Hollywood Cinema
1710 Harrison Street,
Hollywood,
FL
33020
1710 Harrison Street,
Hollywood,
FL
33020
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favorited this theater
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Demolished in 2023 according to a post in Facebook group “FLASHBACK South Florida”
Full page grand opening ad
Hollywood theatre opening 06 Dec 1956, Thu Sun-Tattler (Hollywood, Florida) Newspapers.com
AT LEAST a couple notches up! Amen! We live(d) at 16th and Grant and my mom was an extra in the parade scene in Cape Fear. You can recognize her as she wore a BIG brim, tannish woven straw hat (2' diam.)! The scene where they shot from overhead! I wish I could post the photos she took as well! That theater was the best!
…yeah – his name was Lester Altman – I remember the layout of the theater very well – I did some paintings for his lobby too – a scene in the movie “Cape Fear” was filmed inside the theater…the ticket taker was from New York – actor – and he told me about when they were filming – the trailer in the back and a bit about Nick Nolte…so much character in those early days – people, places – life was a couple of notches up in terms of meaning and purpose…
I knew the owner of the Hollywood Cinema over the years 1986 – 1990 or so. I can’t remember his name, but he was a WWII vet – air force. He flew bombers I think – B- 17s or B – 29s. He flew bombers for Chiang Kai Chek after the war too. I was just out of the army and he let me stay in the theater for a while – heck of a nice guy. I couldn’t remember his name so I went online and wound up here. He was well known around Hollywood and had an apartment for himself and his wife in Hallandale I believe – I wish I could remember his name… You could smoke in the theater and I got to know the candy lady and the ticket taker too – nice people…
This opened on December 7th, 1956. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
I can’t find any sign that this was ever a twin although it did run two features per night with separate admissions in the early nineties. In 1994 it ran Bollywood features under the name Bombay Cinema while still showing an earlier showtime of a mainstream film under the name Hollywood Cinema.
It was definitely converted to a twin sometime in the 90’s. Im going to have to say around 92ish? It was after I graduated from high school and that was in 90. The reason I remember it is because me and my GF at the time used to go there for the cheap 2.00 2nd run movies and I used to tell her that the theater used to have the biggest screen in S. Florida before they converted it to a twin. Im going to have to assume that the City of Hollywood owns it. Maybe if I go to the CoH Art and Culture center which is right across the street.
Hwd. Cinema on the circle was converted into a “twin” in the 90s?? I never knew that! Is that accurate? Not sure who owns it. It’s been shuttered for many years now. In ‘14 there was a problem with pieces of the “ceiling” falling onto the sidewalk out front!
sixstringrob, the 1924 Hollywood Cinema was located at 1921 Hollywood Boulevard and closed in 1933 before this one opened.
I’ve been trying to find out who owns the building to see if I can possibly be granted access to take some pictures of the inside for historical purposes. I’ve looked on the Broward County Property Appraisers website but it seems there is no record of any ownership.
From the research Ive done about the Hollywood Cinema it was first opened back around 1926. I also remember them having the largest screen in South Florida before they switched it over to a 2 theater cinema in the 90’s
YES, that was it! Loved that Place! THANK YOU!
Cine Twin.
what was the theater at 441&Sheridan called???
On second thought, maybe around 1,000 seats. Sorry about the initial comment.
Oh yeah! I STILL live right by Hollywood Country Club Golf Course near Young Circle! (Moved to this home in ‘74). Rode my bike to Hollywood Cinema and saw Murder on the Orient Express, Young Frankenstein, Death Race 2000, Bad News Bears, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I think?), China Syndrome and tons more! On some weekends in afternoon they would show Pippi Longstocking films for the younger kids. LOVED this theater! They often left the rear exit unlocked. We snuck in many times for free!
BTW, there were NOT 1000 seats! NO way!
I saw 2001 a space odyssey here in 1968. I think a saw a couple other films but don’t remember the titles. I remember it was nice looking inside
I have a postcard of “The Boulevard, Hollywood, Florida” which shows the Ritz Theatre located in the middle of the block. In the foreground, near the corner, is Lovett’s, and next door is a two-storey building which has a sign that reads “BOWLING”.
The Ritz was a separate location opened in 1937 and closed around 1953. There was also an Arcade theatre operating somewhere in Hollywood from 1937 to 1959.
CL Reece, thank you for the marvelous photos and recollections! Although I only visited once toward the end (GCC got my business at North Broward’s Pompano Cinema), I remember seeing the exteriors when my family drove through the area.
It appears some of the first comments were deleted during CT’s site conversion, so I’ll mention my one visit from c. 1995 again. The Hollywood Cinema was second run by then (I went to see “Powder”), and there was a five-minute wait halfway through for a reel change. A few remnants of the glorious past remained, especially the immense lobby and chandelier.
There were hopes that Hollywood Cinema would have new life with French films, catering to the Canadian/Quebecois winter population (the first played to packed houses for more than a month). After it closed, there were plans to convert the facility into a nightclub (the local press even showed renderings), in light of new activity to the west along Hollywood Boulevard.
Last time I was in the area (Art & Culture Center), I was panhandled even before I could step out of the car. Here’s hoping there may eventually be new life for the Hollywood Cinema.
I found and uploaded the photographs I had of the Hollywood Cinema in Hollywood, Florida and the December 2004 benefit premier of the “Towering Inferno'.
If you move Street View down 17th Avenue to the alley, you can see some glass block windows at the corner of the building. These would not have been installed as late as 1956, so they must be part of the original design. That indicates that the theater was probably built in the 1930s, when the streamline modern style first came into vogue. The upstairs corner windows with steel sash were also characteristic of the 1930s style.
If there’s a record of this theater existing in 1934, that’s probably the year it opened. A book called “A Guide to Historic Hollywood: A Tour Through Place and Time” by Joan Mickelson says that a Hollywood Theatre built in 1923 at 1921 Hollywood Boulevard was remodeled and reopened as the Ritz Theatre in 1935. Presumably the name change was prompted by the opening of this new house.
I remember going to this theater when I first moved to Hollywood in the early ‘90s. I think admission was only a couple of dollars. The owner/manager who worked the box office used to have bonsai trees in the box office. He was an older gentleman and I used to talk to him about the bonsai. Sad to see it closed.
I worked at the Hollywood Cinema from 1972 until 1975 when it was a General Cinema Corporation theatre. I have two pictures of the theatre from about 1973 when the theatre hosted a World Premier of the Towering Inferno as a fund-raiser for the Starting Place, a local drug treatment facility. Hollywood firefighters were in attendance and there were spot lights tilted towards the sky and a fire truck with its red lights flashing as patrons made their appearance in semi-formal to formal attire. One picture was of the marquee and fire truck and the other was of the inside where patrons where enjoying a reception for the event of champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
It was an old, but grand theatre with, if I recall, either 1012 or 1013 seats in the house (the house was sold out on numerous occasions). The inside of the building was repainted in 1973 by the theatre manager and the staff who were working for the theatre at the time (including myself). Behind the concession stand, there was a thick vinyl black strip of wall paper about 12-15 feet wide and it went all the way up the wall to the top of the high ceiling. This strip of vinyl was painted a cerulean blue (AKA General Cinema Blue). There was a also a bright red, recessed, wooden telephone booth with a telephone just off the lobby and just off the bright red carpeted walkway to the theatre entrance. Possibly installed in the 1956 renovations of the theatre. I recall it was considered an old and novelty telephone booth in the 1970’s. After work hours, it wasn’t uncommon for co-workers to all cram into the telephone booth to aggravate you as you were making a call!!
The movie projectors were the old carbon projectors and it wasn’t uncommon to see film melt as you watched a movie. If I recall the projectionist had to switch between projectors about every fifteen minutes. If the projectionist wasn’t paying attention and didn’t catch the visual indicators that a reel was about to end, the film would stop playing and patrons would be out the door telling whomever was in the lobby about it.
The concession stand drink dispensors were from the 1950’s as well. One had to stand on a step ladder and pour concentrated soda syrup from glass gallon jugs into the top of the dispensor and connect the CO2 dispensors for the fizz. There were rarely any more than two concession attendants to serve sold out houses with everyone served before the movie started. Something I have never seen occur at theatres in Florida since that time! We actually ran to grab popcorn around the end of the counter and filled the drink order as we added all the items sold to a customer in our heads!! By the time we set a drink down, the customer knew what they owed and were handing us the money and we were making change. Concession items were counted nightly and if the drawer was short, it came out of your pay. It was rarely short. There was only ONE cashier to sell the tickets and it wasn’t uncommon for managers to remove the cash in a trash basket as one could take in thousands of dollars every two hours. Tickets were $3.00-$4.00 in the evening.
About 3-4 years ago, I was in the area and stopped by to reminisce. The theatre was still there, but the sad part is that where the theatre once supported the recovery of drug addicts in the 1970’s, it was being used by homeless addicts as a night time place to sleep (not officially). The glass exit doors were painted over and had loose chains, but it was still possible to see inside the theatre. I was surprised to see that the inside had not been repainted in 32-33 years! The cerulean blue backdrop to the concession stand was still there!!
Hollywood, Florida recently re-developed the area where the theatre was located (the Young Circle Band Shell), so hopefully, it was restored as I did see a sign on the doors that spoke of renovations.
According to the History of Hollywood (1929-1950)by Virginia Elliott TenEick, published by the City of Hollywood and printed by McMurray Printers, Miami, Florida, 1966, there was a theatre built in 1924 at 1921 Hollywood Boulevard with Thomas M. McCarrel the contractor and Arthur Enos the owner-manager. Most of Hollywood, Florida at that time was a sand-lot as most of the trees were razed in the 1920’s photographs in the book. There was only one other building a lot away from the 1924 theatre and it was the Hollywood Furniture Company.
Charla