Westgate Theatre

StanMalone on July 19, 2025 at 7:29 am

At the time of their opening, the Westgate, Eastgate, and Village which opened a couple of months later, were part of a new pattern of movie releasing in Atlanta called Premiere Presentations. These movies would open at three or four of the eight regular locations that participated in this pattern. Martin’s Rialto served as the downtown location and the others were Storey’s Decatur, Miselman’s Cherokee, Belvedere, and Toco Hills, and these three new Martin locations. Since there were always two Premiere Presentations in release that meant that Westgate had a steady stream of good quality first run product since Fox, Disney, and Universal were part of this agreement.

In January 1968 the Eastgate, Westgate, and Village quit appearing in the Martin ad block. The outside ads for the movies themselves still included the theater tags as usual but had the Martin name blacked out. In February they started to appear in the ad block of Georgia Theater Company and the Eastgate name was changed to Surburban Plaza which was the name of the shopping center where it was located. (In May the two Martin indoor theaters in Cobb County, the Strand and Belmont Hills, also made to move to GTC.) A previous comment on this page indicated that in 1973 a fire next door to the smaller #2 house caused it to be closed for cleanup and it was at this time that the twinning took place making the theater a triple. That explains why the small side was twinned instead of the larger house. The full theater reopened as a triple on January 25, 1974 which was nine years almost to the day after Martin Theaters opened it as Atlanta’s first twin theater. Grand Opening ad for the triple is in the photos.

On occasion it would do good business but for the most part GTC would put their booking efforts into their 1100 seat Greenbriar Mall theatre across Lakewood Freeway which had also opened in 1965. During my time working for GTC the biggest year I can remember for the Westgate was 1974. During the spring and summer Westgate opened The Sting the day after it left its exclusive run at the Georgia Cinerama and The Exorcist the day it went wide from its run at the Phipps Penthouse. Both of these locations were so far away from SW Atlanta that it was like getting the pictures first run. That, combined with an unusually strong slate of movies opening wide rather than exclusive run, made for big business here. Some of those other features were Mr. Majestic, Paralax View, My Name Is Nobody, and the prequel to Billy Jack reissue of Born Losers. With its three screens, a megaplex in those days, a poor year at the Lenox, which was tied to the fortunes of the United Artists Pictures release schedule, and the fact that the Greenbriar spent some time closed for twinning, Westgate was one of the top grossing theatres for GTC in 1974-5. The EFC Ben Hill Twin just down the road was never much of a factor.

Despite being a steady money maker for GTC in the 70’s, by the early 80’s business had declined to the point that it was actually closed for the winter once. (1980-81 | think.) When business did not improve with the weather the decision was made to close it. The City Manager did not agree and convinced that Westgate was still worthwhile he took it upon himself to send a checker to take a look. Turned out that there were many more people in the theater than there were tickets sold that night and after further checks showed the same thing the manager was encouraged to leave. A new manager was installed and boxoffice receipts increased 10 times the amount reported on the previous Saturday night even though that first night for the new manager was a Tuesday. Westgate never returned to its busy days of the 70’s and when I was working at Greenbriar I would often load an outgoing print onto Westgate reels and it would continue the run here. However, it was still a going concern and was only closed after the sell out in 1987 to United Artists Theaters who did not care to be bothered with such a marginal and by then well worn location. (Although kept clean, the furnishings like seats, carpet, concession stand, box office, and bathrooms were unchanged from the day it opened in 1965. The only noticable change was the removal of those token operated turnstiles that in the eternal search for a way to cut payroll were supposed to eliminate the need for a doorman.)

Since it’s closing, the old Westgate has been home to a church, an amusement center, and even a nightclub following the closure of its neighbor Mr. V’s Figure 8 Disco with its signature Earthquake Sound. The shopping center still stands but the theater space has been vacant for the past 30 years.

rivest266 on April 6, 2018 at 5:04 pm

The Martin Eastgate and Westgate Twin both opened on January 28th, 1965. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

Westgate Cinemas Twin opening · Thu, Jan 28, 1965 – 37 · The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · Newspapers.com

JBrantley on January 12, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Stefan, your pictures bring back quite a few memories of how things were.

JFBrantley on July 15, 2010 at 4:07 pm

Here is the Westgate now. I tried to look inside but the windows have been blacked-out.
www.flickr.com/photos/jfb57/4797764340/

JFBrantley on April 22, 2008 at 4:36 pm

I remember seeing “Gone With The Wind” with my family during the late 1960’s. I don’t know why but my father wanted to sit in the smoking section.

This was not palace but in the 60’s and 70’s was not a bad place either. In the 1970’s this was a vibrant shopping center with a huge disco, Mr B’s Figure 8. Also in the 1960’s Lester Maddox’s Pickwick Restaurant was located here.

When they split the auditorium, It looked almost as dinky as when they split one of Old Dixie’s auditoriums. Still the big auditorium was good to see a movie.

The last time I went, I saw a treasure called “Deadtime Stories.”

Like I said, it was not a palace but before they split one auditorium, it was a good place to catch a movie.

Michael Furlinger on January 10, 2007 at 4:00 am

whats up with this location ……….still empty

jeffhay on November 28, 2005 at 11:58 am

I visited the theatre, today. It is for rent and looks still like a movie theatre. It appears to have been rented out awhile back as an entertainment complex called my brother’s keeper. That’s the current status you requested.