The ones I'm talkin about are the 4-Plexes from the mid 70's that've since been carved into 12 plexes and have theatres jury rigged into existence.

Like for instance, the UA Berkeley 7 in Berkeley, CA. It was one of the single screens UA built with the carvings on the front "Unity" and "Artistry". Anyway -- it was a SINGLE and now it's 7 screens. From what I'm told they twinned the balcony and they twinned the main floor with walls right down the middle. Then they discovered that the lobby and the mezzanine were SOOO large that they could build each of them into an auditorium. THEN they realized that back-stage was so large, that they could fit another auditorium back there. Needless to say there are amazingly intricate hallways and exit paths leading everywhere in that building, but it's a marvel of what theatre companies did to fit more screens in there.

Now I'm not necessarily ONLY interested in the butchered old singles or the cheezy 70's-plex, but overall... the weirdest and the funkiest multi-plex.

Rogers 5, Stevens Point, Wisonsin. Old service station expanded into a theatre. I shit you not.

Rogers 7, Marshfield, Wisconsin. Single screen turned into five, plus two screens added in the former music store next door. This theatre is actually very nice, was just remodeled. I didn't get a chance to judge projection quality though during my tour-aspect ratios and whatnot.
 

- NA Showcase, Woburn, MA. - originally a 4-plex built in the mid-1970s, now a 12-plex (the conversion involved some "hacking" and some "adding" and resulted in a really lousy venue)
- Loews Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. - originally a single, now a 5-plex (the big house is largely intact, but the balcony was split and two shoebox houses were added behind the stage)
- West Newton Cinema, Newton, MA. - originally a single, now a 5-plex (this one is kind of hard to describe)
An honorable mention would be the GCC (umm...AMC) Chestnut Hill Cinema - originally built as a twin, now a 5-plex (both houses were divided widthwise and the original #2 house was also divided lengthwise; the #1 house is relatively intact and still quite decent, however)

All theaters have "stadium seating" but the small size of the auditoriums (most average between 85 and 100 seats) makes the seating more like bleacher seating at the little league baseball game. The screens, even in the two largest 200+ seat auditoriums, are tiny. That is because the ceiling is no more than 18 feet tall. That's a price you pay for building inside a mall.

The auditoriums have a really weird layout. One entry comes to the front of the stadium riser near the screen, but the other way is a stairway running horizontally between some of the last upper rows. And that stair way is very noisy if someone klomps down it to go pee during the show.

I don't know what kind of projectors this theater uses. They look like they were hammered together in someone's garage. I heard they were built in Czechoslovakia. Only 2 of the 12 screens have digital sound (DTS-6AD's hooked up to QSC amps). And the staff doesn't even bother to load the CDs to play any films in digital! I guess it is just too much trouble for them.

This is a theater that started out great in the initial phases of design. But the Central Mall authority (run by some group of bean counters from Texarkana) paid to have the theater built and only hired Dickinson Theaters to manage it. So they cut corners. And more corners, and more and more. What they wound up with is a theater that wouldn't qualify as a good build for 1993 even with the 2 DTS screens.
 

In was funny checking out cassettes in shelves from a slopped floor!

A friend of mine from around there said that this place burned down and is no longer running, The Question: Did Irate Moviegoers burn it down? or Video afficionados????

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CARMIKE 12 REDWOOD ROAD 9000 SOUTH

Advertises stadium STYLE seating... meaning an ungodly 30 degree slope. DONT DROP ANYTHING, it will belong to the people in the front row.

Also, they do not replace bulbs until they stop lighting. Most of thier bulbs are on hours as high as 7000 hours. Yes, this means VERY DIM SCREENS.

Tickets go for 5 bucks. I think they are not lasting much longer.

Dave
 

I was just in Salt Lake City and I didn't think that the Carmike would be all that amazing to check out, from pictures I've seen it looks like any other Carmike. Hopefully it'll still be there when I go again, I'll take in a movie.

RE: The Alderwood 12 -- is there also an Alderwood 7? I had a friend who ran projectors for ACT III at one of the Alderwoods, I thought he said it was a 7-plex with Strong PRO-35's. Just curious, my trips should bring me up to Washington one of these days.

I get Rapid Rewards tickets from Southwest Airlines when I fly for work, and I know eventually I'm just going to hop a plane and go be a big dork for a few days and tour theatres and harass managers for tours etc. etc. It is indeed good to know where I might want to head.
 

Sorry .

Of course the Rialto Cinemas Lakeside is no prize winner either.

Still, Ive caught some great double-feature movies here at bargain prices!
 

Alderwood 7

Alderwood Village 12

 

Northgate Cinemas, Cincinnati, Ohio: This is now a 7-plex, but has been added to so many times that the hallways are literally a maze, including up and down stairs for no apparent reason.

Studio 28, Wyoming (Grand Rapids), Michigan: The Beltline 3 Drive-In was so successful on this property that Jack Loeks built a single screen indoor theater to complement it. The indoor was successful enough to warrant a second huge auditorium, followed by several more additions, making the Studio the first of its kind several times including being the world's first 20-plex and the largest movie theater complex in the western hemisphere for a while. The drive-in was paved over along the way, giving the indoor theater a parking lot to rival many shopping centers.

And then there's always the travesty of the Michigan Theater in Detroit. The owners of the Michigan Building converted the movie palace into a three-level parking structure. Much of the lobby, upper balcony, stage and projection booth are still intact.

Sonoma's #1, #2, and #3 booths are equally screwy.

btw, its film festival time again in Sonoma... http://www.sonomafilmfest.org

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Long ago it was the only Cinerama theater in New Jersey. When Cinerama faded the Clairidge became a giant single-screen like that UA in Berkeley. Later the Clairidge got chopped into 3 screens. Around 1996 it became a 6-plex set up much like the UA Berkeley 7.

Now the Clairidge is run by Clearview Cinemas and the most important arthouse/upmarket venue in New Jersey. How important? It got to open Amelie on 2 screens one week after that picture opened in NYC. Also, any arthouse movie in the national top 20 is usually playing the Clairidge. Not to mention most of the recent Oscar winners!

Screens #1-9 on the third floor of an old mall ... #10-14 across an enclosed skywalk built on the third deck of the parking garage (on the other side of the street).
 

As to my friend who worked at the Alderwood, his name was Kyle Hutchinson... probably only there for about 9 months or so then he went and worked for Edwards.

I'm too tired to comment and thank everybody for their responses... but come on guys... keep 'em coming. I post more tomorrow.
 

Byron-Carlyle 7, Miami Beach R.I.P.
- Opened as a two screen in 1968. Jackie Gleason cut the opening ribbon.
- Wometco theatre split it to 7 (yes 7!) Changed hands to Cobb and to Regal.

Miller Square 8, Kendall, Florida R.I.P.
- Orignally opened as a 4 screener, At one point it had some the highest per-screen grosses in the nation.
- Womecto, Cobb, and Regal ran this one - into the ground.

California Club 6, Miami (still open)
- When I managed it - it was the only ALL THX theatre in Florida (6 Screens)
- Opened as a Muvico, then Regal bought it.It is now a poorly run independant.

Britton 8, Tampa, Florida
- Was originally a GCC 1 screener - split into 8 screens.
- Muvico did an amazing job with this one, then Regal got a hold of it.

That is just a few of them.

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"Running through life at 24 frames per second"
 

Miami Lakes was the theatre that was so confusing ushers had to direct people at a point midway down the hall.

Oh yeah, Miller, Miami Lakes, and Byron all passed through Theatre Acquisitions, L.P. before being bought by Cobb.

The Fox in Tuscaloosa Alabama was another chop job, as was Midfield, near Birmingham. Chopping saved many locations from an early death.

quote:

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The Fox in Tuscaloosa Alabama was another chop job, as was Midfield, near Birmingham. Chopping saved many locations from an early death.

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Jerry, was it you, long ago, that noted that the Fox 12 in Tuscaloosa had 12 screens and 11 separate booths? Was the theatre originally a twin, with one theatre on each side, with each eventually split into 6? It is difficult for me to imagine the auditorium or booth layout there, since I've never been in the theatres. These are in the older Macfarland Mall, which was probably the first mall there. I guess I should make it a point to visit the Tuscaloosa library and see when the current theatres there were built and investigate the history like I've done locally and started doing in Nashville and Birmingham.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

A story shared by many!:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/reel/december98/pppp.shtml

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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But you can't see it. They tore the whole thing down a few months ago, and now the mixed use condominiums/retail space are almost done

I used to run a small screening room style theater called Studio I&II in Raleigh, NC. It is located in the basement of this now defunct three story downtown mall across from North Carolina State University. Screen one: 51 seats, screen two: 59 seats. It was very small and you had to go in through a very long hallway to the rear of the basement. Had a lot of good times there. We closed it in October of 2000 when we bought a closed UA 5 screener on the other side of the university. It is still there and up for lease, but the booth is stripped. People loved that theater...partially because we sold beer, and partially because it was so odd.

I'll try to find some pictures.

The Miller Square never had the highest per-screen gross in the nation. It didn't have enough seats! Kendall 9 had the highest.

Speaking of the Miller Square theater that was a bad chop job... 3 of the 4 auditoriums were split in half (so you had a front and back theater). That caused an interesting keystoning effect in one of the houses.

The extra theater (theater 1) was added in the former game room. It was a bear threading that auditorium because the projector was actually mounted 3 - 4 feet down in the former stairwell while the platter was up in the booth.

Not to mention the raised projectors for the split audiotiums. All of those platters were at booth level and the projector was up on a platform 4 or 5 feet up. (so it could throw over the back theater).

I got to fill in there during most of its last year. That was more than enough!
 

The theater is now a six-screener, famous for being the theater that edited the print of Center of the World and getting busted by the local paper for doing so.

I assume that they expanded into a neighboring building when they became a 6-plex, as there was simply no more room in their 3-screen building [circa 1992].

Check the grosses for Miller Square pre-Kendall 9. I have heard stories from some of the people who managed it during the Womecto Days. I could be getting my stories wrong (in fact I probably am). However - I did get a few people to respond to the post - right? How are things at the Palace 18? The theatre still hanging in there?

P.S. Also, I believe the title was "most ridiculus multiplex in the area" - I am sure that you agree what was done to the Miller was one of the most craziest chop-jobs on record. May it R.I.P.

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"Running through life at 24 frames per second"

The Palace is still hanging in there.. My last day there was Saturday. Next Wednesday, I am make the move to Knoxville. I am actually getting your old job in corporate.

Back to the topic at hand (ridiculous multi plexes) the Palace has a feature that many of you guys might scream about. Stadium seating was a feature that was added half way thru the construction process of the theater. So, in order to accomidate the higher port windows required because of the seats going up so high, mirrors have to be used to project the image in 4 of the theaters. Another thing to keep clean and make the image more dim! I will post some pictures when I get home tonight.

 

K-9 used to regularly whomp the nearby AMC theatre's ass, and had a near perfect location at the last big I-95 exit before Homestead. (And a waterfall curtain in the big auditorium.)

Dadeland was the big twin at the corner of Kendall Drive and U.S. 1 that had huge grosses in the glory days.

Bringing it back on topic, K-9 was a strange theatre because the mezzanine floor for the booth was "value-engineered" out, forcing the use of multiple booths and a reduction in seating capacity.

I hear Muvico is talking about putting a theater in accross the street from K-9. (The same lot Regal had) That would be a disaster. The parking is just as bad (or worse) over there.

Overall though, I like K-9. Aside from the parking, it is a half way decent theater.

 

carl