Dadeland Triplex

7440 SW 88th Street,
Miami, FL 33156

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Wometco Theatres

Architects: A. Herbert Mathes

Previous Names: Wometco Twin Theatre

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Article

The Wometco Twin Theatre opened on March 24, 1967 with Paul Newman in “Hombre” & Marlon Brando in “The Countess From Hong Kong”. Seating was provided to 1,000 & 500. It often ran exclusives and roadshow presentations. Located across from Florida’s then busiest mall it was a suburban smash hit later a victim of land values and nearby multiplexes.

Excellent sized screens seating 1,000 and 500 with plush seating were undermined by tacky turnstyle entrance equipment. It later became a triplex.

Contributed by Al Alvarez

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on August 25, 2008 at 7:47 am

The Dadeland was badly hurt by the opening of Bakery Centre, Movies at the Falls, and Kendall Town & Country. At the time, even those malls looked better than the dog-eared Dadeland, which was later refurbished.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 3, 2009 at 11:09 am

Newspaper blurb on the Wometco Twin construction:

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rivest266
rivest266 on January 17, 2010 at 4:55 pm

This opened as Twin on March 24th, 1967
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gailsey
gailsey on May 2, 2010 at 5:25 pm

Yes, Dadeland was a dozie of a twin. I hated when it was chopped up for the third theater. I remember needing 1000 seats when Empire Strikes Back came out. The lines wrapped around the building and still sold out show after show —1000 seats a pop! The concessioneers had to carry sodas around their necks and work the lines! Just like in the stadiums! The experience on that huge screen in that big theater isn’t the same as seeing something in a tiny 1 of 10 theters!

RLSemes
RLSemes on November 30, 2010 at 7:43 pm

The Dadeland Twin was a great showplace. I remember seeing
“Midnight Cowboy” there in the late ‘60s. I don’t remember
any particular decor or whether it had a screen curtain…probably
not, just good film presentation on the giant screens. I also
saw “Carnal Knowledge” there starring Candace Bergen, I believe.
The film attracted all the usual reactionaries, particularly in the South, who tried to ban it.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on September 10, 2011 at 7:01 pm

Those “Carnal Knowledge” ads carried a Wometco warning about the language so the film didn’t meet with the stupidity that tried to shut down “Woodstock” and “Last Tango in Paris” at the Coral.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZLIlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C_QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6409%2C654140

David_Schneider
David_Schneider on February 11, 2017 at 11:00 am

The entire parking lot has been filled in with new buildings right up to the sidewalk of SW 88th Street/N. Kendall Drive in the past two years.

Yes, the address was 7440 SW 88th Street, Miami, FL 33156, which was never in the City of South Miami, but on the eastern edge of an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County known as Kendall.

Perhaps all the of listings for theaters along SW 88th Street/with “Kendall” in their names could be sublisted under “Kendall” as a neighborhood of Miami, and would still show up in the general list for theaters in Miami when a neighborhood is not selected.

MSC77
MSC77 on November 1, 2023 at 3:42 pm

This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-updated article “70mm Presentations in Miami: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1956-Present”.

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