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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: What theater is a dump?
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Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork
Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted 07-03-2001 07:18 PM
I've seen many bad theatres in my travels. Worked at a bad theatre -- even after it was remodelled it was bad.But hmmm -- the WORST theatre I've ever seen? The Tan Foran 4 in San Bruno, CA. The TanForan - sublet to many different people by United Artists, was built by UA in about 81-82?. It's on the 1st floor of a mall. You buy your tickets on the 2nd floor -- take escalators down into the lobby. The fun part is that from the 2nd floor of the mall, you can see into the lobby, it's completely open, so people can spit, throw sodas, throw food and I heard once (probably a lie) somebody threw a friend into the lobby. The kicker is that the bathrooms are half a level up (stairs only) from the auditoriums. The bathrooms hang over three of the auditoriums, and since the theatre had never been kept up, the toilets LEAK into the auditoriums. As far as projection went, Century projectors, Christie lamphouses and ancient AW3's -- but they didn't have masking, one auditorium I poked my head into didn't have an aperture plate at all -- and they must all be Mono except the big house -- which is just stereo (at least when I was last there.) If you're ever in the area and want a good laugh, drop in and take a look around -- it's well worth the time. -Scott
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 07-03-2001 07:23 PM
There's not very many theaters in Lawton, but there are two which qualify as dumps. The Cache 8 theater (currently run by Hollywood/Wallace and formerly run by United Artists and originally built by Litchfield) is a complete embarassment. The screens are dirty, projection is always dim, sound quality is terrible (and sound leakage between auditoriums is bad --and these are analog shows, not digital!!!). The changeable copy marquee sign out front is nearly demolished from the Memorial Day weekend storm. And there is no sign they are going to fix the thing either (our sign company certainly hasn't received any storm damage calls about it).I would also say the Vaska theater here qualifies as a dump, but I have some reservations about the harsh judgment. The sound and projection are both crap and the seats remind me of those cheapo wooden things we had to use in elementary school. However, I cannot knock that theater too badly since it is a bargain house and run independently. At least the place is fairly clean and the prices are cheap. The fellow who owns it has pockets that are not too deep. He'd like to put DTS in some day, but finding the money for it and a better sound system is a bit of a problem. The new Dickinson Theaters 12-plex in Central Mall is a pretty disappointing build. It is not a dump (at least not yet), but it sure didn't live up to its pre-build hype. Incidentally, the Carmike 8 here just had its eighth DTS system installed so it can have the bragging rights of being the only all-digital-sound complex in the Lawton area. I'm doing some tricky looking graphics work for ads that will run in the paper next week to promote this theater's "exclusives". There are other theaters in the North Texas/Oklahoma area that I usually avoid. I HATE AMC theaters which install the surround speakers in the ceiling. Absolutely wrong! I have had too many sub-par experiences with Hollywood sites in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa area to visit them anymore. I even had a very underwhelming experience at Hollywood's Promenade 12 (which is an all-THX complex). Cinemark theaters can often be hit and miss on quality (but the new one in Tulsa is pretty nice).
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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999
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posted 07-03-2001 10:14 PM
In Central Ohio, the worst theatre is Drexel Grandview (sorry, Jeff). Screen is small, and the dialog is impossible to understand. Too many echoes. I saw THE BUTCHER BOY in there, and understanding THAT film in there was just about impossible. I refused to see MEMENTO in there, as its just to hard to understand the actors.Worst seats are at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Seats are designed for a lecture hall, not sitting for 90-120 minutes. Faux Cinemark Mill Run was, at one time, the best theatre in town. Now, it is run down, with very few employees. Last time I was there was a Sunday to see TRAFFIC. One concession stand worker, one usher and one manager. Film broke twice. This was first weekend of run. I have never gone back, and I never will. This is also the closest theatre to my house. I have friends who go there because they hate crowds, and they know they will never find one there. Mark Lensenmayer
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John Walsh
Film God
Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted 07-04-2001 02:30 PM
I've been in a couple of dumps, but one that sticks in my mind was a place in New Jersey, just over the Tappen Zee bridge. A friend became manager there, and asked me to help him hook up the non-sync; it had never been connected. I forget exactly where that place was but it was at the right end of a shopping center/ strip mall. The town it was in looked fairly nice, so I thought it would at least OK inside.It was a single, but had been twinned later. The automations looked like they were home-made. Not a bad job for home-made, but obviously not professionally made. The controls were pretty much only; "GO" and "STOP". No documentation anywhere; not even labels on the few switches there were. As far as I could tell, there were no provisions for non-sync. What was really interesting was the front booth wall. The booth was wide but not deep, (guessing) about 40 feet by 12 feet. There was a huge hole in the front wall. It was roughed out cinderblock, but went from floor to ceiling, about 20 wide in the center. There would be no problem for someone to fall accidentally out into either auditourium. You could see the edge of the wall that seperated the two auditouriums. Sound went from one auditourium, through the booth, and out to the other auditourium. They had tried to cut some of the sound down by hanging drapes across the hole, but it didn't work too well. So the rule was not to turn the volume up too loud. The place looked like it was doing good business, which made me think; here is another example where the locals only go to their local theater, and think it is on a par with most other theaters.
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Jason Burroughs
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 654
From: Allen, TX
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-09-2003 02:50 PM
I truly wish I had pics of the long since demolished Cineplex Odeon Promenade 6.
This was once a great showcase opened in the '60s by ABC/Interstate theaters as a single screen theater, later a 2nd auditorium was added on. Supposed when like this it was a very nice theater. After changing hands several times, it was chopped into 6 theaters, the original auditorium was split in half, and done half way decently had curtains on walls etc. the other auditorium was split 4 ways, half way up and half way across, to get to the lower auditoriums you had to go though a tunnel. these 4 auditoriums were just bare cinderbock walls, (no need for surround here!) all screens were mono.
I don't remember what projection equipment it had, though I do remember century heads, and superlume-x lamphouses. This theater as notorius for having the hands down worst presentation in the entire D/FW area (The AMC Forum was a distant 2nd).
Not too many people were sad to see this theater go.
However looking back, the consession stand was cleaner than any AMC's I've ever seen.
BTW, this is the only theater that I've ever seen charge for butter on popcorn. Concession workers had to "upsell" butter and were judged on how much butter they sold, never made any sense to me.
With the closing of that theater, I would say that the title of worst theater in town has been passed on to annother theater in Carrollton. At least it was when I was there.
[ 07-10-2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Jason Burroughs ]
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