From what I recall, this theater was in a “Quonset Hut” type building. It was operated by an older couple who worked the ticket booth and concession stand. I remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” there when I was about 10 or so.
I think the Westwood opened in the early 70’s as a single theater, and was subsequently split. I saw Star Wars there many times (1977). A few of us in the local astronomy club brought telescopes to the theater a few times to show various sky sights to the crowds as they exited from Star Wars. The news even showed up to cover it once.
I’m pretty sure the 1978 opening date is incorrect. I would guess more like 72 or 73. 1978 could be the date when it was split.
I remember seeing films there as a kid in the 60’s. The fantasy architecture really added to the mystique of seeing a film. The theater also had a balcony, like most of the Paramout theaters. I’m not sure I ever went up there – it was closed during most normal movie showings.
In addition to having lit stars in the ceiling, there was also a projector that displayed moving clouds on the ceiling that were visible when the house lights were down.
A local barber, who I knew only as Mr. Bellew, worked as an usher for many years at the theater. He had his own barber shop, and consequently knew many of the kids who came to the movies on Saturdays. He’s the one who told me that the clouds were made by a projector with a rotating plastic disk containing the moving “clouds”. It was broken for many years – I don’t know if the restoration brought that feature back.
One of the distinctive things about this theater is that the original seating was in curved rows so that all seats faced the center of the screen – but when it was split, the seating wasn’t changed. So you watched the movie with your seat facing the corner of the theater.
In the 80’s, this was a “dollar” theater for several years.
The last film I remember seeing at the Americana was Amadeus (1984), and I think it closed very soon after that. It was the only decent sized theater around, somehow surviving the fever in the 70’s of chopping theaters in half or thirds to create multiplexes of enormously long theaters with a tiny screen at the end. As I recall, the final incident at the Americana happened when the power failed during a movie and someone slit the screen, and the owners decided to give it up – that’s what I heard, anyway.
Cecil Bellew was manager of the Paramount Theater and then the Westwood Theater. http://www.texnews.com/1998/1999/obits/1229.html
From what I recall, this theater was in a “Quonset Hut” type building. It was operated by an older couple who worked the ticket booth and concession stand. I remember seeing “The Ten Commandments” there when I was about 10 or so.
I think the Westwood opened in the early 70’s as a single theater, and was subsequently split. I saw Star Wars there many times (1977). A few of us in the local astronomy club brought telescopes to the theater a few times to show various sky sights to the crowds as they exited from Star Wars. The news even showed up to cover it once.
I’m pretty sure the 1978 opening date is incorrect. I would guess more like 72 or 73. 1978 could be the date when it was split.
I remember seeing films there as a kid in the 60’s. The fantasy architecture really added to the mystique of seeing a film. The theater also had a balcony, like most of the Paramout theaters. I’m not sure I ever went up there – it was closed during most normal movie showings.
In addition to having lit stars in the ceiling, there was also a projector that displayed moving clouds on the ceiling that were visible when the house lights were down.
A local barber, who I knew only as Mr. Bellew, worked as an usher for many years at the theater. He had his own barber shop, and consequently knew many of the kids who came to the movies on Saturdays. He’s the one who told me that the clouds were made by a projector with a rotating plastic disk containing the moving “clouds”. It was broken for many years – I don’t know if the restoration brought that feature back.
One of the distinctive things about this theater is that the original seating was in curved rows so that all seats faced the center of the screen – but when it was split, the seating wasn’t changed. So you watched the movie with your seat facing the corner of the theater.
In the 80’s, this was a “dollar” theater for several years.
The last film I remember seeing at the Americana was Amadeus (1984), and I think it closed very soon after that. It was the only decent sized theater around, somehow surviving the fever in the 70’s of chopping theaters in half or thirds to create multiplexes of enormously long theaters with a tiny screen at the end. As I recall, the final incident at the Americana happened when the power failed during a movie and someone slit the screen, and the owners decided to give it up – that’s what I heard, anyway.