there any resistence from the Masons over the “racier” fare?

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Rivoli Theatre on May 28, 2005 at 4:42 pm

According to a documentary on the Anchor Bay DVD of Dawn of the Dead(Ultimate Edition), the Rivoli played Dawn on its first run engagement, which would have been May 1979.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Palm Theater on May 16, 2005 at 1:38 pm

The Xanadu is in Oakland on 2nd and Broadway about a block from Jack London Square. Indeed it is still open & shows porn on 2 of its 3 theaters(the third has been turned into peep booths)—It was a mainstream sub-run house prior to going XXX in 1975(and was originally called Jack London Square Cinemas). The others that haven’t been torn down or turned into other uses are now “live sex show” houses ala The O'Farrell in San Francisco.

In the end, the Palm was operated by the same operators who operated the Burbank before its(forced) closing.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Roxie Cinema on May 16, 2005 at 8:30 am

Once again, this theater is in danger of closing, according to today’s SF Chronicle. The theater operator owes $140,000 between the IRS($115,000) and back rent to the landlord($25,000). The article was implying that the IRS may wind up seizing the theater.

The Roxie does show a lot of independent film festivals as well as good documentaries and other gems.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Little Roxie on May 16, 2005 at 8:26 am

Seats 50. Is in danger of being closed, see Roxie theater for more info.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Palm Theater on May 16, 2005 at 8:25 am

And so ends the legacy of the porno theater in the San Francisco Bay area.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Concord Auto Movie on May 12, 2005 at 10:48 am

The Eneas also ran the Showcase(aka Enean) in downtown Concord as well.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Coliseum Family Cinemas on May 10, 2005 at 1:11 pm

Also showed a lot of kung-fu in the 1970’s. Those were the days!

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Capri Theatre on May 10, 2005 at 1:08 pm

To add to the above post, there was also the Sun Valley Cinemas at Sun Valley Mall(operated by General Cinema Corporation) and the Showcase on Grant St. Sun Valley also showed first-run product. The Showcase in 1973 was a discount house that went to hard porn in 1975 and then became part of the Pussycat chain in 1976.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Park Theater For Sale on May 3, 2005 at 12:58 pm

And the Dome in Pleasant Hill is scheduled to be razed & replaced with a new CineArts as part of the rebuilding of that shopping center in which it is in.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Park Theatre on May 3, 2005 at 9:04 am

Apparently this theater is for sale for $1.5 million. I don’t think that this is good news.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Park Theater For Sale on May 3, 2005 at 9:02 am

I am a bit concerned about this, considering that Renaissance Rialto recently sold the Oaks Theater in Berkeley. I hope it doesn’t mean that the Orinda and Grand Lake theaters(two classic showcases) are in trouble. It is a shame that a small independent like RR is being hurt by the monopolization of the East Bay by the Century Theaters chain. I prefer going to both the Park and the Orinda for their better projection standards, better staff, and better(& cheaper) buttered popcorn.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Paris Theatre on Apr 25, 2005 at 9:43 am

According to the latest Filmfax Magazine, the “bad film” Plan Nine From Outer Space premiered here. That would have been in 1959.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about New Beverly Cinema on Apr 13, 2005 at 5:20 pm

During its XXX days, Bill Osco(related to the Osco family who owned the Osco Drugstore chain) and Howard Ziehm had owned the theater. Osco/Ziehm made the first 35mm XXX narrative feature, “Mona”(1970) and are best known for the 1973 cult classic “Flesh Gordon”. Ziehm later ran the theater on his own after dissolving his partnership with Osco. (Well told by Ziehm on the DVD audio commentary of Flesh Gordon.)

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Sunnyvale Theatre on Apr 7, 2005 at 9:41 am

In the 1970’s(as the Town and Country), it was a dollar house before converting to XXX format(approximately 1974) and stayed that way until the early 1980’s. The AMC Sunnyvale 6(now closed) at the Towne Center mall likely hurt this theater before its porn conversion.

From what I understand, in its current nightclub incarnation, the balcony area is used as a second dancefloor.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Coronet Theatre on Apr 5, 2005 at 2:49 pm

The Prsidio is now a 4-screener(original auditorium was chopped into 3 screens—Screen 4 was added in another space.) Grand Lake is also chopped into 4 screens. The best bet would be if it plays at the Orinda theater(a good possibility), whose main auditorium is still intact(the two other screens were added in an adjacent building) or at the Century 21 in San Jose(part of a complex, but the Century 21 itself is an undivided dome that seats over 1000). I would bet good money that Century 21 will play it.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about El Rey Theatre on Mar 12, 2005 at 10:18 am

Was operated by Mike Weldon Theaters in 1975-1976 as an XXX house. In its (post-XXX) days, it was renamed the Cinema.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Sacramento Inn Cinema I, II, III on Mar 4, 2005 at 10:22 am

I do recall the Studio did show porn in the 1970’s before closing.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Winter Garden Theatre on Feb 22, 2005 at 11:53 am

In the 1970’s until close, it was known as the Garden Art theater. Operated by Harold Greenland(who had also operated the Green Parrot and one other Seattle theater at the time called the Neptune), this theater showed XXX films in 35mm and would play the “hit” XXX films. Reportably it was the best operated of his three Seattle theaters and attracted a couples audience.

The Green Parrot, on the other hand, was known as “the dirty parrot” and ran as a 24 hr a day operation, showing 16mm porn on triple bills. Prior to that, the Parrot ran triple bills of science fiction films. The Neptune had “live shows” along with the porn films.

scottfavareille
scottfavareille commented about Rex Theatre on Feb 21, 2005 at 1:16 pm

John Waters(film director) mentioned in various audio commentaries about seeing “nudist camp movies” here in the 1960’s.