Growing up in nearby Bellmawr, I seen tons of movies here. I remember seeing Smokey and The Bandit here as well as The Shining in Theather 1 ( and hiding in the hallway leading to the doors because I was scared senseless. I was only 10 at the time )
I skipped school with my Brother on May 25, 1983 to see Return of the Jedi ( it was a Wednesday ) The first show was around 11:30am… We arrived around 10am to an already forming line. Our place was near the back of the building, but the line eventually warped around the back of the parking lot past Frank’s Nusery. When the ticket booth opened, The Manager walked out with a bullhorn and announced that they would take tickets at the back doors. We watched as the first ticket holders RAN to the back doors. The local newspaper was interviewing people. The film played on screen 5 & 6 at the same time.
Maybe the only time the back doors and rear concession stand was opened.
Yikes! The last time I was in the Harwan was 1999, for a showing of the original “Halloween” and the theater had that 1970’s vibe with the old gold wallls. I could imagine watching “The Posideon Adventure” or “The Towering Inferno” there. But after seeing the pictures from the link above, I’d feel like I walked into a community production of “Godspell” The kids hearts may have been in the right place, but the seats look like they were upholsted in old bed sheets.
This may not be Movie Theater related, but in response to the above post and people intrested in the loss of the Harwan: The small “White Tower” DiNic’s next door is not destroyed – but moved to West Virginia…
By KEVIN RIORDAN
Courier-Post Staff
MOUNT EPHRAIM
The Harwan Theater is coming down, but the adjacent DiNic’s Roast Beef, a former White Tower restaurant, is moving on.
To West Virginia.
A self-described “dinerholic” who grew up in Collingswood is paying to have the landmark little eatery picked up and trucked about 300 miles from the Black Horse Pike to his home in Morgantown, W.Va. The Mount Ephraim site is being cleared for construction of a Walgreens.
“I always wanted a diner,” John Shoaf, a 64-year-old retired teacher and respected preservationist, said Thursday. “Most people pretty much think it’s crazy. My better half thinks I’m out of my mind.”
To read the rest of the article, go to View link
but do it quickly before the Courier Post removes the website.
I remember this as one of the few theaters to go to back in the 70’s, as this house and Moorestown Mall were the best and largest places to go. I saw Star Wars (‘77) when I was 7, and remember the line for the next movie as my family came out the door stretched out to Rt73. I may have only visited that theater maybe 3 or 4 times…The last time I was in there was to see A View To A Kill ('85).
Sometime in the next 7 years or so, I plan on building on a new home with a home theater complete with a lobby area… And I want to replicate the stlye of late 70’s/early 80’s era movie plexes like Pennsauken and the GCC Deptford 6 (with blue carpeted walls!)
The pics are correct, I can verify that as a Bellmawr resident. Look like most were taken across the street from the CVS parking lot. I took a few pictures of my own there.
As far as the first comment is concerned about the bridge… even tho a truck hit it, they are going to rebuilt it. Now about the idea about parking in the mall and walking over a pedestrian bridge to see a movie… that’s a serious hike between two vast parking lots. That bridge wasn’t built for people with cars… it was ment for the people who come to the mall in a bus to deter them from crossing rt. 38 on foot and getting themselves killed. – not to mention the “element” in the area.. there is no way you would ever find me trapped on that bridge.
The Century in Audubon was torn down to become a Eckard, not a Walgreens…. but it doesn’t matter – the nicer pieces of the face of the Harwan were salvaged ( who owns them now I don’t know ) and soon the place will be history.
The Theater was not sold to a local church group in the 1970’s. That wasn’t until the early 1990’s. The Grand ran second-run films thru the 1970’s until 1987. The last film to play there was Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend. After the theater closed, the words “Deadly Friend” hanged on the sign outside for a year. Growing up in Williamstown, I was there every weekend. earliest film I remember seeing was The China Syndrome. The lobby was filled with vinage 1950’s era vending machine that didn’t work and they sold soda in the smallest paper dixie cups. They discouraged people from drinking in the theater itself with signs in the concession area telling you not to do so. The best thing about the theater was how the the whole town came out to the movies in the summer… you didn’t need parking- everyone walked.
True about the bathrooms. as a teen I would wonder in and out of movies all day if I was alone or with friends.
Growing up in nearby Bellmawr, I seen tons of movies here. I remember seeing Smokey and The Bandit here as well as The Shining in Theather 1 ( and hiding in the hallway leading to the doors because I was scared senseless. I was only 10 at the time )
I skipped school with my Brother on May 25, 1983 to see Return of the Jedi ( it was a Wednesday ) The first show was around 11:30am… We arrived around 10am to an already forming line. Our place was near the back of the building, but the line eventually warped around the back of the parking lot past Frank’s Nusery. When the ticket booth opened, The Manager walked out with a bullhorn and announced that they would take tickets at the back doors. We watched as the first ticket holders RAN to the back doors. The local newspaper was interviewing people. The film played on screen 5 & 6 at the same time.
Maybe the only time the back doors and rear concession stand was opened.
Yikes! The last time I was in the Harwan was 1999, for a showing of the original “Halloween” and the theater had that 1970’s vibe with the old gold wallls. I could imagine watching “The Posideon Adventure” or “The Towering Inferno” there. But after seeing the pictures from the link above, I’d feel like I walked into a community production of “Godspell” The kids hearts may have been in the right place, but the seats look like they were upholsted in old bed sheets.
This may not be Movie Theater related, but in response to the above post and people intrested in the loss of the Harwan: The small “White Tower” DiNic’s next door is not destroyed – but moved to West Virginia…
By KEVIN RIORDAN
Courier-Post Staff
MOUNT EPHRAIM
The Harwan Theater is coming down, but the adjacent DiNic’s Roast Beef, a former White Tower restaurant, is moving on.
To West Virginia.
A self-described “dinerholic” who grew up in Collingswood is paying to have the landmark little eatery picked up and trucked about 300 miles from the Black Horse Pike to his home in Morgantown, W.Va. The Mount Ephraim site is being cleared for construction of a Walgreens.
“I always wanted a diner,” John Shoaf, a 64-year-old retired teacher and respected preservationist, said Thursday. “Most people pretty much think it’s crazy. My better half thinks I’m out of my mind.”
To read the rest of the article, go to
View link
but do it quickly before the Courier Post removes the website.
I remember this as one of the few theaters to go to back in the 70’s, as this house and Moorestown Mall were the best and largest places to go. I saw Star Wars (‘77) when I was 7, and remember the line for the next movie as my family came out the door stretched out to Rt73. I may have only visited that theater maybe 3 or 4 times…The last time I was in there was to see A View To A Kill ('85).
Sometime in the next 7 years or so, I plan on building on a new home with a home theater complete with a lobby area… And I want to replicate the stlye of late 70’s/early 80’s era movie plexes like Pennsauken and the GCC Deptford 6 (with blue carpeted walls!)
The pics are correct, I can verify that as a Bellmawr resident. Look like most were taken across the street from the CVS parking lot. I took a few pictures of my own there.
As far as the first comment is concerned about the bridge… even tho a truck hit it, they are going to rebuilt it. Now about the idea about parking in the mall and walking over a pedestrian bridge to see a movie… that’s a serious hike between two vast parking lots. That bridge wasn’t built for people with cars… it was ment for the people who come to the mall in a bus to deter them from crossing rt. 38 on foot and getting themselves killed. – not to mention the “element” in the area.. there is no way you would ever find me trapped on that bridge.
The Century in Audubon was torn down to become a Eckard, not a Walgreens…. but it doesn’t matter – the nicer pieces of the face of the Harwan were salvaged ( who owns them now I don’t know ) and soon the place will be history.
Saw Jaws, Popeye and a double feature of For Your Eyes Only & Tarzan The Ape Man…. now it’s Cutter’s Mill, A pet food store.
The Theater was not sold to a local church group in the 1970’s. That wasn’t until the early 1990’s. The Grand ran second-run films thru the 1970’s until 1987. The last film to play there was Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend. After the theater closed, the words “Deadly Friend” hanged on the sign outside for a year. Growing up in Williamstown, I was there every weekend. earliest film I remember seeing was The China Syndrome. The lobby was filled with vinage 1950’s era vending machine that didn’t work and they sold soda in the smallest paper dixie cups. They discouraged people from drinking in the theater itself with signs in the concession area telling you not to do so. The best thing about the theater was how the the whole town came out to the movies in the summer… you didn’t need parking- everyone walked.