Winwood Theater
42nd Street,
Odessa,
TX
79760
42nd Street,
Odessa,
TX
79760
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Previous Names: Winwood Cinema II
Nearby Theaters
The Winood Cinema II was the first all out mall movie theater for the city of Odessa when it opened August 22, 1973, at Winwood Mall.
Cinema National, a fly by night firm took the theater over in 1974, but it lasted less than a year. In 1975 the it became part of United Artists theater’s which was really on a roll in those days. The firm would later open Permian 4 in 1980, and North Park 6 in 1984. The Winwood Theater became a triple screen theater on May 17, 1985. United Artists began a downward spiral in the 1990’s and abandoned and closed many theaters, one of which was the Winwood. It bit the dust in 1996. The structure was still standing in 2004 behind the Music Mall, which had expanded across the old Winwood Mall location. Both the mall and theater have since been demolished.
Contributed by
Billy Holcomb / Billy Smith / Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Well, since no one answered your question in a year and a half, No — It was never changed to 3 screens — it would have been a major remodel to do that.
This was opened by Carrol’s of Syracuse, NY, which became CinemaNational in 1974. No mention of Rowley United in the article below:
Found on Newspapers.com
This cinema did expand or split up to three screens on May 17th, 1985.
Listings:
Found on Newspapers.com
I don’t know if it’s the case for this particular theatre, but according to a number of newspaper articles I’ve found in various archives, CinemaNational sold twelve of their non-New York locations to United Artists in 1976. It’s likely that this location was one of them.
I also don’t know that CinemaNational was a “Fly-by-night” operation as they were the theatre division of Carrols Development Corp which had been operating theatres around New York state since the 20s. CinemaNational later sold to USA Cinemas which in turn was sold to Loews Theatres.
Hi everyone.
My last post here was in 2011. Funny how time flies. I was assistant manager of the Winwood Cinema from 1974 to 1977. Some time around the middle of that, the theatre was bought by United Artists. In December of 1977 I opened the newly constructed United Artist’s Cine 4 on Cuthbert in Midland.
Cinema National was a pretty cool company but they weren’t acclimated to southern practices, I think. They equipped all new theatres with a basic package including snow shovels. Including the Winwood in Odessa. My boss Lamont, the man in the newspaper clipping above, was required to wear a tuxedo with cummerbund every evening. UA was much more relaxed, serving sizes were larger and prices much better.
Odessa wasn’t happy with my presence there. The house I was living in is a soccer field now and the Winwood Mall along with this theatre (that I really loved) is gone – as if they wanted to remove every trace of my former presence. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I will check back in another 10 years. :)