Eastland Mall Theatre
833 East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard,
North Versailles,
PA
15137
833 East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard,
North Versailles,
PA
15137
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cinema World, Cinemette Corporation of America
Architects: Bernard J. Liff
Firms: Liff, Justh & Chetlin
Nearby Theaters
If you think it’s odd that the Loews North Versailles would close after just 1 ½ years of operatation, then you might be interested in this forgotten theatre which occupied the Eastland Mall.
I have little information on this theatre. I only found out about it when I discovered a photograph of it from the www.deadmalls.com site. From the photos, it appears to have been a rather non-descript affair, tucked into a corner of the parking lot. The Eastland Mall opened August 15, 1963, and the theatre opened on December 25, 1964. It was closed on July 30, 1992.
The Eastland Mall itself did not survive the competition from Century 3 and Monroeville Malls. It was closed August 1, 1993. The mall was demolished in 2007. However, from the Deadmalls website, it looks like the theatre has been languishing for many years.
Contributed by
Paul Fortini
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Recent comments (view all 34 comments)
I still live a few miles from the formaer Eastland Mall/Theater. As a kid, friends and I would walk to the mall to shoplift Playboy Magazines from the Thrift Drug Store. Also to see movies. First saw “Goldfinger” and “Fantastic Voyage” there (Raquel Welch still looks ‘Fantastic’).
My mother drove me, in our new 1968 Ford Country Squire station wagon, to see “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
I have some exterior shots (also of the mall) I took of the theater back in 2004 before it was demolished. Last year, my husband and I revisited the site and walked around. You’ll never believe what I found—a lonely little mosaic bathroom tile from the theater!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzyproductions/
I got a chance to view some of the photos on Flickr. Great shots.
Oh and I hate, hate, hate the new Cinema Treasures format. The old one was much faster and much easier!
The Eastland was actually located on McKeesport Blvd (now East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Blvd.) just off U.S. 30. The last listing I found for this theater in the Pittsburgh paper was August 5, 1993, although I have no further confirmation on this as yet.
The theater was thriving and in excellent condition when Ross Falvo was manager back in the day. I’ll ask if he he remembers when the theater closed, although he was not there by then.
According to Ross Falvo, a former manager of Eastland Mall’s theater, it closed Aug. 1, 1993.
I liked that movie theater, it wasn’t,t crowded and movies where cheap. Last movie I saw there was The Bodyguard with my girlfriend in 1992 I think. Wish the show was still there but really wish Eastland Mall was still open or at least the flea market.
1993 sounds about right for the closing date. I saw Hot Shots Part Deux there.
The Eastland Shopping Theatre was announced in the Fall of 1960 to be anchored by a Gimbel’s Department Store and a Sears store followed soon after its opening with a J.C. Penney’s. The two anchors launched before the mall’s other stores in August of 1963. Associated Theaters announced that it would add a single-screen cinema to the complex. The $400,000 elliptical structure with its vaulted roof was a daring design by architects Bernard J. Liff and Just of Liff-Just-Chetlin of Pittsburgh. Ground was broken in July of 1964 but soon Associated reconsidered the theatre’s design likely to better fit its spot in the shopping center and, likely, to save money on construction. The 1,000-seat road-show ready Eastland Theatre launched on Christmas Day of 1964 with Peter Ustinov in “Tokapi.”
The theatre was taken over by Cinemette Circuit. The shopping plaza got major competition in 1969 from the Monroeville Mall just six miles a way. In response, the complex housing the theatre became known as the Eastland Mall officially on November 14, 1973 as an enclosed shopping complex. But the closing of the Gimbel’s anchor led the Eastland Mall down a path toward greyfield status - a term synonymous with a “dead” or dying mall. Cinemette - seeing the mall in a downward spiral - downgraded its Eastland cinema to a sub-run dollar discount house on February 27, 1987. Cinemette would soon morph into Cinema World.
Cinema World appears to have dropped the location and it was run as an independent with the Manor Theatre to closure. The Eastland Theatre closed on July 30, 1992 at the end of a leasing cycle remaining as a sub-run discount venue. Its final films were “Lethal Weapon III” and “Beethoven” splitting with “Alien 3.” The Mall scraped by year after year with fewer and fewer stores and services until mercifully being shuttered in 2004 due to complaints including but not limited to falling ceilings, constant roof leakage, lack of heat, and buckling floors. The entire Mall including the former cinema was razed in 2007 with the exception of the Eastland Mall roadside attractor which curiously stayed as a “ghost sign” in the 2010s.
dallasmovietheaters says that “The Eastland Theatre closed on July 30, 1992.” In fact, the theater was still running ads with showtimes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette until 1 August 1993 (https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-eastland-theatre/139267926/). The next day, 2 August 1993, the theater’s name showed in the ads, but without any showtimes (https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-eastland-829/139268015/). This continued until 5 August 1993 (https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-eastland-theatre/139268344/). On 6 August 1993, the Eastland Theatre name dropped out of the listings (https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-eastland-theatre/139268263/). Finally, on 10 August 1993, the Post-Gazette’s “Film Notes” column took notice of the theatre’s apparent closing. (https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-eastland-closed/139268463/).