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Author Topic: Las Vegas Theatres Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 05-19-2002 04:26 PM                        Just doing some updating: The folks running the Huntridge Theatre as a performing arts center decided to not renew their lease on the place (financial problems). Because of its historical status, the building will be preserved (sorta) but it will now be a furniture store instead of a theatre. The Paradise 6 dollar/art house has closed, but will reopen shortly as a Spanish-language house. There was another Cinedome on the west side (well it was the west side back then--that area is central now) of town on the northeast corner of Decatur and Desert Inn. It's a shopping center now. That Cinedome was built as revenge against Horst Schmidt, the owner of the Redrock 11 who initially refused to sell his place to Century (Syufy back then). Once the Cinedome was in place it took away the Redrock's bidding power--eventually Horst caved in and sold the place to Century. A few years later Century closed both places. As for the Redrock 11 (originally a single, then a 4, then a 6, then a 11 ), which was the next oldest theatre extant in the LV area--it was razed this month. More 'Vegas history crumbles under the bulldozer's treads... Paul Gimpy Staff Projectionist, Senior Vidiot Crown Neonopolis 14 Neon National Forest, NV USA  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-19-2002 10:00 PM                        Finally, something happened to an old theatre here that didn't suck. Turns out the Huntridge did not become a furniture store after all! Though now owned by a furniture store owner, the Huntridge has been cleaned up and will re-open as a live venue next month. http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2002/MERC-Sep-19-Thu-2002/19615434.html And a related note, an article about Lloyd Katz, the Huntridge's original owner. Those were the days... http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2002/MERC-Sep-19-Thu-2002/19655476.html Paul SMPTE Hollywood Section Unemployed mercenary video/16/35/70mm/IMAX Dome projectionist "Otaku wa tsurai yo" <-- Yeah I know, bad pun. Sue me. It's tough being a fan!  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-02-2002 05:55 PM                     Now it's my turn! I'll be in Las Vegas December 15-19 for research purposes. Las Vegas Library, Clark County Museum, possibly UNLV. I also plan on driving up to St. George one day and I'm undecided on the Laughlin/Riviera area.  |  IP: Logged Justin West Master Film Handler Posts: 271 From: Peoria, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2001 posted 12-02-2002 08:53 PM                     Adam: If you're heading to St. George, UT, please see if you can find out any info on the old drive-in that once operated there. Thanks.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 12-02-2002 10:04 PM                        Of the libraries Adam mentioned, UNLV's is the biggest--it is a designated Federal Reserve library. Clark County main branch would be next in quality, and it's within walking distance of UNLV. The main city library is downtown, a few blocks north of Casino Center and not far from Dennis and the gang at the Crown Neonopolis 14. Don't know anything about St. George these days. Laughlin has two multiplexi, one inside Laughlin's Riverside Casino and one across the street inside an outlet mall. In Overton (sorta on the way to St. George) there's the Pioneer Movie Theater, recently renovated and now up for sale. There may also be a theatre over the hump in Pahrump, the land of Art Bell in the Kingdom of Nye (county that is).  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-03-2002 12:21 AM                     Thanks for mentioning the theater in Pahrump, Paul. Yes, there's a theater there and it wasn't in my info. There's an 11,000-ft peak nearby, so I wonder what the drive there will be like this time of year? Do you think there will be any winter weather between LV and Pahrump? Overton is on the list, as is Mesquite, on the way to St. George. I don't have any info on the Starlite D/I in St. George, but I'll probably try and stop in at the library there, too. Speaking of libraries, which library is more likely to have historical information on local LV theaters, including city directories? In places with major universities, it's a 50/50 tossup whether the university or the local library will have more complete local history information.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 12-03-2002 12:57 PM                        Adam, regarding our weather so far, it's been very dry. Even for the desert it's been dry--about a half an inch this year instead of the usual four. Mt. Charleston and now Mt. Potosi have snow, but the mountain passes to SoCal and Pahrump are wide open and I expect they'll remain that way through the time you're going to be here. The sucking sound you hear is coming from Lake Mead, currently at levels not seen since the '60s and dropping about a foot a month. For the kind of research you're planning, I think the Las Vegas/Clark County libraries may be better. UNLV has a lot of stuff on Nevada and local history, but not much on what might be termed "pop culture" like local movie theatre history. I'm not sure about the status of the Las Vegas Review Journal or Sun archives these days. The ones available online to the public only go back to the late '90s. The last time I checked the rest were in private hands, not cataloged, not on-line, and not available to researchers unless lots of hoops got jumped through. It's funny, UNLV has lots of LA and NY Times on microfilm/fiche but not much of the RJ or Sun. If you need a oldtimer local guide, let me know. I'm working the National Finals Rodeo through the afternoon of the 15th and a UNLV Rebels basketball game on the evening of the 17th, but would be free to help out otherwise.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-04-2002 10:31 PM                        As far as the theatre in Pahrump -it is defunct. I visited that place about a month ago. What a bad situation that was, the current status - the building has a $500,000 lein against (from the US Government). The building isn't even worth ten thousand. The former owner lost his life savings on that one. Anyways, come and visit me at the Neonopolis when you are in town. We are the only theatre in downtown Las Vegas.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-10-2002 11:51 PM                        Oh man, I went to tour the now defunct Pahrump Valley Twin. I told the real estate guy that I was 'interested in buying it" (no way!). Anyways - we went inside - and what I saw made my stomach turn. Apparently some kids broke into the building and vandalized it - no, no - they did worse than vandalize it. They completely trashed the entire place - equipment and all. I have never seen anything worse in my life. Not only was the theatre not worth the money before the vandalism- now it is completely useless as a theatre.As a guy who has worked at so many theatres in my life - what I saw today made me wonder about teenagers in our modern society.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-11-2002 12:30 AM                     You didn't happen to take any photos, did you? If you did, I won't bother driving out there.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-11-2002 07:42 PM                        No, I did not take pictures. I thought the real estate guy was going to cry - so I thought it inappropriate.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-20-2002 10:28 PM                     A big thanks to Paul Mayer for spending a day with me! And apologies to Dennis ... I just ran out of time. I'll be back, though! Photos are being worked on and Cinematour should get a big update this weekend. I didn't make it to Pahrump or Cedar City [Utah] , but did make it to Boulder City and Laughlin and Saint George [Utah]. As far as the Starlite Drive-In in Saint George goes, here's what I got from scouring the newspaper. The library didn't have any city directories to cross-reference, so it's entirely possible I missed something. The Starlite was opened on April 21, 1960. It was located on Santa Clara Drive, which is Highway 91 west of Saint George near the town of Santa Clara. The theater was last operated by Westates Theatres and closed after the 1989 season. Now I just need to figure out if the St. George Opera House (pre-1911 to 1929), the Wadsworth (12/5/29 - 1946) and the Dixie (1946 - still standing as retail) were all the same theater.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 01-11-2003 01:17 PM                     I have a follow-up trip tentatively scheduled for March sometime after ShoWest. I was hoping to make it to the Film-Tech Drink this year, but we are opening Grand Canyon on March 7.  |  IP: Logged

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