Bethany Theatre
2324 W. Bethany Home Road,
Phoenix,
AZ
85015
2324 W. Bethany Home Road,
Phoenix,
AZ
85015
1 person
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The article rivest266 just posted says that the yet-unnamed theater on Bethany Home Road was designed by Elmo K. Lathrop & Associates. The finding aid for the J. Evan Miler Collection of Cinerama Theater Plans at UCLA also lists Elmo K. Lathrop as the architect of the Bethany Theatre. The 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists Lathrop’s address then as 4201 N. 2nd Ave, Phoenix, Arizona.
As near as I can puzzle out from the scant information on the Internet, the Jim Coles & Associates that operated in Phoenix in the 1960s was an interior design firm. There is an architect named Jim Coles currently practicing in Idaho, as head of Design West Architects, but I doubt it would be the same guy, sixty years later.
October 29th, 1961, article about an unnamed theatre in the area
unbuilt Forman-Nace cinema in Chris-Town 29 Oct 1961, Sun Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) Newspapers.com
MSC77: A brief article in Boxoffice of May 14, 1962, did say that the new Forman-Nace house in suburban Phoenix was called the Bethany West Theatre, but didn’t say why.
Why was this theater called Bethany West during the early years of its life before they settled on, simply, Bethany?
Spent many Saturday mornings with friends at the sci-fi/horror matinees from around 62 to 67, Also saw Earthquake there. I think the closure was to install the speaker and audio system for Sensurround before the premiere. Movie scared the **** out of me when the quake hit…yeat I still wound up in San Francisco, until the quake of 89 convinced me to move away.
April 25th, 1962 grand opening ad in photo section
I saw a lot of movies there in the 1960s – jimmyjay1949 above probably took my ticket many, many times. My brother and I walked up from North Black Canyon townhouses and spent fantastic afternoons there. Maybe stopped at Der Wienerschnitzel (sp?) for a spicy hot dog afterwards.
I began working at the Bethany in December 1967. I started as an usher and I was making $1.00 an hour. The movie that was playing when I started there was “Gone With The Wind” (hard tickets). It was the most fun job I ever had. The Bethany was one of the movie theaters owned by Harry Nace Theaters. Their office was 1407 E. Thomas Rd. in Phoenix. Harry Nace Theatres also owned and operated our sister theater the Kachina in Scottsdale. The Bethany and the Kachina were always competing to see who was best. Our staff at the Bethany was very much a family. I still miss our truly great manager, Mr. William Philo and all of the friends I made while I was there (especially Joe Tisdale).
As early as 1966, it was operated by Nace Theatres. Here’s the source:http://newspaperarchive.com/us/arizona/phoenix/arizona-republic/1966/11-02/page-53
I remember seeing Noah’s Ark with Eliot Gould and Ricky Schroeder there June of 1980.
When the Saxon theatre played Earthquake in Boston in Sensurround Some of the plaster in the ceiling came down according to reports I read. I had seen it in suburban Framingham a few weeks before it came to downtown. The Saxon only played one more sensurroud film and that was Battlestar Galactica. I took my youn son and there were no more problems. The rest of the sensurrounf films, Midway and Rollercoaster played in suburban Braintree at the General Cinema 4 or 6plex and no more in Downtown Boston.
The last movie I saw at the Bethany was one of the Witch Mountain movies in late 1981 or early 1982. Nice single screen theatre. As mentioned above it sat empty for quite a few years and then was demolished for a strip mall with Big Lots.
Shannon,What was the last movie to play there.didn’t notice if was mentioned above.
We played “EARTHQUAKE” and “MIDWAY” in Sensurround in The Imperial Theatre in Augusta and no damage was done to that theatre built back in early 1900’s..Don’t believe it closed a theatre,if it did it was shoddy work done building it.
I also remember hearing about structural damage during the Bethany’s engagement of “Earthquake” in late 74' early ‘75. I do believe it was closed for a week for some repairs. I was not fortunate to see “Earthquake” at the Bethany, but got to see it later that year at The Hayden West Theatre off Grand and Indian Schoool. The Sensurround was awesome. I remember my dad feeling a bit shaken up after the show. My brother and I loved it though. I do believe “Earthquake” was the only Sensurround showing at The Bethany. After that, both “Midway” & “Rollercoaster played in Sensurround at the Camelback Theatre near Scottsdale Rd.
Wish we Still had theatres like the Bethany and theatres that would play Sensurround like the film fest this past June in Germany.
I just came across this site. Wow! I am from Phoenix and I remember watching the midnight movie, “Rocky Horror Picture Show!” Good times!! It’s to bad that its gone. I wonder if Metro Center is still around!?
About the same time they installed the speakers for Earthquake, Led Zeppelin’s movie The Song Remains The Same came out. It was amazing seeing at the Bethany through those speakers!
Ah, I remember the Bethany! That was the theater I was allowed to see a movie on my own for the first time… and it was The Black Hole. The McDonalds across the street from this place was cool, too, it had that kid’s play area made up with old railcars.
Wow – I’m shocked to see people talking about SENSURROUND (from when Earthquake played there) having damaged the Bethany! I always thought I had sort of made that urban legend up in my own mind! I saw EARTHQUAKE only a few days (or maybe even the first night) it opened – the theatre was sold out, we were in the front row as a result, and it was L-O-U-D. As I recall, they had torn out a row or two of seats at the back of the auditorium to place the truly impressive row of speakers – we were a bit freaked out when we first walked in and saw them. No joke, the floor was really vibrating, so were the seats, and after 15 or so minutes of fairly well done (for the 70s) earthquake footage, we were pretty rattled ourselves. A few weeks later, the theatre closed for repairs (of some sort – that’s when the rumour started that they had damaged the building’s foundation), and it was closed for at least a week – I think longer. I’m pretty sure they re-opened with Earthquake and ran it a bit longer. I had heard then that it was no longer being played nearly as loud. Years later, probably in 1984 or so, I stopped by and found the front door open (it had been closed for a couple of years with the TEMPORARILY CLOSED letters on the marque already falling off). I found a guy in the dark, QUIET auditorium who said he had bought (or was trying to buy) the theatre and re-open it to show retro movies and sell BOOZE! He was trying to get a liquor license at the time (he had the sign in the window, I think), and I made it clear that if he did re-open it, I wanted to work there. I really liked that theatre as a kid – saw tons of movies there (Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Rooster Cogburn & the Lady to name a couple) and I thought his idea was really cool (being a fan of the Sombrero and all). Never heard from him again – theatre never re-opened, but I’ve been to that type of theatre in Colorado Springs since then…
My brother & I went to the Bethany West Theatre most Saturdays when we spent a year in AZ in the early 1960’s. What I remember about the theatre was the curtains. Two red curtains parted drawing back from the middle; afterwhich a second curtain was raised up to expose the screen. It was quite lavish to a 12 yr old girl.
Urban myth? Quite possibly. I have heard conflicting stories about the demise of the Bethany.
Wasent that an urban myth about “Sensouround” causing structural damage? In NY it played in so many really old theatres and never heard of any where it happened?
The Bethany Theatre was equipped with a Norelco 70/35mm projection equipment package with a full 6-Track Stereo sound system.
I was told that the Bethany was closed because it developed serious structural damage from the “Surround Sound” system that was installed there in the late 70s. I hope someone comes up with a picture of this theater, it was my favorite cinema growing up in Phoenix in the 60s and 70s. Seeing “2001” there was an unforgettable experience.
The Bethany Theater was located on the north side of Bethany Home Road and 23rd Ave and was operated by Nace Theaters. It opened in April 1962 and I believe closed in 1982. The theater ultimately closed because it was about a mile from a mall 6 plex and a 5 plex that were able to get more popular films to play at them.