For several years in the 1970s it was home to the KZAP Midnight Movies on Friday and Saturday, a pretty broad series of films. At least once the series included “Behind the Green Door” but was not usually that blatantly “adult” despite what the theater ran the rest of the week. Some films were run in 35mm, others in 16mm, seemingly arbitrarily.
Sneetch: I remember having a vacation week and seeing “E.T.” one day, then going back the next to see “Poltergeist.”
Apparently they’d had a private 35mm showing the night before I saw “E.T.” and whoever was in the booth that day took several minutes to figure out what button to push to get the 70mm mag audio to play.
On the other hand, the next day’s presentation of “Poltergeist” was flawless.
I LOVED the final years of the Fox because I was at exactly the right age for the stuff they were running. They changed the program twice per week, with one of them usually being triple features of horror/scifi/exploitation stuff that 12-13 year old me just couldn’t get enough of (67 year old me can’t get enough of it either!). They often ran things that had already been shown quite a bit on TV edited/censored/beat-up 16mm, giving fans the opportunity to see them properly presented. I can remember multiple Hammer features (at least three of their Frankensteins, including the first), multiple Toho kaiju features, no-budget stuff like “Mission Mars”, Italian westerns and others that I’m sure I’ve long forgotten.
I’d take the bus downtown from Carmichael and spend the day in the theater for a whopping 49 cents.
First time I ever went there was for the final re-release of “South Pacific” before it went to TV. Was way too young to be thinking about such things at the time, but now I wonder if it was run in 70mm or at least 35mm four-track.
Gonna try this comment again…I think I used a forbidden word the first time and am not sure why they second try didn’t post.
Anyway: There was a period, I think during the summer of 1976 but am not sure, where the Cinema 150/Crestview ran nothing but rock movies: Pink Floyd at Pompeii, Yessongs, The Song Remains the Same (all in 4-track mag) and many others.
During that period I was able to talk the projectionist a few times (they were still doing 2000' changeovers) and he said that 70mm was considered when the place was built but for whatever reason they ultimately didn’t go for it, so they weren’t technically a D-150 house. They did have Ampex 4-track mag, though. Aside from the rock era, I can remember it being used for a re-release of 2001.
Many years later after I had moved to Santa Rosa, I went to the Corte Madera Cinema and had a jarring time travel moment as the place was exactly the same as the Cinema 150, though my understanding is that the Corta Madera did have 70mm.
I was just by the old site yesterday and I think it’s safe to say that the status is demolished, not just closed.
For several years in the 1970s it was home to the KZAP Midnight Movies on Friday and Saturday, a pretty broad series of films. At least once the series included “Behind the Green Door” but was not usually that blatantly “adult” despite what the theater ran the rest of the week. Some films were run in 35mm, others in 16mm, seemingly arbitrarily.
Sneetch: I remember having a vacation week and seeing “E.T.” one day, then going back the next to see “Poltergeist.”
Apparently they’d had a private 35mm showing the night before I saw “E.T.” and whoever was in the booth that day took several minutes to figure out what button to push to get the 70mm mag audio to play.
On the other hand, the next day’s presentation of “Poltergeist” was flawless.
I LOVED the final years of the Fox because I was at exactly the right age for the stuff they were running. They changed the program twice per week, with one of them usually being triple features of horror/scifi/exploitation stuff that 12-13 year old me just couldn’t get enough of (67 year old me can’t get enough of it either!). They often ran things that had already been shown quite a bit on TV edited/censored/beat-up 16mm, giving fans the opportunity to see them properly presented. I can remember multiple Hammer features (at least three of their Frankensteins, including the first), multiple Toho kaiju features, no-budget stuff like “Mission Mars”, Italian westerns and others that I’m sure I’ve long forgotten.
I’d take the bus downtown from Carmichael and spend the day in the theater for a whopping 49 cents.
First time I ever went there was for the final re-release of “South Pacific” before it went to TV. Was way too young to be thinking about such things at the time, but now I wonder if it was run in 70mm or at least 35mm four-track.
They were set up for 4-track mag, I have a really clear memory of being aware of the surround track during “That’s Entertainment.”
Gonna try this comment again…I think I used a forbidden word the first time and am not sure why they second try didn’t post.
Anyway: There was a period, I think during the summer of 1976 but am not sure, where the Cinema 150/Crestview ran nothing but rock movies: Pink Floyd at Pompeii, Yessongs, The Song Remains the Same (all in 4-track mag) and many others.
During that period I was able to talk the projectionist a few times (they were still doing 2000' changeovers) and he said that 70mm was considered when the place was built but for whatever reason they ultimately didn’t go for it, so they weren’t technically a D-150 house. They did have Ampex 4-track mag, though. Aside from the rock era, I can remember it being used for a re-release of 2001.
Many years later after I had moved to Santa Rosa, I went to the Corte Madera Cinema and had a jarring time travel moment as the place was exactly the same as the Cinema 150, though my understanding is that the Corta Madera did have 70mm.
I was just by the old site yesterday and I think it’s safe to say that the status is demolished, not just closed.
Man, I just don’t remember this theater going the “adult” route at all. And it was more or less my neighborhood theater at the time.