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Author Topic: Closed cinema visits Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 07-16-2008 09:52 PM                     You will find a gold mine if you Google "abandoned theater" "abandoned theatre" "abandoned cinema" or the like. Also, the best "urban exploration" sites can be revealing.  |  IP: Logged Scott Ling Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Edinburgh, Scotland Registered: Jul 2008 posted 07-31-2008 06:03 AM                     Hi All, Found something close to my heart for my first post I worked part time at the Clerk Street Odeon from '89 until it closed in 2003. Wonderful building compared with most modern multi-boxes. It's still lying empty, and I believe it was a condition of its sale that it could not be re-opened as a cinema I'm still working at the Lothian Road site, and now 3 weeks into my new job as 'Trainee Tech' Cheers Scott  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2008 10:59 AM                     Good luck with it Scott, say hi to 'Chippy' aka Adam for me. A good few years ago I worked n the ABC cinema that once occupied your corner of Lothian Road, it and the Clerk Street Odeon were Edinburgh's grandest old ladies of their time.  |  IP: Logged Scott Ling Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Edinburgh, Scotland Registered: Jul 2008 posted 07-31-2008 11:26 AM                     Thanks Pete. I'll say hi for you - he's training me Scott  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 07-31-2008 01:04 PM                     A few weeks ago I spent the weekend boating with friends on Lake Champlain, originating from a marina in Whitehall NY. Whitehall is famous as the birthplace of the U.S. Navy, although nobody can tell me why the navy was born nowhere near an ocean. In any event, on the way to breakfast one morning, I passed an old brick building that I was sure was a theatre at one time. Asking at the restaurant, I find out it was the Capitol Theatre that closed in early 1970's. Walking over after breakfast, I discover the emergency exit doors had been removed, and the interior had been gutted from the roof down to a dirt floor. All that was left was the steel beams that once up held the balcony. The building was being used to store boats and old cars. It was really kind of sad.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-31-2008 02:52 PM                     Some of the former movie theater buildings in my town have been converted for other kinds of business. The old Showcase Twin building was gutted in 1995 and converted into a Blockbuster Video location. That's a slightly ironic twist. The Video Triple closed in the late 1990s and was converted into a hardware store. The Cache 8 movie theater (formerly operated by United Artists, Hollywood Theaters and then Wallace) remains empty and with all windows and doors boarded shut. Not sure how one could arrange any sort of visit. I'm surprised the property has remained empty for so long. It's a big lot. Unfortunately, only East-bound traffic on Cache Road can enter the site because of the "Y" split between Cache Road and Quannah Parker Trailway. This area of the country has a number of drive-in movie theater sites that closed long ago. Lawton has one "abandoned" drive-in site off 11th street on the south side of town near the airport and I-44. I have no idea who owns the property.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 07-31-2008 07:21 PM                        Honolulu still has it's share of buildings that were wonderful movie theatres. They include the Waikiki Twins which has been gutted and converted to retail stores. The Waikiki IMAX is now a venue for live circus type performances The Cinerama is now a auto parts store. The Kapiolani Theatre building has been converted to a Blockbuster store and a Papa John.s pizza outlet. The Queen Theatre is still intact and not in use for anything. Among the many wonderful large single screen neighborhood theatres Consolidated had operated, the Kewalo, Palama and my beloved Waipahu buildings still exists. The Waipahu is now a church and the building has been well maintained and one can tell it was once a very elegant theatre. The Palama with it unique Chinese design has always reminded me of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. If it was restored like they did with the old Hawaii Theatre building, it can be just as impressive as the house in Los Angeles or perhaps even better. During it's day of glory, the theatre had a sitting capacity of close to a thousand. Unfortunately, the Palama is located in a part of Honolulu that has a lot of low income homes and does not have a very attractive surrounding. The Kewalo was nothing special even when it was in operation and I have never seen a movie there. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Warren Dewey Film Handler Posts: 28 From: monterey ca usa Registered: Jan 2006 posted 07-31-2008 10:54 PM                        About 5 years ago I was looking for an old theater to buy and did flashlight tours through about 2 dozen old single-screen auditoriums in CA. Some of the interesting ones: An 800-seater in Hollywood that was completely carpeted with dead pigeons. Beautiful indirect-lighting art deco interior. Changeover booth still there. I believe it's now a night club. A dual balcony 2000-seat baroque gem in downtown LA that I think is being restored now. The upper balcony can only be reached by outside stairs; the sign above the door reads "COLORED ENTRANCE." A gorgeous ballroom on the top floor with giant sloping windows, and 2 dual-roll (one optical sound and one for picture) Simplex "preview" projectors. The Tower in LA, probably the most gorgeous smaller palace ever, S Charles Lee's first. A horseshoe balcony in a very narrow footprint. Just for movies-- no stage space. Huge paneled lounge in the basement that would make a gorgeous restaurant. Now rented out as a movie location. This one just changed owners; maybe something will be done to put it back in use. A hidden small deco theater in downtown LA, probably from the thirties, turned porno. Old cast iron seat frames with the buckets removed, replaced with plywood! By the front door a big sign: "All drug use and sexual acts are prohibited." Another completely hidden Egyptian-style 800 seater in Pasadena. Much decor intact, original asbestos advertising curtain still there, a real museum piece. The Raymond, a gigantic palace in Pasadena, a sad case of willful neglect. I believe it is the sight of an office/condo development now. A beautiful working theater that was allowed to fall into ruin in just a few years. Ramps from lobby to mezzanine that spiraled around fountains, and a nice simplex XL in the lobby with a giant arc lamphouse, brand-new carbons still waiting in the bucket. When I saw it, the basement was flooded floor to ceiling and the wonderful asbestos fire curtain was in shreds. Nice little deco neighborhood house, The Village in Coronado, maybe 400 seats. 2 nice deco wall paintings, beautiful neon vertical sign. I believe the town is trying to get this one back on its feet. Quonset hut theater with deco facade in Arcada, with marquee letters still there. After we looked at it, a truck ran into the marquee. Still empty as far as I know.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-02-2008 01:03 AM                     Hey claude, what about the Varsity theater? I believe this one is located near the U of H campus, and is empty, we passed by it one time and I noticed there was a projector prop out front of the property.  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 08-06-2008 11:56 AM                     The Paramount Theatre on Broadway in Long Branch NJ, originally called The Broadway. Classic early 1920s atmospheric palace, delightfully gaudy and overdone! There are serious plans to restore it as a performing arts center, with movie capabilities. Most of the place is intact, booth is gutted, plenty there to work with. The stage area was a warehouse for the next-door paint business for many years, floor was leveled with concrete, but this can be brought back. Fundraising and endless meetings now going on, as expected.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 08-06-2008 01:14 PM                        The Varsity is no more, Mike The theatre was demolished a few months after it had closed. You saw it probably when they were deciding what to do with the building. The original intent of the new owners of the property was to renovate the structure but in the end, the building was beyond saving. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-06-2008 03:29 PM                        I was lucky enough to be given a tour (not even that actually - the security company looking after the place just let us in to wander around) of the former Paramount cinema (an Odeon in its last days) in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, shortly after it closed down in, I think, late 2002. It was very much like the Bradford pics - anything relatively small, portable and high value had been removed, and everything else just abandoned in situ. I don't know if the building is still standing now.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 08-06-2008 07:13 PM                        Mike, Here are some more information about the demolished Varsity Theatre in Honolulu. It was built in 1939 the year I was born. An identical twin theatre, the 'Hilo' was opened the following year in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii by Consolidated Amusement but it was very badly damaged on May 23, 1960 by a tsunami and demolished five years later. The Varsity was a very beautiful house and at the time it had opened, it was part of a string of houses Consolidated called 'neighborhood' theatres. The 'Waipahu' in my home town in leeward Oahu was also part of this chain. The Varsity remained a neighborhood theatre until it was refurbished with 70mm projection equipment and became a Road Show venue in Honolulu along with the Kuhio, Cinerama, Waikik Twins and the Kapahulu and it's opening attraction was "THE BIBLE" in 1966. It was followed by other 70mm special engagement films including STAR, DR DOOLITTLE and THE SAND PEBBLE. Beside first run 70mm road show engagements, the theatre also presented revival showings of 2001-A SPACE ODDYSSEY and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. It was twinned sometime in the late eighties and became an art house. The last films to play there was AWAY FROM HER and THE BLACK BOOK. -Claude  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-06-2010 09:26 PM                 It has been 638 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 05-06-2010 09:26 PM                        I stopped by this place today. The "Cinedome 70" in Riverdale, near Ogden, Utah. The place closed a few years ago but the family which actually owned the building wouldn't let it be torn down. However, they've recently decided to let it go. So this building might not be around much longer. I leaned up against a window and caught a picture of the lobby. Very sad shape.  |  IP: Logged

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