Cinema 70
280 Del Monte Center,
Monterey,
CA
93940
280 Del Monte Center,
Monterey,
CA
93940
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Century Theatres, CinemaCal Enterprises, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Architects: Daniel T. Uesugi
Functions: Retail
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Cinema 70 was designed for showing 70mm films.
It was a large 1,100 auditorium with all seating on one level. The auditorium and entrance was on the lower level of the Monterey Del Monte Shopping Center. In 1991 it was taken over by CinemaCal Enterprises.
The theatre eventually was closed by UA and the auditorium space was remodeled by Century Theatres into a 6-plex named Galaxy Cinemas.
In November 2004, Century Theatres closed the Galaxy when they opened the new Del Monte 13 cinemas. The space once occupied by Cinema 70 and Galaxy is supposedly going to be converted into retail space for the nearby Macy’s store.
Contributed by
Tom DeLay
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Galaxy 6 was actually remodelled by CinemaCal Enterprises and later operated by Century Theatres while the Del Monte 13 was being developed. The Galaxy was similar in design to a number of CinemaCal’s other locations, featuring the Brejfus sound panels of movie stars and film characters.
Does anyone have pictures of this theatre?
Could this possibly be the theatre that opened in 1967 with “Hawaii”?
The rebuilding of Cinema 70 as the Galaxy 6 was designed by San Francisco architect Daniel T. Uesugi.
The Galaxy was built a few hundred feet from where the Cinema 70 stood,beneath the video game arcade if I remember right. Same mall, different buildings so Im not sure how that effects the address.
I remember loving the Galaxy’s flashing neon (that fell into disrepair within a year) and art deco lettering.Only the Dream theater at that time had any good looking signage.
The Cinema 70 used to scare me as a kid cause it was an industrial, not very glam Carlsbad sized dark cavern by the time I was seeing movies there in the late 70s early 80s. But, see the right film there and it was totally immersive. Seeing the Michael Keaton Batman was intense. I went to Hunt For Red October there twice because the screen was so HUGE that you felt like you were under water watching the sub chases. I instinctively looked up when one of the subs when swooping “overhead”.
I think it was the mid 90s when the Cinema 70 closed and it wasnt long before I missed having a screen that size anywhere.
I suppose its obvious from the name but; was the Cinema 70 a 70 mm or CinemaScope house? I can only imagine how cool seeing “the Master” there wouldve been.
A chronology of 70mm presentation history in California’s Central Coast, which includes the Monterey Bay region, has recently been published. The Cinema 70 gets several mentions in the piece.
So did Cinema 70 actually become the Galaxy or were they two separate theatres. Comments above cloud that issue. If the latter CT needs a listing for the Galaxy. If the former the heading on this site be changed.
The Kindair Corporation opened the Cinema 70’s doors on July 13, 1967 with Julie Andrews in “Hawaii”, and was a single-screener for more than two decades. United Artists operated the theater for most of its life.
After screening “Die Hard II” on August 16, 1990, the theater closed for the remainder of 1990 and into the first half of 1991 due to renovations. During that time, the theater was sextupled into a six-plex. The theater reopened by Century Cinemas as the Galaxy 6 Cinemas on May 3, 1991.
The Galaxy 6 Cinemas closed on December 21, 2004.
@robboehm – if my comment about the Cinema 70 being remodeled into the Galaxy is clouding that at all, I do not have first hand knowledge of this. My comment was on the back of the description stating this to be true. However, if we are to keep this as a combined listing then the last operating name was the Galaxy 6 Cinemas, and if you’re going to put a chain name in front it was the Century Galaxy 6 Cinemas.
@ 50sSNIPES – Century did not reopen this theater in 1991, that was done by CinemaCal Enterprises. Century did not start operating this theater until 4/27/2001.
Oops, I first thought it reopened by CinemaCal but accidentally didn’t include that. Thanks for the correction Mr. Neff!