I started working at the Hyatt Cinema in 1973 as a doorman. I was the manager from 1976-1977.
By the time I started working there, it was already a two-screen theater. As I recall, 720-seats in the large cinema and 189-seats in the small theater, which we called, “The Abortion.”
It was not well done. There was little sound isolation in the small theater and it was an odd, two-tiered seating configuration.
The large cinema was a delight. It was a very large, curved screen and was set-up for 70mm, 6-channel magnetic sound (although it was never used while I was there) and I don’t think all of the five speakers behind the screen were operational. As I recall, number 2 never worked.
I did borrow a print of Funny Lady from the Burlingame Drive-In one night as it had a 4-channel magnetic soundtrack. We had a crew party and turned the volume up after hours. It sounded pretty darn good (even if the movie was not all that).
A lot of memories there. Sorry to see it in the shape it is now.
January 31, 2016: Closed for good tonight. Another piece of history.
I started working at the Hyatt Cinema in 1973 as a doorman. I was the manager from 1976-1977.
By the time I started working there, it was already a two-screen theater. As I recall, 720-seats in the large cinema and 189-seats in the small theater, which we called, “The Abortion.”
It was not well done. There was little sound isolation in the small theater and it was an odd, two-tiered seating configuration.
The large cinema was a delight. It was a very large, curved screen and was set-up for 70mm, 6-channel magnetic sound (although it was never used while I was there) and I don’t think all of the five speakers behind the screen were operational. As I recall, number 2 never worked.
I did borrow a print of Funny Lady from the Burlingame Drive-In one night as it had a 4-channel magnetic soundtrack. We had a crew party and turned the volume up after hours. It sounded pretty darn good (even if the movie was not all that).
A lot of memories there. Sorry to see it in the shape it is now.