Cinema Latino

Opened on December 17,1971 as the Kendale Cinema 1 & 2 under Charlotte-based Stewart and Everett Theatres as Sanford’s first-ever indoor twin cinema with a seating capacity of 400(200 seats each in both auditoriums).

The Kendale Cinemas was in between two major anchors of the Kendale Shopping Center…to the right of the cinema was a Winn Dixie grocery store….to the left of the cinema were Roses Department Store and Eckerd Drugs along with specialty shops and services. Sat in the middle of the shopping center was Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company.

Opened on December 17,1971 as the Kendale Cinema 1 & 2 under Stewart and Everett Theatres as Sanford’s first-ever indoor twin cinema. The seating capacity was 400 with 200 seats each in both auditoriums. Carmike Cinemas took over this theatre in 1986 and it was renamed the Kendale Twin until its closing in 2007. In March of 2008,this theatre reopened as the Cinema Latino and it was the first theatre in the state of North Carolina to show first and second run features in Spanish.

Is the cinema space currently being utilized? After the Cinema Latino effort ended, I remember reading online, sometime around 2010, that one of the auditoriums was hosting amateur wrestling matches, but no word on any events or usage since.

I worked there in my junior year in high school, when it was still the Kendale Cinemas—projectionist and concessions stand. Colleagues were Chris Lamm, Joe Stansell, and a few others whose names I’ve forgotten. Mrs. Berryman, Eddy’s mother, was usually in the ticket booth. We screened An Unmarried Woman, Grease, Star Wars, many other memorable movies. The place was vibrantly alive on weekend nights in the late 70s—sad to see it so desolate now.

The Kendale is dissed in this blog:
http://tinyurl.com/638dmq