North Side Twin 1 & 2
2795 NW 84th Street,
Miami,
FL
33147
2795 NW 84th Street,
Miami,
FL
33147
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: William Goldman Theaters Inc.
Previous Names: North Side Theatr, North Side Twins
Nearby Theaters
William Goldman opened the North Side Theatre on January 31, 1968 with Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. This luxurious single screen theatre next to the busy North Side Shopping Mall. It was twinned on October 14, 1970. The neighborhood quickly changed and the theatre was probably too large to serve the eventual predominantly African American audience.
This theatre was the only South Florida house that played hit first-runs on double feature in a desperate attempt to fill the house. This theatre had the exclusive Miami run of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaasss Song” since downtown houses refused to show it for fear of rioting. It was closed on September 9, 1984. In December 1984 it was converted into a discotheque.
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
I was recently informed that the amusement park behind the North Side Mall and home to the morning Rick Shaw Show go-go girls was segregated to whites only, well into the sixties. Does anyone have any information on this?
Al, can you possibly re-link that picture of the NorthSide?
Also anyone with Miami theatre interests, check out my blog at http://www.myspace.com/seriousexploitation
HUGE DISCO PLANNED FOR NORTHSIDE
Miami Herald, The (FL) – November 4, 1984
Author: CASEY FRANK Herald Staff Writer
Move over Club Z.
Some North Dade investors hope to turn a defunct twin movie theater at Liberty City’s Northside Shopping Center into a collosal, celebrity-studded entertainment complex.
Called Heart of the City, the club would feature disco dancing, pulsating light shows, giant video screens and have a license to sell liquor until 6 a.m., according to backers.
“It will be a sight to see,” said project consultant Peter Izaak. “One large room, about 25,000 square feet, with a 52- foot-high ceiling. The whole building is being repainted. The asphalt parking lot is going to be turned into a garden.”
But first the proposal must be approved by the Metro Zoning Appeals Board. The panel is scheduled to hear the application at 9 a.m. Nov. 14 at the Dade County Courthouse, 73 W. Flagler St.
27-year lease
A few months ago, Heart of the City Inc. signed a 27-year lease to occupy the free-standing theater at the north end of the shopping center. The movie operation was closed and the theater gutted, leaving one large, high-ceiling room.
Transforming the empty shell into Heart of the City will cost an estimated $2 million.
Dr. Thomas Ferguson, listed as chief executive officer of the corporation, could not be reached, despite messages left at his home and office.
Lawyer Gerald Greenspoon, an investor in the project, said financing will not be a problem because “the funds are already in place.”
Greenspoon would not identify the other investors.
TV shows planned
Joe Zamore, a consultant in charge of lighting and technical matters, said the Liberty City entertainment center will be “bigger than Club Z,” the trendy Miami Beach disco whose lighting he also helped design.
“We’ll proably be filming a syndicated television show out of here as well as MTV shoots and other production work,” Zamore said.
The club will attract plenty of celebrities, Zamore said. If all goes according to plan, it should be ready to open before the New Year, he added.
Although Zamore said community sentiment is “100 percent” behind the project, not everyone is acquainted with Heart of the City.
“I haven’t heard of it,” said Dorothy Baker, executive vice president of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, a black business group.
“I’ve heard that term. But this is the first time I’ve heard what it means,” said Al Guilford, president of G and G Wholesale distributors and civic activist.
“I think it would be a plus for the community,” he added.
Northside manager Don Stevenson, whose 79th Street shopping center lost Sears as an anchor client last year, agreed. “It’s a very ambitious undertaking,” said Stevenson. “But I’ve spoken to them and they don’t seem to have any difficulty handling it.”
North Side Twin newspaper ads:
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The zip code was 33147.
The sister theatres to the William Goldman’s North Side Theatre (all in Philadelphia) were: Goldman’s Andorra (AKA AMC Andorra 8) Goldman’s Goldman (AKA Budco Goldman Twin) Goldman’s Midtown (AKA AMC Midtown twin/Prince Music Theatre) Goldman’s Orleans {AKA AMC Orleans 8) Goldman’s Randolph (Opened as B. F. Keith’s Theatre) Goldman’s Regency (AKA Budco Regency Twin)
Opened as a twin on screen 1 with “Luv” and “Watermelon man” and screen 2 with “Move” and “The only game in town”.
The William Goldman’s Northside theatre opened on January 31st, 1968 with “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.
One more thing, it had 2,000 seats.
The Northside Twins opened on October 14th, 1970. Grand opening ad already posted.
The Northside Shopping Center mall had launched theatre-lessly on March 16, 1960. It added the Northside Theater launching on January 31, 1968 during the suburban luxury theater period in cinema exhibition that saw single-screen theaters often built in strip shopping centers and malls. Soon thereafter, this period gave way to the twin screen, triplexes and quads era providing more options to moviegoers. The Northside was twinned accordingly on October 14, 1970 becoming the Northside Twins. Likely under new operators, the “s” was dropped in the mid-1970s operating as the Northside Twin Theatres 1 & 2. It successfully carried Blaxploitation bookings during the 1970s in its halcyon days. That genre lost favor in the film industry which concentrated on blockbuster “popcorn” films. The venue struggled trying to reclaim its audience.
The Northside would finish its run under a final operator programming double-features of Hollywood mainstream titles beginning in late Fall of 1981 to its closure. The Northside Twin Theatres 1 & 2 closed September 9, 1984 with “The Executioner” with “Streets of Fire” on Screen One and “"Gremlins” with “Creepshow” on Screen Two. In December the space was retrofitted for a discotheque.