GCC Santa Anita 4

Here are some of the movies I saw there, starting in June of ‘75 and ending spring '98. The Land That Time Forgot with The Neptune Factor, Journey Back to Oz (rerelease), King Kong (1976 remake),The Spy Who Loved Me, Grease, Moonraker, Hero At Large, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Return of the Jedi, Twilight Zone:The Movie with Blue Thunder, Splash, Dreamscape, Back to the Future (multiple times over nine months), Real Genius, Warning Sign,Twice in a Lifetime, Short Circuit, The Fly (1986 remake), The Boy Who Could Fly, An American Tail, The Gate, Sleeping Beauty (Cannon Movie Tales), Masters of the Universe, Pass the Ammo, They Live, Fearing and Loathing in Las Vegas

You know a lot folks talk about how boring GCC theatres were.I wish I had little GCC triple to go back to instead of these Monster 20 plexes or more.You really miss it and managing a smaller theatre.But most of you wouldn’t understand.

This was a great job. The view of the mountains and the horse track with all the wide open spaces was mystical. I use to relieve Bob, the regular projectionist, over there.

Likely this was the Cinema West 4 (1968 – 1969, single screen; 1974 – 1975, fourplex) later renamed Mall Cinemas 4 (1979 â€" 1990).

The main feature I remember about the Santa Anita 4 was that if there was a major feature playing it was a pain in the butt to wait in line for tickets for to be let into the theater or to visit any of the stores directly around the cinema because the “lobby” (said long corridor) just wasn’t set up to handle crowds. When I lived in Pasadena, I wound up going to the Pacific Hastings Ranch or the Mann’s Hastings Ranch, the UA in Old Town when that opened, or the Colorado, or Esquire to see features because they were just more pleasant and easier to deal with.

I still remember trying to do some shopping Memorial Day weekend of 1983 when the Santa Anita 4 was running “Return of the Jedi” almost non-stop for that opening weekend. The word “nightmare” comes to mind.

The GCC Santa Anita 4 closed sometime in ‘98 or early '99; I remember 'Saving Private Ryan’ having played there.