What’s funny is that the current mall’s owners, RED Development, boast of this being the first multiplex “with its original two screens (since renovated and expanded to 14 screens)”. Uh, that original twin theater closed in 1978 and the current multiplex didn’t open until 1992 – in a different area of the mall. It’s close to the original location, but there is no connection. Makes for a good PR spin though I guess.
I just saw part of the 1979 movie “The Jerk”. In the scene where Steve Martin’s character is working at a gas station, there is a brief shot where a sign for parking says Mann Theater. That led me to look up where the scene was filmed, which turned out to be just a few doors down from this location (the gas station is now a Carl’s Jr.). Just a bit of movie trivia.
I, too, saw “2001” at the Denver Cooper in 1968. I was 9 years old and unfortunately fell asleep at some point (but I remember bits and pieces of the showing). My family was on vacation in Colorado at the time. We also ate at the Yum-Yum Tree, which I believe was on the same road. Years later I was on vacation in Denver again and saw “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Truly a shame the building is gone.
The Cinemark in Kansas City, Missouri is a 15-screen theater partially shoehorned into an old building that originally was a Sears, on the Plaza. See The Palace on the Plaza entry. Anyway, I doubt it resembles any other Cinemark facility due to its unique location.
I revisited the Carbondale area in 2007. At least the building for the old Varsity downtown was still standing. They are trying to remake it into a performing arts center now. Saw “Flashdance” there back in 1983 I believe.
Saw two movies there in November and December 2008. Different movies, different auditoriums. But both digital projection. There was an annoying hot spot both times in the center of the screen, and seams were also visible on the screen material itself. Too bad, because otherwise it was a nice facility.
While the theaters are impressive, they do not “take up an entire city block.” There are stores and a McDonald’s on the lower level. The southeast corner is taken up by the Brio Tuscan Grill restaurant. Also, several (five?) of the biggest auditoriums are located across a skybridge to an adjoining building (built over a parking garage). Truly one of the better multiplexes anywhere. This building was once a Sears.
This theater was built by Dickinson, not Globe. This whole area of South Noland Road was the hot area of Independence construction activity in the late 80s but has since fallen on hard times (at least in terms of major investment). AMC’s Independence Commons 20 is about 3 miles.
As I’ve posted elsewhere, the long delay in getting the downtown complex started has me worried. I hope Wallace/Hollywood doesn’t just build a cheap complex because it’s Springfield and no one will notice (or care). It should really be the showcase for Southwest Missouri, if done right. Hell, it ought to have digital projection even.
Restoration Hardware completely renovated the space. Nothing of the interior of the theater remains. But, Dickinson had butchered it in the ensuing years anyway. The Palace was not open at the same time as the Plaza, so it wasn’t directly responsible for its demise, by the way.
Man O'War is a major road in Lexington. A lot of commercial development occurred along it in the 80s and 90s. Cinemark opened this theater and another 8-screen one in a shopping center called Lexington Green at the same time.
The theater opened in 1948, not 1938. It was still amazing that a “suburban” theater would be built that far from downtown in a city the size of Springfield. There wouldn’t be a second one (besides the drive-ins) until 1970 when the Century 21 was opened.
This theater has been around since at least 1985, when I moved to the Kansas City area. It is not in a free standing building, but part of a shopping center. I believe the space previously was a grocery store and possibly a Macy’s department store, when the Red Bridge shopping center opened in the late 1960s.
My friends and I drove up from Springfield in May of 1977 to see the first “Star Wars” but it was at the Creve Coeur, NOT this theater. We did see “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” there in Dolby Stereo, which nearly made our ears bleed. I would swear that Creve Coeur had “Star Wars” exclusively.
It’s too bad this theater has been allowed to get rundown. The “strange things” you mentioned — would that have anything to do with the theater being next door to government subsidized housing? Just a thought. The owner, Warren Theaters, built several state-of-the-art multiplexes in Wichita that are considered some of the best in the whole country. Why they didn’t make the Palace one of those is anybody’s guess. For years they planned on building one in the new development at the Kansas Speedway in KCK, but backed out due to political and financial issues. Springfield desperately needs a state of the art theater. The Campbell 16 ain’t it. Maybe the College Station project will deliver, if it’s ever built.
Hate to sound like a snob, but this place has nothing on the average multiplex in Kansas City. It was hastily remodeled to add stadium seating to all of the auditoriums about 5 years ago, and I have had a few experiences there which made me question the technical expertise of the crew. The Springfield 8 has a superior presentation. Someone like AMC needs to build a 20-plex in Springfield and show them how it’s done. Competition raises the bar for everyone…
The Petite was THE theater for teenagers, as I recall. My high school (Glendale) even took their yearbook pictures in the lobby. They always seemed to get the “cool” movies, despite having dinky auditoriums. For about 12+ years, the Petite and Fremont were fierce rivals, being across the street from each other and both about the same size. Both were done in by the Campbell 16 that Wehrenberg opened in 1996.
It actually opened in 1983. Two smaller auditoriums in the rear had Dolby Stereo. Never did as well as Springfield’s Southside theaters. Today you can’t even tell where the theater was from the outside — the shopping center it was in has been remodeled since. BTW, don’t think ANY theater ever had 70mm in Springfield, even the Springfield 8 (which started out I think as the Battlefield 8 when Dickenson opened it).
Bannister Square 6 was AMC. A friend and I actually drove up from Springfield in the early 80s and went there because it had Dolby Stereo, still a novelty at the time (we were seeing “Blade Runner”). Although built just a few years before the Oak Park Plaza, it never seemed as nice. The Bannister 5 in the mall was owned by a different chain.
I was just in Springfield last week. Went to the Springfield 8, which, although small, still has decent projection and comfortable auditoriums. Hats off to Goodrich for at least keeping the place up. They said earlier this year that they were looking into expanding it. Of course, as I noted in another post about Kansas City, they also said the same thing about the Glenwood before running it into the ground. Time will tell.
It has relocated again to about a block south of the College Station multiplex, on Campbell Avenue, in a new building.
What’s funny is that the current mall’s owners, RED Development, boast of this being the first multiplex “with its original two screens (since renovated and expanded to 14 screens)”. Uh, that original twin theater closed in 1978 and the current multiplex didn’t open until 1992 – in a different area of the mall. It’s close to the original location, but there is no connection. Makes for a good PR spin though I guess.
I just saw part of the 1979 movie “The Jerk”. In the scene where Steve Martin’s character is working at a gas station, there is a brief shot where a sign for parking says Mann Theater. That led me to look up where the scene was filmed, which turned out to be just a few doors down from this location (the gas station is now a Carl’s Jr.). Just a bit of movie trivia.
Read today that they intend to build the IMAX and two additional audtoriums by next summer. Assume the IMAX will be a digital setup.
I, too, saw “2001” at the Denver Cooper in 1968. I was 9 years old and unfortunately fell asleep at some point (but I remember bits and pieces of the showing). My family was on vacation in Colorado at the time. We also ate at the Yum-Yum Tree, which I believe was on the same road. Years later I was on vacation in Denver again and saw “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Truly a shame the building is gone.
Why is this called the Palace East on this website? Even Warren Theaters own website doesn’t call it that (just the Palace). An inside joke maybe?
The Cinemark in Kansas City, Missouri is a 15-screen theater partially shoehorned into an old building that originally was a Sears, on the Plaza. See The Palace on the Plaza entry. Anyway, I doubt it resembles any other Cinemark facility due to its unique location.
I revisited the Carbondale area in 2007. At least the building for the old Varsity downtown was still standing. They are trying to remake it into a performing arts center now. Saw “Flashdance” there back in 1983 I believe.
Have they actually broken ground yet on the expansion? As of 2/15, they hadn’t.
Saw two movies there in November and December 2008. Different movies, different auditoriums. But both digital projection. There was an annoying hot spot both times in the center of the screen, and seams were also visible on the screen material itself. Too bad, because otherwise it was a nice facility.
While the theaters are impressive, they do not “take up an entire city block.” There are stores and a McDonald’s on the lower level. The southeast corner is taken up by the Brio Tuscan Grill restaurant. Also, several (five?) of the biggest auditoriums are located across a skybridge to an adjoining building (built over a parking garage). Truly one of the better multiplexes anywhere. This building was once a Sears.
This theater was built by Dickinson, not Globe. This whole area of South Noland Road was the hot area of Independence construction activity in the late 80s but has since fallen on hard times (at least in terms of major investment). AMC’s Independence Commons 20 is about 3 miles.
This theater survived well into the 1980s, as it was still running after I moved to the metro in 1985.
As I’ve posted elsewhere, the long delay in getting the downtown complex started has me worried. I hope Wallace/Hollywood doesn’t just build a cheap complex because it’s Springfield and no one will notice (or care). It should really be the showcase for Southwest Missouri, if done right. Hell, it ought to have digital projection even.
Restoration Hardware completely renovated the space. Nothing of the interior of the theater remains. But, Dickinson had butchered it in the ensuing years anyway. The Palace was not open at the same time as the Plaza, so it wasn’t directly responsible for its demise, by the way.
Man O'War is a major road in Lexington. A lot of commercial development occurred along it in the 80s and 90s. Cinemark opened this theater and another 8-screen one in a shopping center called Lexington Green at the same time.
The theater opened in 1948, not 1938. It was still amazing that a “suburban” theater would be built that far from downtown in a city the size of Springfield. There wouldn’t be a second one (besides the drive-ins) until 1970 when the Century 21 was opened.
This theater has been around since at least 1985, when I moved to the Kansas City area. It is not in a free standing building, but part of a shopping center. I believe the space previously was a grocery store and possibly a Macy’s department store, when the Red Bridge shopping center opened in the late 1960s.
My friends and I drove up from Springfield in May of 1977 to see the first “Star Wars” but it was at the Creve Coeur, NOT this theater. We did see “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” there in Dolby Stereo, which nearly made our ears bleed. I would swear that Creve Coeur had “Star Wars” exclusively.
It’s too bad this theater has been allowed to get rundown. The “strange things” you mentioned — would that have anything to do with the theater being next door to government subsidized housing? Just a thought. The owner, Warren Theaters, built several state-of-the-art multiplexes in Wichita that are considered some of the best in the whole country. Why they didn’t make the Palace one of those is anybody’s guess. For years they planned on building one in the new development at the Kansas Speedway in KCK, but backed out due to political and financial issues. Springfield desperately needs a state of the art theater. The Campbell 16 ain’t it. Maybe the College Station project will deliver, if it’s ever built.
Hate to sound like a snob, but this place has nothing on the average multiplex in Kansas City. It was hastily remodeled to add stadium seating to all of the auditoriums about 5 years ago, and I have had a few experiences there which made me question the technical expertise of the crew. The Springfield 8 has a superior presentation. Someone like AMC needs to build a 20-plex in Springfield and show them how it’s done. Competition raises the bar for everyone…
The Petite was THE theater for teenagers, as I recall. My high school (Glendale) even took their yearbook pictures in the lobby. They always seemed to get the “cool” movies, despite having dinky auditoriums. For about 12+ years, the Petite and Fremont were fierce rivals, being across the street from each other and both about the same size. Both were done in by the Campbell 16 that Wehrenberg opened in 1996.
It actually opened in 1983. Two smaller auditoriums in the rear had Dolby Stereo. Never did as well as Springfield’s Southside theaters. Today you can’t even tell where the theater was from the outside — the shopping center it was in has been remodeled since. BTW, don’t think ANY theater ever had 70mm in Springfield, even the Springfield 8 (which started out I think as the Battlefield 8 when Dickenson opened it).
Bannister Square 6 was AMC. A friend and I actually drove up from Springfield in the early 80s and went there because it had Dolby Stereo, still a novelty at the time (we were seeing “Blade Runner”). Although built just a few years before the Oak Park Plaza, it never seemed as nice. The Bannister 5 in the mall was owned by a different chain.
I was just in Springfield last week. Went to the Springfield 8, which, although small, still has decent projection and comfortable auditoriums. Hats off to Goodrich for at least keeping the place up. They said earlier this year that they were looking into expanding it. Of course, as I noted in another post about Kansas City, they also said the same thing about the Glenwood before running it into the ground. Time will tell.