Edwards Atlantic Palace 10
700 West Main Street,
Alhambra,
CA
91801
700 West Main Street,
Alhambra,
CA
91801
3 people
favorited this theater
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May 17th, 1991 grand opening ad in photo section.
I never liked this Cinema. The reason Edwards kept this location was because it was where his first theater was, the original Alhambra Theater. I saw Wall Street 2 here before they closed. It wasn’t as run down as I expected it to be, but it definitely lost the luster it had when it opened in 1991. I remember this was a “hot” spot back in the day as there wasn’t much in Alhambra during the 80’s and early to mid 90’s.
Found a video of this theater’s demolition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97dr6pse1gA&feature=related
If it closed on the 12th, they didn’t lose any time bringing out the bulldozers. Demolition photos uploaded to Flickr are dated July 13th.
Here is a link to Boxoffice Magazine, August, 1991, which featured an article on the Atlantic Palace, with several photos, including one on the cover. The article begins on page 20. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pages.
Ground was broken for the Edwards Atlantic Palace on September 7, 1990, and the house opened eight months later. This costly multiplex lasted barely twenty years. The original Alhambra Theatre, which the Atlantic Palace replaced, had operated for about fifty three years.
Looks like it closed yesterday… and I didn’t even notice! I really would have liked to go see it off, but I wasn’t vigilant enough to check Fandango. :(
The ol' Atlantic Palace just keeps chugging along! My buddy just saw “Battle: Los Angeles” there. He said the theater wasn’t as run-down as he expected it to be. But he brought his own munchies because the concession stand prices are crazy.
Yelp has posted customer reviews for the Atlantic Palace as recently as February 13. It’s still being operated as a sub-run house with a three dollar admission. As of today all ten screens are still lit up. The recent user reviews are mixed. A lot of people are happy about the bargain price, but many complain about the condition of the theater.
I think Regal might keep this theater open as long as possible. It’s the only big discount house in the area, and is probably pulling in customers from Pasadena (where the only discount house is the somewhat arty-indie Academy) as well as a big chunk of L.A.’s east side. Kids from Pasadena and El Sereno can easily reach this location by bus, which is probably a big plus for the daily matinees. Current offerings include kid-oriented movies on four of the ten screens, and all ten movies currently running are rated either PG or PG-13.
If local government’s budget crisis delays the start of construction on the county office building slated to be built on this site, the Atlantic Palace might continue operating for quite a while yet.
Anyone have an update on the Atlantic Palace 10 closing? They’ve already stopped screening trailers.
“Buried” is playing this week at the Atlantic Palace after raking up several critics' awards this past… a good option to catch up with a flick that demands the theatrical experience, at $3 no less. Compared to the often unattractive lineup of third-run product they’ve had lately, this is a refreshing booking. I’ll be going, for sure.
The names might be from past city council members and capacites around 400-500 range. It’s been along time since I worked that complex. Edwards at one time had THX certifications on the four large houses before dropping those titles because of yearly cost.
Went to the 10:10PM Thanksgiving Eve screening of “Let Me In”. The boxoffice was actually quite busy and there was an audience of 22 in the smaller auditorium I sat in.
There are several very large auditoriums with brass plaques of named individuals. Does anyone know about them and their capacity?
I read that the closure will happen in January.
great theatre i saw lot’s of great films i’ll miss this theatre
False alarm! Showtimes through Tuesday have been added (Wednesday will have moveovers)! Looks like those of us who wanted to check the place out will have some more time.
A new three story county office building is going to be constructed on the site with an opening in 2012 according to the SGV Tribune.
A new three story county office building is going to be constructed on the site with an opening in 2012 according to the SGV Tribune.
This theater will be gone before I ever get a chance to see it. The Boxoffice article I linked to in an earlier comment is no longer available online, but I remember it saying that Edwards spent about twice as much per seat building this project than the industry was spending on the average multiplex at the time.
The multi-level garage probably accounted for much of that extra expense, and that will probably remain in use for whatever project gets built in the theater’s place, but it’s hard to imagine the theater itself being reopened with so many other screens nearby. In fact it’s likely that the availability of the parking facility will hasten the destruction of this theater once the real estate market recovers.
There’s been a theater at this location since 1924, except for the period between the destruction of the old Alhambra Theatre and the completion of the Atlantic Palace. It’s going to seem very strange without one.
Looks like the Atlantic Palace 10 will be put to rest this weekend. Showtimes are only posted through Sunday, which is usually the clear sign a location will close.
After 19 years of playing first run movies, the Edwards Atlantic Palace has been demoted to a discount house. It now shows all features any show for $3.
The closing date has been pushed back to the end of the year from whht has been told.
This theater has slowly been transformed into a second run house with one or two first run films. Driving by all the time there is never anyone at the box office, a sad end to what used to be the prime theater in the west San Gabriel Valley. Sad to think it may not hit its 20th anniversary.
It has been rumored that this theater will close along with the Edwards West Covina 18 after the summer.
Thanks Joe.
basscott: The old theater you remember was the original Alhambra Theatre, built in 1924, and its Annex, a smaller auditorium added in a former grocery store adjacent to the Alhambra’s lobby in 1940.
After being closed for several years, the Annex was renovated in the late 1960s and reopened as the Gold Cinema. Later the duplex was called the Alhambra Twin Cinemas. The entire complex was demolished after suffering severe damage in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, and the Atlantic Palace was built on the cleared site.
The original Alhambra Theatre and Gold Cinema are listed at Cinema Treasures under their final name, the Alhambra Twin Cinemas There is also a Cinema Treasures page for the El Rey Theatre.
Here is a link to the August, 1991, Boxoffice article about the Atlantic Palace 10. A color photo of the theater by night appears on the cover of the same issue.
basscott, your above post should have been over on the Alhambra Twin Cinemas thread. That’s the one for the original Alhambra, Alhambra Gold Theatre.
I always remember it as the Alhambra Gold before the Whittier quake damaged it, or maybe that’s just how I always heard it referred as. I always enjoyed going there as a kid. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark there and Poltergeist. The last movie I saw I think was Cobra with Stallone.
Another old Edwards theater, the El Rey, was just a couple blocks east of there on Main St.
A photo of Edwards Atlantic Palace Cinemas was featured on the cover of the August, 1991, issue of Boxoffice Magazine, and there was a multi-page article about the new multiplex. Groundbreaking for the ten-screen multiplex and adjacent multi-level parking facility had taken place on September 7, 1990, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Edwards circuit. The new complex was built at a cost $15,000,000.
Currently, the complex is being advertised for sale on LoopNet for $11,000,000. From the seller’s description it looks like they’re trying to appeal to a buyer who would redevelop the land for some other use. There’s no mention of any existing lease on the property, though the theater is still in operation as of this date. Given the abundance of screens in the area, and the fact that a 14-screen AMC multiplex is under construction a couple of miles away in Monterey Park, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this place close within a year.
Maybe the misinformation on this page (wrong name, wrong number of screens, etc.) can be corrected before the theater is gone forever?