Villa Plaza I-II-III
10501 Davisson Road SW,
Lakewood,
WA
98499
10501 Davisson Road SW,
Lakewood,
WA
98499
3 people
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Newspaper listings for this cinema ended on May 30th, 1988.
The Villa Plaza Cinema I & II was opened by General Cinema on July 1st, 1969. Grand opening ad with pictures posted.
Just uploaded some old newspaper ads
Wow that brings back memories. I worked there about 1975/1976ish to about 1977/1978ish. Started as a doorman & eventually chief of staff. Also popped popcorn & filled in for the janitors. Knew Johnny the projectionist (Drove a VW bug ) and spacing on the name of the other projectionist. Manager’s name was O'Neil and another might have been a younger brother to Linda Danisher. Was there for the King Kong remake launch. And no I NEVER ate the popcorn…:–)
I don’t know if the Brady Bunch were there for the opening, but there is a connection. There was a special screening (I think it was “Charlotte’s Web”) and two of the cast members (Pretty sure it was Barry Williams and Christopher Knight) were there and handing out records (45s) after the movie.
I think those photos were taken between 86 & 88. Was sad closing it. We probably know each other. I am Carmen. I Went from Villa Plaza, on to Renton Village to close it before the rebuild then on to Kitsap Mall Cinemas.
Does anyone know when the photo of the concession stand was taken? I worked there in the mid-80’s (including the ROTJ and Romancing the Stone runs) and it looked exactly the way it does in the photo. So sad it’s gone. Have a lot of very fond memories. It was my first-ever job. After it closed, I moved to Lincoln Plaza GCC for summer jobs when home from school.
I started there in 1982 when E.T. was playing to sold out crowds. I closed it in 1988 shortly after I was promoted to manager.
Some notable exclusive engagements late in its life were Return of the Jedi and Romancing the Stone. GCC played a lot of Fox and Universal films in the day.
I remember that a “Laura” trained me as a doorman when I started working there in 1978. I agree with your comment though that mostly they would only door while covering our breaks. In my Chief of Staff days I filled in for vacationing managers at pretty much all of GCC’s theaters from Everett down to Tacoma. Some of them had full time female “doormen”. Oh, and for those that remember her as our District Manager I hear that Linda Danisher (sp?) is a librarian now or at least she was as of a few years ago.
Don’t remember ever using girls as doormen at my GCC,unless they were giving the doorman a break,plus i never could find a girl yet that could tear tickets as fast as a guy and say"thank-you,hope you enjoy the Movie" 900 times a night.
Closing movies in May 1988 were: 1. Sunset 2. Jack’s Back 3. Double Feature: Dead Heat & The Wrong Guys.
Oh I just found a link for it hurray!
http://tulsatvmemories.com/gccvill.html
Enjoy!
Does Anyone remember the opening song they used to have- with the projected “C” cinema logo and circling bar and swish cymbals tish-tish-ta-tish-tish- and then the elctro horn da-na-na na-na-na doubee doubee do da-na na-na-na. I loved that song I wish I could find a clip of it or find out the name.
Again, thanks for the information. Interesting comment about starting off with only one manager.
Our positions were:
Manager
Assistant Manager
Chief of Staff
Cashier (usually only one)
Doorman (including girls)
Candy Girls (yep, that’s what they were called)
If busy, we’d have all three managers; Manager, Asst. Manager and Chief of Staff…otherwise only one of the three of us were on for a given shift.
I love the trivia about “The April Fools”. I will have to rent it.
Doesn’t look promising about The Brady Bunch lore though.
My friends at the paper couldn’t find me copies of photos, but they could find me this information:
10501 DAVISSON RD. S.W., Lakewood (original address)
Built: Â 1969
Notes: Â Villa Plaza Cinema I & II
General Cinema Corp., builder
opened 7/1/1969 with “The April Fools” starring Jack Lemmon
The stories from the paper ran the following dates with the following headlines:
TNT 6/18/1969 2-in-1 cinema to have only one manager
TNT 7/1/1969 p.47 New theater opens tonight at Villa Plaza
I will have to go through old microfiche to find photos and complete story text.
Thanks much! Being one of those “I might eventually get to it” items on my thought list, I haven’t taking any steps towards contacting the TNT. I appreciate your offer.
I have some connections at the paper. I’ll see what I can find about that photo. That would be awesome.
I worked there as a Door Man and then as Chief of Staff between 1979-1984. When it was a two house cinema, the large house held just under 1000 seats. The small house was about 500 seats. Unique when built, there was no curtain, the screens were set back into a shadow box with blue flood lights acting as a virtual curtain.
I was once told that The Brady Bunch posed on the front steps for the grand opening. If true, I wonder if that picture still exists in the Tacoma News Tribune archives.
Does anyone have any pictures of the Villa Plaza?
The Villa Plaza was built and operated by General Cinema Corp.