Sunny Isles Twin
3025 Sunny Isles Boulevard,
North Miami Beach,
FL
33160
3025 Sunny Isles Boulevard,
North Miami Beach,
FL
33160
3 people
favorited this theater
Opened on December 15, 1966 with Zero Mostell in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, presented in 70mm. This twin theatre featured the then common ABC Florida State Theatres design that was made up of two diagonally attached rectangular auditoriums and a round lobby with a large glass front.
Opening as the Aquamarine and Driftwood auditoriums, they soon became Twin I and II. At opening both screens played alternating showings of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.
The round glass lobby featured a unique ceramic floor tile design with an aquarium motif. Photos featuring ABC’s waterfront attractions Weeki Washee and Silver Springs parks were on display and were also advertised on the screen before each film.
Each auditorium featured high-back rocking chair seats and excellent sight lines on huge screens. The seats and carpets were colored burnt orange and aqua blue to match their names with the Aquamarine screen being the largest seating over 700. Reserved seats were common in the early years, a practice that was abandoned when roadshow releases became rare.
Following closure in 1984 it became a furniture showroom and by 2019 was a furniture showroom.
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 36 comments)
Was the Aquamarine on the left, as you entered? I am fairly sure that “Chitty” was in that theater (or both?). I can actually remember two specific moments from that showing in ‘68…walking into the lobby, and the Intermission. Well, and the chairs.
“CHITTY” played on both, but Aquamarine (Twin 2) was on the left and Driftwood (Twin 1) was on the right. Driftwood had more seats.
Aeterna, thanks for the “HOTEL” shots!
So, as mentioned, Aquamarine was on the left.
The building is now a Japanese restaurant and lounge(Hiro).
No, it is Scandesign. The restaurant is to the side.
The current Scandesign web site clearly shows the old theater as one of its showrooms.
Grand opening ad:
Sunny Isles twin theatre opening Fri, Dec 16, 1966 – 117 · The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) · Newspapers.com
That “Cinderella” in the opening ad was one of a small handful of films distributed by Barry Yellen’s Childhood Productions in 1966, each a hastily dubbed U.S. premiere of a foreign language film. Thus, LOW budget, and quite lame. The Miracle in Coral Gables usually had better matinees, although a few of the lower end products slipped in.
Ripshin, that was released as Aschenputtel in 1955.
Yes, I know.