Palm Aire Cinema 3
271 S. Pompano Parkway,
Pompano Beach,
FL
33069
271 S. Pompano Parkway,
Pompano Beach,
FL
33069
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The Loehmann Plaza Cinema closed “temporarily” following April 6, 1995 showtimes of “Shawshank Redemption,” “The Last Seduction,” and “Higher Learning.” By the 2020s, even die hard fans of the venue were beginning to give up hope of a grand reopening.
This opened on June 17th, 1977, the same day as the Wometco Gateway Twin. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Oh, almost forgot. The Cinema & Drafthouse in Coconut Creek was the same type of theater. There you may have had the teenager issue because Coconut Creek is somewhat of a family area, but there are also a lot of seniors that live in the surrounding condos.
Al,
The Cinema Cafe was also named Cinema & Drafthouse. These were a combination of movie theater, and restaurant. The one on 17th Street was pretty cool. It was a dollar theater, so there no first run movies.
In these theaters you sat at a table, and there were waitresses. Not sure why this type of theater did not survive. It was a great place to watch a movie and grab a bite to eat at the same time. Very enjoyable, and comfortable. The only thing was that the screens were not full sized screens, so it was sort of watching a movie on a big screen TV, but it was viewable, I had no issues with it.
Given the structure of the theater auditorium, it definitely wasn’t a teenage kissy kissy type of place. Unless you wanted to kissy kissy with hamburger breath. Maybe this is the reason why it failed. Given the location, I would say that it wasn’t in an area where a lot of teenagers would frequent, but I may have it all wrong!
I have a rough record of the years of operation for these but know little else about them. I posted a photo link for the Village 3 on the Southport page as they were both similar operations.
By the way, here is the site I use for zip codes as it helps CT list and map them easier.
http://www.zip-codes.com/search.asp
Lost Memory, Cinema 4 (aka Cinemas 4 Pompano) is at CT under Pompano Cinema.
Al, my previous message was before I saw your list from 6:46 p.m. Except for Northridge Cinema/Old Time Movie House (one and the same, the closest Broward had to a revival theater in the mid 70s, in a converted card & gift shop), the rest were before my time or beyond travel distance before I could drive. Will tend to the others, though.
To my knowledge, yes, same Budco (in 1970s South Florida, they also had three or four-screen locations at the Palm Beach Mall and Lake Park). Seen elsewhere on this site that Budco was later sold to AMC.
Al, I did time, er, spent time at all but four of the Broward County theaters you listed. I’ll submit to CT as schedule allows (and thanks for providing the addresses, that’s half the groundwork).
PEMBROKE PINES 3 – 1788 N UNIVERSITY DRIVE, PEMBROKE PINES
WESTFORK PLAZA 13 – 15977 W PINES BOULEVARD, PEMBROKE PINES
GULFSTREAM DRIVE-IN – 1482 E BEACH BOULEVARD, HALLANDALE
HALLANDALE DRIVE-IN – 831 N FEDERAL HIGHWAY, HALLANDALE
ARCADE (Hollywood)
RITZ (Hollywood)
and a number of older theatres I have no address for.
441 FAMILY DRIVE-IN
BROWN’S DRIVE-IN
FULL MOON
NORTH ANDREWS DRIVE-IN
NORTH RIDGE
OCEAN
OLDE TYME MOVIE HOUSE
QUEENE
SUNRISE DRIVE-IN
VILLAGE-3
WEST HOLLYWOOD DRIVE-IN
POMPANO DRIVE-IN
DANIA DRIVE-IN
STATE (Dania)
HALLANDALE
Is this the Budco chain that operated in the Philadelphia, Pa. market?
SUNRISE AT PINE PLAZA 11 – 4321 NW 88TH AVENUE, FT. LAUDERDALE
COCONUT CREEK DRAFTHOUSE 1&2 – 4801 COCONUT CREEK PKWY, COCONUT CREEK
MOVIES AT MARGATE 8 – 5455 W ATLANTIC BOULEVARD, MARGATE
CYPRESS CREEK STATION 16 – 6415 N ANDREWS BOULEVARD, FT. LAUDERDALE
MOVIES AT LAUDERHILL 13 – W COMMERCIAL BOULEVARD, LAUDERHILL
HOLIDAY SPRINGS 3 – 8026 W SAMPLE ROAD, FT. LAUDERDALE
TAMARAC 5 – 10036 W McNAB ROAD, TAMARAC
PARADISE 24 – 15601 SHERIDAN STREET, DAVIE
MOVIES AT PEMBROKE PINES 9 – 11350 PINES BOULEVARD, PEMBROKE PINES
CINEMA FOUR – 128 N UNIVERSITY DRIVE, PEMBROKE PINES
Great insight, S. Porridge.
I know of a few other Broward sites missing from CT that I know little about. Perhaps you could enter them if you know more about them.
Here they are:
8 AT WESTON – 1338 SW 160th STREET, SUNRISE
VALUE 6 – 1399 S. STATE ROAD 7, FT. LAUDERDALE
CINEMA CAFE 1 & 2 – 1455 SE 17TH STREET, FT. LAUDERDALE
DEERFIELD 5 – 2205 W HILLSBOROUGH ROAD, DEERFIELD
POMPANO 18 – 2315 N FEDERAL HIGHWAY,POMPANO
SAWGRASS 23 – 2600 NW 136th STREET, SUNRISE
FESTIVAL 8 – 2900 W SAMPLE ROAD,POMPANO
CORAL RIDGE 10 – 3401 N 26TH AVENUE, FT. LAUDERDALE
DEERFIELD MALL 8 – 3984 W HILLSBOROUGH ROAD, DEERFIELD
Budco opened the Palm Aire Cinema (three plain 70s-style tube auditoriums with monophonic sound) but didn’t stay for long, and ownership changed hands frequently (usually short-lived local startup chains). Also wavered between first run, second run, and subrun double features, mainly catering to the neighborhood retiree audience in the massive Palm Aire development.
A couple regimes attempted to make Pompano Beach safe for art films and revivals: The Palm Aire gave me my first non-TV viewing of “Harold and Maude,” the expanded “New York, New York,” and (I still can’t believe it) “Salo” (went in not fully aware of what was in store…)
Another startup outfit destined for failure (one of their other theaters went up in flames reopening weekend) brought the Palm Aire back for first-run engagements in 1994, but soon folded for good. The complex was later demolished during a makeover of the surrounding shopping center (originally a Loehmann’s Plaza — that retailer fled too — now named Palm Aire Plaza).