Omni 10
1601 Biscayne Boulevard,
Miami,
FL
33132
1601 Biscayne Boulevard,
Miami,
FL
33132
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Showing 21 comments
Added a link in the photo comments in ridethectrain’s photo upload of the box office. It is the same photo from the Herald article but of a much larger and better quality.
Just uploaded article from the Miami Herald in the photos section
Closed May 6th, 1999.
Expanded to 10 screens on August 30th, 1985. Another ad posted.
The Omni 6 reached its heyday in the early 80s. Due to changing demographics and the opening of newer and nicer malls the theater declined in the mid 1980s. It also had issues with truancy and fights as the Time Machine arcade was located right next to it. The additional four screens staved off the inevitable but it eventually closed in the late 90s as the Omni was practically a ghost mall by that point. A photo of the concession counter in the 80s is included below:
http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/145601048
March 23rd, 1977 grand opening ad has been posted here.
Visited Miami in 1978 and the Omni mall was my first experience of a shopping mall. Loved the gadget shop in there (selling the Simon toy at the time).
I saw 8 movies in Miami during my stay that summer, and I’m still piecing together which screens they were at. Here’s my recollections, including some local print ads…
View link
Including one for the Omni 6…
View link
Pictures please!
Any photos anyone?
March 23rd, 1977 ad (Below the Molson Canadian Ad) View link
The additional four screens opened in 1985.
YES, please contact me as well and I’d love to see one of those pamphlets that has a map of the mall and list of stores at the time… That would be super!
Edward :o)
Great to read everybody’s comments and memories on The Omni. I grew up going there with my parents in the early 1980’s and all I have is good feelings when I think back to those days. Does anyone have any pictures of the old Omni mall? Would love to see some. I believe I have some of the carousel. Please contact me if you have any old videos or pictures of the Omni Mall.
Wow, I LOVED reading all your comments/stories. My childhood memories of the Omni are very similar to all of yours (especially yours Carlos!)… lol, I had to beg my mother to take me there on weekends. B.t.w I’m so sorry about your loss.
I always loved the magical feeling the Omni had everytime I visitied. I fondly remember the AMC theatres, which was the 10-screen by the time I started going there. I remember the strong smell of butter popcorn when strolling along the upper-mall level near the elevators next to the Omni 6 side; Omni 4 was on the opposite side and I remember the “bridge” walkway you could walk on to get to either theatre (the bridge was next to the big window) and went from left to right. The top of the carousel was between both theatres, as the original post indicated.
God I miss that place! Omni will always be my favorite establishment, ever. Sadly, It doesn’t feel the same anymore when I drive by it. The “magic” is definitely gone. That place entertained a lot of people and was so unique… it’s a shame it got so bad and then closed. Well, long-live the special memories of Omni… I reflect on these memories all the time and will never forget them.
Edward Corser
I grew up in Miami, on Key Biscayne, i remember like it was yesterday, that every single weekend without exception, i would go with my mother on saturdays to the omni, and while she di her hair at super cuts, i would get 5 dollars for the game room, thats were they first had D&D the game. We would then have lunch at cozzolis the best pizza !!,then we would go to the movies. I remember that we would always park in the same place, and come in were cozzolis was , right next to a piano store, that had all these cool organs ( which i always wanted to buy)….
After the movies, we would always go to champs, were i would often get one of those footballs, the small ones… they were always great saturdays!! always great fun…
I moved back to latin america in 1989, which seemed only fitting as the 80;s had come to and end, my mother died of cancer in 06 at 58, and to the end, one of the things we would always laugh about was those great weekends when i was a little boy…
I am married now 34y old, have a thriving company, and there is not a trip that gose by, that i dont drive by the Omni, (never go in ) just drive by, and….
Am greeted by the echos of memories past, and for a brief moment…
I smile.
Carlos
Al, Okay, checked your link. That is it. Thanks. Gee, that brings back a few memories, how about you?
Maria
Al,
Could it be Dadeland Twin, across from Dadeland, east of Palmetto, on the south side?
Maria
I recently stayed at The Omni Hotel, nothing of what it was. Given the age of the building, I think it’s pretty run down.
JWX and spiderman, great memories on the details! Treasure Island was the downstairs game area with the carousel and the awesome selection of video games while the name of the upstairs game room in the later years escapes me at the moment.
That mall had a certain electricity for all ages in the late 70s/early 80s. I remember going there with the YMCA Jose Marti in the summer of ‘82 to watch ET. What a blast! The anticipation of hitting the video games AND watching a movie in the Omni was almost too much to bear!
Yeah, the area was rough even in the late 70s/early 80s. As older friends of mine who patronized the Alexander and Scaramouche nightclubs housed in the Omni hotel area during that time tell me now, you valet parked ONLY when you went to the club, you did not under any circumstances park along the surrounding streets!
I completely agree with Spiderman’s memories.
I even remember, as a very young kid, the day this Mall opened! It was the last cry in fashionable back then, with crowds as thick as treacle for YEARS.
And does anyone remember that on the ground floor, the Omni had a carrousel, “real” gypsy fortune teller, plus dodgem cars, and an Old Wild West photo studio (which, for a steep price, took a sepia coloured photograph of you, dressed in vintage togs)? I loved that place.
The actual cinema chain (the Omni 10) was possibly the first multiplex I recall going to, unsurprisingly.
I saw Jaws there, when it came out, being taken by my parents since I was just a little kid. (See my Gables Theatre post, for a similar story)
What I remember most about Jaws, was that the air-conditioner in the auditorium was so cold, it made my teeth chatter, not helped by the goriness of the film!
And yes, the funroom/video game area was amongst the best I recall too, and it remained viable long after people stopped flocking to the Omni.
The primary reason for its decline, as ever in South Florida, is location. Though the Miami Herald building and downtown are mere yards away, this was a rough area at night; and if I recall correctly, there were several reported rapes of women and similar violent attacks on patrons of this theatre.
Curiously, the brand-new Carnival Centre — Miami’s newest Centre for the Performing Arts — which just opened is located but a couple of city blocks away. I hope it will buck the trend, considering the area is undergoing a mini-Renaissance.
All in all, the Omni 10 was fun in the beginning, but disrepair (reportedly, patrons complained about rats and fleas!), rough neighbourhood, and a demographic shift to the South and West of Miami, led to its downfall.
Wow! What memories. Downstairs had excellent game rooms, remember at least 10-12 PAC-Man’s located across one wall. Saw “Red Dawn” there back in 1984 with my homies. Sad that it’s now closed.