Elk Grove Theatre

rivest266 on June 20, 2012 at 1:09 am

1971 grand opening ad is in the photo section for this cinema.

kencmcintyre on July 31, 2009 at 3:10 am

Here is part of a January 1975 article from the Daily Herald:

The Elk Grove Cinema is showing X-rated films again and village officials are trying to decide what to do about it. The current feature, “Flesh Gordon,” may violate a local anti-obscenity ordinance. Three Elk Grove Village policemen viewed the first screening of the movie Friday night and submitted their opinions to Police Chief Harry Jenkins. At least one patrolman is reported to have found the movie obscene, as defined by the ordinance passed last year. Jenkins is to review the findings of the policemen sent as “official viewers” and is expected today to take action on the advice of the village attorney. If “Flesh Gordon” is deemed unlawful, the theater may be closed.

Theater owner Walter Pancoe does not expect to be prevented from continuing to show the film billed as “An outrageous parody of yesterday’s superheroes” whose adventures were depicted in the Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s and 1940s. The movie began its run Friday night and is supposed to show through Thursday. “This movie has been very well-received at theaters all over,” Pancoe said. “There have been no objections raised in other areas and we don’t expect any battle here. We do not feel this picture violates the village ordinance.”

The anti-obscenity ordinance was rushed through by the village board in an emergency Sunday night meeting last January to prevent Pancoe from showing tho X-rated movie “The Devil in Miss Jones.” Pancoe contended he was losing money at the Grove Shopping Center theater by showing “family-type” movies exclusively.

Pancoe tried to show the film again last February and was successful for 10 days while a legal battle between him and the village raged. Contending that he was “coerced by village officials into not showing the film,” Pancoe filed suit against the village, seeking $250,000 in damages while the village sought injunctions to close the theater.

All court action was dropped when Pancoe agreed to stop showing “The Devil in Miss Jones” and return to less controversial fare. Pancoe is testing the village anti-obscenity law for the first time with “Flesh Gordon.”

BigTomEH on January 18, 2009 at 12:41 pm

EXPANDING AGAIN! 2 new screens, ALL-stadium seating, and reconstruction of theatres #1 and #2. Starts in April, should be done by November (then again, that was the schedule of the last expansion, but they didn’t finish until spring. We’ll see what happens).

The Elk Grove 10. Who would’ve imagined?

BigTomEH on September 20, 2007 at 4:43 am

The lobby and renovated theaters look great (they all now have double-doors so you can’t hear the popcorn machines or loud people in the lobby or hallways).

NinjaMurasaki on March 11, 2006 at 1:32 am

The site looks really good now that you did a redesign. I look forward to the coverage of what is to happen when the construction begins.

NinjaMurasaki on January 14, 2006 at 11:10 pm

Wow, that’s a great site BigTomEH. You made it, right? I love knowing the complete history of places. I’m always interested in knowing what has changed and how things work at the theater. The expansion idea is great. It really sounds like they will go through with it. I remember when the Burger King closed. It was kind of sad because we used to eat there before the movie. The staff of Elk Grove Theater would usually put the Kids Meal toy behind the consession stand on Saturdays. It was always neat seeing it there. I would sometimes see employees at the Burger King. I’m glad the land is being put to good use and that the building will not just sit there empty for many years to come like some of the other Burger Kings in the area that closed. I actually had a dream about Elk Grove Theater expanding a year ago. I’d like to know how many new rooms/they plan to put up. The stadium seating sounds good too. More party rooms. I wonder how they’ll configure it. They’ll probably have to break open an outside wall somewhere in order for it to work.

BigTomEH on August 19, 2005 at 12:54 pm

Yes, it did originally open as a Jerry Lewis theater. In fact, on one of the circuit breaker boxes one of the switches still reads “Jerry Lewis logo”. The insides of the auditoriums still reflect the color schemes used in the old building.

New in March 2005 — the all-new, Kodak/Barco DP 100 DLP cinema projection system! I was at first skeptical to the new technology, but after seeing movies in that auditorium I have to admit that digital is better than film. The picture’s clarity and steadiness simply cannot be matched by film.

RobertR on November 23, 2004 at 2:08 am

I would love to find a complete list of all the original Jerry Lewis Cinemas. The only one I was ever in was the one that became the East Meadow Flick.