Raintree Cinemas 1, 2,3
2438 E. Dublin-Granville Road,
Columbus,
OH
43229
2438 E. Dublin-Granville Road,
Columbus,
OH
43229
3 people
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Saw quite a few off-beat movies there in the 70’s and 80’s. “Dawn of the Dead” and “Polyester” come to mind.
this opened on February 13th, 1976. Grand opening ad posted.
Well I posted this once and never showed up Worked at Raintree during the Star Wars year (s). Such a great group of people to work with, with some very fond memories. Although we had a union member on call a few of us were lucky enough to learn the dual projector system. Glenn was a great guy to work for and his wife and daughters were part of the theatre family. Does anyone remember “Alice in Wonderland Rated X”(rated R by todays standards) Glenn was one of the few mainstream theatre owners that took in an “X” rated movie. Very bold. Loved Thursday night build and preview in the screening room. Did anyone find Glenn? Did a quick search and didnt find anything. Still the central Ohio area and would love to say hi
Then again I don’t recall seeing too many films there…so I might be wrong.
RAINTREE CINEMA was the first place I saw STAR WARS and I saw it twice the first time and more than 10 times overall. Raintree was not a great theater not like CINEMA EAST, but it had STAR WARS so it holds a special place in my heart.
I remember seeing many movies here… Glenn had brought into the lobby the revolving hologram from the end of Logan’s Run while it was shown there. I also got to see Star Wars from the upstairs private area. A fantastic place.
What I remember about Raintree is that Star Wars ran there for a long, long time. Not quite as long as Rocky Horror ran at Graceland, but it was a very long time!
Does anyone have any pictures of this theater? I can’t help but feel like I missed out on a great theater.
I was again involved in adding “DOLBY” CP-50 processors to the existing stereo system also including CAT 160 Card with the addition of the “KINTEK KT-90 Subwoofer! Additional "DOLBY” systems were added under new ownership.
I was involved in the original projection & sound equipment installation consisting of 3 sets of dual projector “Ballantyne Pro35 VIP’s with 6000' Magazines. Cinema 1 was equiped with 35mm magnetic sound. Cinema 2&3 were Ballantyne Tube Mono Pat 50’s
Raintree was fairly nice when I went there in late 80s I believe.
I found Glenn! A mutual friend from Australia (formerly from Ohio) found an address and phone number in his online search for Glenn Ackerman. I called the number and left a message. Glenn returned the call. It was absolutely GREAT talking with him after 39 years! He has the skateboard film. He is in Westerville; I am in New York. Hopefully, we will be able to get together before too much time passes. JAngel
Good luck…I hope you find him.
you can email me at
to bprince
Bummer that you haven’t talked to him in 13 years. I did try the Alumni Association, Department of Photography and the OSU archives for the documentary but came up with nothing. I’ll try the Alumni Association for Glenn as an alumnus. Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried phone listings in Westerville and Columbus but nothing. When I did a name search, I saw a Scott and Jennifer listed as relatives, but no phone numbers. I’ll also check with the city offices or post office in Westerville.
I haven’t had contact with Glenn since 1994. At any rate, I think he was either in Gahanna or Westerville…..
Sorry I am not much help….Maybe you could contact the OSU Alumni Association?
To the good old days of the cinema!
To bprince,
It’s uncanny that the same day I was seeking to locate Glenn Ackerman, the owner of the now closed Raintree Cinema, you posted (7/16). I was directed to this Cinema Treasures site and read what you had to say of the theater. Do you know Glenn Ackerman or know of him and how I can locate him? I was one of the “actors” in a skateboard documentary Glenn made while he was a student at Ohio State. Portions of the documentary were aired on WOSU-TV in the late 60’s or early 70’s. I’m working with some of the staff there to locate Glenn as well. Glenn knows me by my maiden name “Angel”. Do hope you or anyone is able to help!
I was the manager here from February 1979 – April 1979 and again from August 1980 til April 1988. I have plenty of pics of the interior and exterior, plus a set of blueprints.
The theater was the second theater built in the Columbus Mero area with stadium seating. The first theater built using stadium seating was The Forum on East Refugee Rd.
The Dolby system was upgraded in 1980’s ( I think it was for the Rolling Stones or the Dark Crystal movie ) that included new Dolby processor cards and also incorporated a the use of a huge subwoofer assembly that sat in front of the screen in the #1 auditorium.
Additionally, the Ballantyne VIP projectors were capable of running 70MM films ( we had purchased several conversion kits to accomplish this ). The soundheads were capable of magnetic soundtracks as well as optical with Dolby encoding. The projection system was setup as a Master/Slave system until 1980 when platter transport systems were installed for all three auditoriums, making it a manager operated booth (eliminating the projectionist position).
The Dolby system was upgraded in 1980’s ( I think it was for the Rolling Stones or the Dark Crystal movie ) that included new Dolby processor cards and also incorporated a the use of a huge subwoofer assembly that sat in front of the screen in the #1 auditorium.
The theater boasted the first ‘private viewing room’. This room was rentable at a reasonable price of $125 and included the cost of the tickets / popcorn and soda for each person up to 12. It was located on the projection booth level of the #1 auditorium & had it’s own private entrance, private restroom, Dolby Surrond system, full wetbar, lighting, privacy glass with curtain and stadium seating with 12 swivel chairs.
The lobby was adorned with enlarged black & white stills (were talking 3' x 5') from The Godfather, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Funny Girl and other ‘classic’ movies. The lobby also had a game area and some funky orange sectional seating, originally on the main floor area of the lobby and later moved to the elevated gaming area.
Dolby Stereo installation books from the 80’s list this theatre as having 70mm equipment. This was an error in the Dolby book, which I confirmed with Glen Ackerman a number of years ago.
A very nice theatre. One of first 2 theatres in Columbus with Dolby Stereo (w/Cinema East for original STAR WARS). Used corner rear speakers instead of along sides. One of the first theatres with stadium style seating in the Columbus area.