Sparks Cinema 1 & 2
2285 Oddie Boulevard,
Sparks,
NV
89431
2285 Oddie Boulevard,
Sparks,
NV
89431
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp., United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.
Functions: Church
Previous Names: Sparks Cinema, Reno-Sparks Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The Sparks Cinema, located on Oddie Boulevard in Sparks, opened on June 17, 1968 as a single screen house operated by the General Cinema Corp. chain. The opening movie was James Garner in “How Sweet It Is”. On June 14, 1974, the theater was twinned, screening Dean Jones in “Mr SuperInvisible” & Mel Brooks “Blazing Saddles”. General Cinema Corp left the building on October 19, 1983 and it became part of the United Artists chain. The theater closed on April 6, 1997.
Today it houses a church.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
There was a Sparks Theater that opened in March 1947, but apparently was not the one listed above.
The theatre mentioned above, is not the original Sparks Theatre. The original Sparks, was located right across the street from the Nugget Casino. It closed in the late 60’s and was converted into a casino called “The King of Clubs”. It was a single floor theatre, with murals of coal miners on the walls. It was a nice theatre, but even with all the patronage at the casinos, the attendance at the Sparks was closed. I haven’t been in the area lately, but I’m assuming that the theatre was torn down. The theatre listed above, never existed in Sparks when I was there.
correction to the last posting, i meant “attendance at the sparks was weak” before it closed. sorry.
In this listing, it said the theater was a single screen and twinned in the 80’s. It was a twin theater as far as I can remember as far as the ‘70’s are concerned.
The auditoriums were long, sloped tunnel-like with an aisle in the very center all the way to the screen. The seats were painted white and the seat cusions were red vinyl. A blue-ish hue illumnated the screen in between performances. The double doors to each theater had two small windows next to the door handles so you could actually look in and see the movies playing while the doors were closed.
What I’ll never forget was the smell of fresh popcorn. As I said before, the place was kept immaculate – restrooms, the lobby, ect.
This opened on June 17th, 1968. Grand opening ad in photo section.
2 screens on June 14th, 1974. Grand opening ad as a twin in photo section.
Opened with “How sweet it is!. Opened as a twin with on screen 1 with "Mr supervisible” and screen 2 with “Blazing saddles”.
Closed on April 6, 1997 with “B.A.P.S.” in Screen 1 and the double feature of “Secrets And Lies” and “The Mirror Has Two Faces” in Screen 2.
In the 1980’s, I worked as Union projectionist at GCC’s Renton Village Cinema in Renton, WA. Linda Danisher was the Division Manager (her office was underneath the Cinema 2/3 projection booth) and her division included all of GCC’s Washington State theaters plus the Sparks Cinema. I recall her saying to me one day that she could drive to all of her theaters in less than 45 minutes from her home except for Sparks. She was required to visit all of her theaters at least once a month. She was not too fond of the monthly flights to Reno for her required visit. In reference to the Sparks Cinema being well managed, Much of that credit belongs to her, she had very high standards.
General Cinema operated the theater until October 19, 1983. United Artists took it over afterward.