My first ever job was at the Cinedomes. I was a Junior at Garden Grove High School back in 1997 when I started there. Seriously, it was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had.
There were so many awesome memories in the 1.5 years I worked there. I got my hands on so much movie memorabilia, such as rare posters for American History X, soundtracks, buttons, movie trailers, you name it.
Most would be surprised to know that there was a hole drilled in the usher’s closet going into the women’s bathroom! LOL, when I worked there, the closet was so packed that you could not even get close to it, I’m thinking it was made WAY back in the early years of the theater.
The ushers would play hot dog baseball while cleaning theaters. We’d wad up the foil hotdog wrappers and pitch them to each other and we’d try to smack them with our brooms into the projection window. I recall I made it once! Then there were the “haunting” stories. In big dome #2, a girl had died by falling over the balcony and breaking her neck. Whenever I’d clean the theater alone, I could hear strange noises. I’d get freaked sometimes. Also, an employee died while changing the front marquee when his harness broke. That’s why they removed the marquee in the later years while I was there.
When the 25 opened, half the employees transferred there. I chose to stay at the domes, since I liked the atmosphere and it was just cooler overall. When we became second run, lots of weirdos started showing up, but the job was even more fun. One of the head managers had actual old film prints that he had collected, and Halloween of 98 we did old horror film screenings for films like Alien, The Omen, and a few others. I got promoted to assistant manager, then a week later the theater was kaput and we were all transferred to the Stadium 25. I worked the Stadium for about 6 months, but it was just horrible compared to the Dome experience. I ended up quitting. I still have my vest, name badge, and usher cleaning schedules as mementos of my time at the Cinedomes. John who was the assistant manager there took 2 rows of seats and parts of the screen for his garage theater, and with the stuff Captain Blood has, parts of the Dome will at least live on in a way.
Century truly was stupid to demolish the theater. What I heard was that the 25 doesn’t even do close to the business the Domes used to pull in. When we were second run and on the verge of closing, countless customers would tell us how much the theater meant to them and how they wished it would stay open. The theater was a landmark in a way, and I’m sure if it were still around it would be giving the AMC 30 at the Block a run for the money, especially with the new widened underpass they built which would have allowed even easier access to the Cinedomes from the freeways.
RIP Cinedome 11, there will always be a place in my heart for you!
My first ever job was at the Cinedomes. I was a Junior at Garden Grove High School back in 1997 when I started there. Seriously, it was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had.
There were so many awesome memories in the 1.5 years I worked there. I got my hands on so much movie memorabilia, such as rare posters for American History X, soundtracks, buttons, movie trailers, you name it.
Most would be surprised to know that there was a hole drilled in the usher’s closet going into the women’s bathroom! LOL, when I worked there, the closet was so packed that you could not even get close to it, I’m thinking it was made WAY back in the early years of the theater.
The ushers would play hot dog baseball while cleaning theaters. We’d wad up the foil hotdog wrappers and pitch them to each other and we’d try to smack them with our brooms into the projection window. I recall I made it once! Then there were the “haunting” stories. In big dome #2, a girl had died by falling over the balcony and breaking her neck. Whenever I’d clean the theater alone, I could hear strange noises. I’d get freaked sometimes. Also, an employee died while changing the front marquee when his harness broke. That’s why they removed the marquee in the later years while I was there.
When the 25 opened, half the employees transferred there. I chose to stay at the domes, since I liked the atmosphere and it was just cooler overall. When we became second run, lots of weirdos started showing up, but the job was even more fun. One of the head managers had actual old film prints that he had collected, and Halloween of 98 we did old horror film screenings for films like Alien, The Omen, and a few others. I got promoted to assistant manager, then a week later the theater was kaput and we were all transferred to the Stadium 25. I worked the Stadium for about 6 months, but it was just horrible compared to the Dome experience. I ended up quitting. I still have my vest, name badge, and usher cleaning schedules as mementos of my time at the Cinedomes. John who was the assistant manager there took 2 rows of seats and parts of the screen for his garage theater, and with the stuff Captain Blood has, parts of the Dome will at least live on in a way.
Century truly was stupid to demolish the theater. What I heard was that the 25 doesn’t even do close to the business the Domes used to pull in. When we were second run and on the verge of closing, countless customers would tell us how much the theater meant to them and how they wished it would stay open. The theater was a landmark in a way, and I’m sure if it were still around it would be giving the AMC 30 at the Block a run for the money, especially with the new widened underpass they built which would have allowed even easier access to the Cinedomes from the freeways.
RIP Cinedome 11, there will always be a place in my heart for you!