Westchester Cinemas
1701 Westchester Drive,
High Point,
NC
27262
1701 Westchester Drive,
High Point,
NC
27262
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Correction: it was Kleeberg Cinemas, not Kleesburg. Here’s a link to an article regarding another cinema of his in Salisbury, NC.
This theater should be listed as Westchester Cinemas (without the word “Mall”), as it was not at Westchester Mall. The Martin Twin was actually the closest cinema to Westchester Mall.
Only two cinemas currently operate in High Point: Regal’s Palladium Cinemas 14 (first-run) and the Carmike 8 (discount). The Westchester Cinemas should be listed as Closed.
This theatre was never located “in” the Westchester Mall (was at 1701 Westchester Dr), it was about ½ mile south of the mall in a retail strip (at the time it had Zayre’s, a Food World, and some other shops). The theatre was in the middle of this strip.
The Westchester Mall Cinemas opened as the Trans-Lux In-Flight Cinema owned and operated under Brandt Theatres. Brandt at the time of this theatre’s opening had Trans-Lux In Flight Theatres in Charlotte, Greensboro and Burlington. The Trans-Lux In Flight Cinema opened on April 29, 1970 with the premiere attraction of THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE starring Jason Robards and Stella Stevens. Received it’s new name the Westchester Mall Cinema in 1975 when it was still a single screen operation with a seating capacity of 690. It was twinned by the late 1970’s.
From the previous comment: When you say in-close shopping center do you mean a closed shopping center like a mall?
Yes. And just to let you know that I have found the original ad from the High Point Enterprise newspaper about the opening. The Westchester Mall opened it’s doors to the public on April 22,1970 and it was High Point’s first-ever indoor mall and the Triad’s largest indoor shopping center. The Westchester Mall was anchored by three major department stores at the time of it’s opening which consisted of Belk Beck, Eriad’s Department Store, Thalhimers,and J.C. Penney along with Mann Drugs, Kress' Department Store and was anchored by two major grocery chains one was A&P,and the other was a Kroger,along with 100 or more speciality shops and services with two major service banks that were located by the front of the shopping center(one of them was Wachovia and the other was Central Carolina Bank).
Chuck 1231: I will find the exact date to the ad for the grand opening of the Trans-Lux Theatre in High Point,and when I do I will revised the following information. In the meantime,I have revised the following information for three High Point theatres(The Towne Theatre, The Martin Twin Theatres,and the Capri Triple)which have been updated on the cinema treasures site. I may have to dig into the old newspaper ads within the Microfilm for this information(probably taking a trip over to UNC Libraries at the Wilson Library for this). But I will let you know.
FYI: Westchester Mall opened in 1968 as High Point’s and the Triad’s first-in close shopping center anchored by three department stores consisting of Thalhimers, J.C. Penney, and Eriad’s Department Store. The cinema was on the opposite end of the shopping center when it opened in 1970 as the Trans-Lux Theatre that was owned and operated by Brandt Theatres as a 690 seat single screener. Received its new name The Westchester Mall Cinema in 1975 when it was still a single screen theatre. It remained that way until the 1990’s when it was twinned and change it’s format from showing first-run features to becoming a second-run discount movie house until it’s closing in 2000.
Owned and operated by Kleesburg Cinemas as a second-run discount theatre.