South Windermere Cinemas

I loved going to this theater for matinees back in the mid 90’s when I was a student at the College of Charleston. It was cheap, kind of low key and showed interesting indie films. (They never had birds or reptiles there so I’m guessing that happened a lot later). The most memorable film I remember seeing there was Pulp Fiction which I went in to see after having only seen a fairly oblique trailer so I really didn’t know what the film was about. What a marvelous experience it was to be surprised by a film, especially one that was so cinematically transformative. I know it is kind of a cliche to be nostalgic for the decade when you were in your 20’s but there is a lot about the 1990’s that I miss. I certainly don’t miss having to breathe cigarette smoke virtually everywhere. But so much about the simplicity of that time was really great. I can never drive down that road on the way to Folly without thinking about that theater and all of the great 90’s indies I saw there.

This theater had many owners over the years .Once owned for a short while by the former owner of the TERRACE THEATER.The last owners believed the theater was haunted and posted pics on there web site to prove the point.

This theater is being converted to an upscale womens' clothing store.
A picture can be found here:
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I am very upset, this was the last indie theater in Charleston besides the Terrace. It had real food, alcohol, great reasonable prices and were run by a friendly family. I went to the Asiamania Film Fest there both years it was held, and am very thankful that Charleston even HAD an Asian Film Festival. The screens were huge (biggest in Charleston County besides IMAX, which is also closed now unfortunately) and the seats were very comfy. The first movie I saw here was Fantasia 2000 back in the day, and the last one was probably Spiderman or X-men 2. I am very very sad to see this theater go, they had even resorted to renting out to Seacult church on the weekends to make ends meet. This was a second-run theater for the most part, I believe it was built in the 1930s or 40s with the rest of South Windermere Center.

WOW.WHAT CAN I SAY A VERY VERY SAD THEATER….2 SCREENS 360 AND 240 SEATS EACH .WILD ANIMALS IN THE LOBBY ,BIRDS AND REPTILES…The auditoriums sre hugh but stink .$3.00 house all day.