Garden Hills Cinema
2835 Peachtree Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30305
2835 Peachtree Road NE,
Atlanta,
GA
30305
11 people favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 78 comments
The first time I went to this theater was to see “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” My brother and I rode the bus from Hapeville to see the movie. At the time, the theater did not have a consession stand. Later we would drive to see “Day of the Locust” and other movies. Later when it reopened as the Garden Hills, I saw many movies there including the rerelease of the five Hitchcock movies.
For a comprehensive history of this theater, and a list of all of the films screened there during the Lefont years (1985-2006), go to this Letterboxd list.
https://boxd.it/sMFCk
I worked here in 1981 as a 15 year old. I ran the concession stand seven days a week, and was paid in cash every Friday out of the cash drawer. We didn’t have a register at the concession stand so I had to do all the math in my head, which I’m sure helped me in my schooling. My mom worked for a video distribution company that had an office in the basement of a mansion owned by André Pieterse, a former VP at MGM, who was part owner of the Garden Hills Cinema. Mr. Pieterse had bought the mansion from Isaac Hayes. Mr. Pieterse offered me the concession job, and it was too much money for a 15-year old to refuse. This would be my first theatre job, but not my last. This is where I got the bug. I remember there was a French guy named Greg, who ran the box office and was part-owner. The projectionist was ‘Smitty’ (don’t remember his name).
I had a great time at our one-screen theatre and small staff. I remember seeing Das Boot here, which was shown in German with English subtitles (much better than being dubbed). One time Mr. Pieterse thought I was stealing from the concession stand because he thought the per-capita sales average should be higher. He sent me to work for a while at the Columbia Theatre downtown, which he also owned, and had his college-age daughter (and her boyfriend) come in and run the concession stand at the Garden Hills Cinema. After a few weeks, he brought me back and apologized. They had made even less per capita than me. I remember talking to him at first up by the box office (Greg was nearby listening) about it, and I had said “you pay me too much to steal.” Later Greg told me that he had to really hold in his laughter because he knew I wasn’t being paid much. Even though it seemed like a lot to me. I think I was getting about $150 a week for 7 days of work.
In the 9th grade, I wrote my first ever short story for an English class. I named it ‘Smitty’s Shadow’. It was a fictional account of the projectionist Smitty closing up the cinema and seeing a shadow. He goes all around looking for the intruder, when it ends up being his own shadow. Working there was a great experience as my first real full-time job, and opening my world up to the operations of a movie theatre.
Closed as Fine Arts in 1977. more to come.
Reopened as Fine Arts on November 27th, 1958. Fine Arts Cinema opening · Thu, Nov 27, 1958 – 166 · The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · Newspapers.com
The name should be Garden Hills not Fine Arts .
I saw ‘Das Boot’ at the Garden Hills shortly after moving to Atlanta in the early 80s. For a time in the mid-90s I only had about a 5 minute walk to the theater, so I was something of a regular. Too bad it’s joined the list of defunct Atlanta revival/art theaters.
In 1964 – ‘65, I saw “The Pumpkin Eater” and “A Stranger Knocks”, while it was known as the Fine Art. The parking was somewhat isolated, behind the theatre. The admission was $1.50, like other Atlanta first runs at the time. The back 1/3 of the theatre had a different aisle/seat arrangement than the front 2/3. The screen was adequate, but the layout would have allowed it to be larger. This theatre had the highest seat-to-screen upward viewing angle than any other I have seen.
As I mentioned in a post for the Roxy/Capri, the Fine Art was owned by John & Ruth Carter prior to Weis Cinemas. I worked at primarily at the Capri circa 1967. Ruth Carter died in 2009:
CARTER, Ruth Goss Ruth Goss Carter, one of Atlanta’s last Grande Dames, died on September 22, 2009. She was 94 years old. Mrs. Carter was born in 1915 in Charlotte, North Carolina, attended Hollins College in Virginia, and married John Hennen Carter of Atlanta, in 1936. She and her husband were co-owners of the Brookhaven, the Buckhead “Capri” and the Garden Hills “Fine Art” theaters. Mrs. Carter was a devoted bridge player and a life Master of the American Contract Bridge League. She was an avid history buff and worked as a docent at the Swan House adjacent to the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta. She will be missed by her friends and surviving family: her son, John Hennen Carter Jr. of Stockbridge, Georgia; her grandchildren, John Carter III and Kimberly Marx of Atlanta, Georgia, Erik Perschmann of Carver, Minnesota, James Gardner of Stockbridge, Georgia, and Amy Castillo of Jackson, Georgia; and her great-granddaughter, Therese (Princess) Carter. The memorial service will be held at Peachtree Road Methodist Church on October 17, 2009 at 2 o'clock pm.
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on October 11, 2009
Rocky Horror played here at one point. The last film I saw there was about Betty Page..and that was a few years ago. I hate that we can’t keep one arthouse cinema (besides the Fox) open in this city. But then again, the Atlanta city bird is the crane…..
Now Showing Sept.13 2001.
“GHOST WORLD” rated R.
Thanks Stan.
I have many inside pictures on film of this theater since it closed…What a shame —sits empty..
Has it been demolished? I would have thought that the bad economy would have save d the structure, if not the theatre. For years I attended Peachtree Film Society screenings here. They were well attended but the Film Society dissolved anyway. Atlanta is a place where indie films do well, but the infrastructure doesn’t seem to last. LeFont once had multiple theatres, and did so as recently as 10 years ago. There have been multiple efforts to have a big national film festival, but they’ve all failed to make money—Peachtree overreached in ‘98 and took years to recover with a somewhat smaller group running it. the desire to build a festival as other cities have and to have a niche or regional focus seemed to be beyond what promoters wanted, so no there’s less than before. Landmark did a nice job of rehabbing a badly degraded venue, but there’s nothing like seeing a film in a real theatre, as opposed to multiplex.
It is now been sold as per local papers and will demolished………..
property is now for sale theater and strip of stores……..
On a solo road trip during my unemployment phase in 2000 shortly after my mother died, I saw All About My Mother here and loved it. I hope it re-opens soon.
saw this theater last week and the property is in limbo…they will give only 9 mo lease at a time………
You might also want to take a peak at the Cinemas Georgia Group on Flickr. It has current photos along with links to archive shots of theatres in the metro Atlanta area and beyond.
Google the Georgia State University, Pullen Library Photograph collection. If you check out some of my comments on other theaters, you’ll find links to photos in their collection. Good photographs of the Atlanta area from that era are not necessarily easy to find. As a fellow baby boomer, I know about it. Good luck with your book, I’d love to see it in print!
hi everybody. I just joined. I grew up down the street from the Garden Hills Theatre. Of course, it was called The Fine Arts Theater back in those days. As kids, we tried to talk our way in when it looked like something good and sleazy was playing, especially if it had Brigitte Bardot. One movie I saw at the Fine Arts was that tremendous classic “The Mouse That Roared”. Just watched it the other day and it was just as funny. If anybody has any old pictures of the Buckhead/Garden Hills Area, please let me know. I’m working on a book about growing up in Atlanta when it was still small town. Brolaw
Yes, the handwriting was on the wall for a long time. As I mentioned in an earlier post this locaton is far too valuable for a single screen movie house or small legit theater for that matter. If the landlord plays his cards right with this site, he’s sitting on a fortune!
Looks as this whole shopping center will come down as landlod wants to redevelope this location@!
FOR SALE SIGNS OR LEASE?/
any for lease signs up?