• Hawaii
  Hilo
  Palace (you said this one)
  Kohala
  Mawi or Hawi
  Kauai
  Lihue
  Oahu
  Waikiki
  Kuhio
  Princess
  Hawaii
  Liberty
  Aala
  Honolulu
  Kaimuki
  Kalili
  Kapahula
  Kewala
  Liliha
  Palama
  Pawaa
  Varsity
  Wahiawa
  Waialua
  Waialua Drive-In
  Ewa
  Toyo

Bill
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-07-2003, 12:17 PM:
 
Bill,

Chris can give you more information about the big island theatres you asked about but all the others on Oahu and Kauai are gone except the Varsity. The Varsity has been twined is now show art films. I have to run now but I will be back in an hour with a few questions about your knowledge about our theatres, especially the old Ewa. I thought I was the only one who knew it even existed.

-Claude
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-07-2003, 02:28 PM:
 
Bill

I am back!

First of all I do know what happened to the Hilo Theatre on the big island of Hawaii. The theatre was demolished after being heavily damaged by the 1960 Tsunami (tidal wave). The site where the Hilo was is now a part of a Tsunami zone where no building and homes are permitted.

All of the theatres with the exception of the Wailua Drive In which did not exist were all operated by Consolidated Amusement Company, a locally owned chain of theatres at the time until Los Angeles based Pacific Theatres bought the company in the sixties. For your information, there was a Consolidated theatre in Wailua but it was very much like the old Ewa Theatre you mentioned in your list that was nothing but a corrugated aluminum sugar plantation warehouse converted into a theatre. The drive in theatre you are thinking about was the Waialae Drive In and was located in east Honolulu and operated by the now defunct and also locally owned Royal Theatre chain. I was wrong when I said the only surviving theatre was the Varsity. THe Hawaii Theatre was almost demolished until it was saved and renovated into a performing arts centre several years ago. The theatre has a website and you can find it by using Net Search on your computer.
By the way the AAla and the Toyo were the same theatre. The theatre was known as the Toyo until Deember 7, 1941 and after the attack at Pearl Harbor, the name was changed to the Aala due to anti Japanese sentiments. The Toyo used to show Japanese films before the attack but began showing only American films when the theatre's name was changed. Many years later, the theatre's original name was restored and the Toyo Theatre was the first run venue in Honolulu for films from Japan's Toei Studio. It was closed and demolished in the mid seventies. The Pawaaa Theatre on your list had everthing torn out except it's foundation and it's four walls and converted into a three strip Cinerama theatre in 1962 and became known as the "Cinerama". The old Princess Theatre also on your list became Honolulu's first Cinerama theatre and I just commented about this house just the other day on the "Cinerama in Seattle thread. The 'Honolulu' was a independent 2nd run theatre along with the Victory in Wahiawa, the two Aiea theatres, Koga in Waialua, the Haleiwa on the north shore, a few others on the Waianae coast and elsewhere. All of the theatre buildings on you your list that closed were all demolished except the Pawaa (Cinerama), Palama, and the Kiwalo. The Kuhio theatre building is long gone and the original Waikiki and the other two newer theatres, the Twins are still standing and would eventaully be demolished. By the way why was my home town theatre, the Waipahu not on your list because in my opinion it was one of Consolidated's finest neighborhood theatre with the latest in sound including four track mag that almost all of the other suburban theatres in the chain lacked?

-Claude

[ 03-07-2003, 04:23 PM: Message edited by: Claude S. Ayakawa ]
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 03-07-2003, 02:36 PM:
 
Thanks Claude

Sorry about missing the Waipahu on the list. I was running a
interlock show of "The Fighting Temptations", when I was making
the post.

Bill
 

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Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 03-07-2003, 03:25 PM:
 
Wow, Claude!
I forgot some other older theaters here. Many of the small plantation camps had theaters up to the 1960s. One that survives is the Honokaa People's Theater about 16 miles toward Hilo from me. A doctor in Honokaa bought it a few years ago from the family that owned it and singlehandedly (is that a word?) renovated it. It has DTS sound and a Strong or Potts platter. I think the projector head is a Century but I'm not sure of the lamphouse. They run about 5 nights a week and also host some live musical events on their stage apron. Until the platter went in, there were 2 Simplexes and Magnarcs in there with RCA soundheads and tube amps, running off the original motor/generator.
The Hawi Theater operated until about 2 years ago, when Sidney the owner/operator/projectionist passed away. Unfortunately his family has no interest in opening it again.
South of Hilo in Pahoa is or was the Akebono Theater, which until recently was running some films and doing community theatre. I believe they no longer run films. At the south end of this island, in Naalehu is the Southern Star, actually the southernmost theater in the 50 states. I'm not certain of their status, but I think that community events still take place there.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-07-2003, 04:40 PM:
 
Chris,

Although I have visited the big island many times, I have never been to a movie there. The only neighbor island theatres I have been to were the Kukui Mall theatres in Kehei and the Kahuamanu Theatres in Kahului on Maui when they first opened and I was there to photograph the event. I was at that shopping centre where the Consolidated theatres are in Kona and it looks like a very nice complex. How are the Wallace theatres in Kona? I know the one's here on Oahu are dreadful as I had commented many times before. After the Waikiki theatres closed, the theatres at Ward Centre are now my favorites but I only go there to see special movies with a great soundtrack. I am planning to to TEARS OF THE SUN" there this weekend and I hope it is in SDDS-8 because the four large theatres have it.

-Claude
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-07-2003, 05:04 PM:
 
Bill,

I forgot to ask you about your knowledge about many of Hawaii's historic motion picture theatres especially the EWA. I still remember this theatre when I was a child when my father drove his family through that little quaint town. The theatre has been gone since the late fifties and I was amazed that a non resident like yourself knew about this theatre unless you lived here at the time when it was still in operation and have seen movies there. A lot of my friends who are my age and lived in Ewa still remember seeing movies for only a dime at the Ewa. The dime admission was also the same at the Waipahu at the time. The sugar mill in Ewa is long gone but the town still has it very old charm and I enjoy going there to see clients who still live there. If you lived here, do you remember these other theatres that were not on your list. They are the King, Queen, Palace, Roosevelt and the Golden Wall plus the Victory, Haleiwa, Koga and the two Aiea theatres I mentioned earlier?

-Claude
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 03-07-2003, 05:29 PM:
 
Hi Claude

No I've never lived there. Someday I will make it over to Hawaii. I do a lot of theatre location reseach. So I saw the post about theatres in Hawaii. So I looked up some of the theatre assets of Consolidated Amusement Co., Ltd. from around 1946. That is how I got a listing of theatres. My main research
has been the California and New York Theatres. I have a large
update/missing theatres in Los Angeles for Adam's site Cinematour.
But Thank You again for the wonderful info on Hawaii's Theatres.

Bill
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 03-07-2003, 08:07 PM:
 
Uh-oh. I'm in trouble now! I need to get down to LA and San Diego sometime soon for some picture taking.
 

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Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 03-07-2003, 09:27 PM:
 

quote:

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I am planning to to TEARS OF THE SUN" there this weekend and I hope it is in SDDS-8 because the four large theatres have it.

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The info supplied in the Feature Info & Trailer Attachments indicates Tears Of The Sun has a six-channel SDDS soundtrack.
 

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Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 03-08-2003, 12:16 AM:
 
Claude,
The Kona Wallace Theatres live up to the same high standards as all Wallace Theatres. I went to see "O Brother" there because we didn't get it at Keauhou. Ads, policy and trailers ran with house lights full on, then there was a ten minute pause, then the feature started out of frame and out of focus and the house lights went to half bright. Twenty minutes later the houselights went to low. Naturally the war movie next door was louder than "O Brother". Sound was also bad analog although Dolby Digital is featured in all houses, with CP650s.
Keauhou Cinemas, the Consolidated operation, is OK if you like green decor. The houses are smallish; the 4 large houses are about 230 each, the 3 small ones about 130. Here's the outside:
If I can get permission I will do a Picture Warehouse upload. I took lots of pics.
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 03-08-2003, 12:26 AM:
 
You guys ought to share some of this info and photos with that Cinematour guy that hangs out around here.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-08-2003, 12:15 PM:
 
Bill,

I forgot to mention in my long post yesterday about Consolidated's three drive in theatres they had operated on Oahu that was not on your list. The very first drive in theatre the company opened and the first of it's kind in Hawaii was the Kapiolani Drive in Theatre right in the middle of the city of Honolulu. I believe it opened in the late forties and closed most likely somewtime in the fifties. It was not in operation very long. The Kapiolani was a very popular theatre but the land was too valuable to be used as a drive in theatre and Consolidated closed it and had the land subdivided and either leased or sold. One of the lessee or purchaser of land was the Toho motion picture company of Japan who built one of a few company theatres in the United States to show their films. After many years of operation, the Toho Company decided to get out of theatrical operation in the United States and leased the theatre to Consolidated and it became the Kapiolani. The Kapiolani was very popular for many years and showed a lot of great films. It was the only theatre along with the Cinerama that had the first run rights to "STAR WARS" in Honolulu. The second drive in theatre Consolidated operated was the Kam Drive In in Aiea and it remained open until recently. It was so successful at the time that the company added a second screen a few years later. Although the two screens have been removed, Consolidated still use the property today for weekend flea market operation. Consolidated 3rd drive in theatre was the Kailua in Windward Oahu and was the only one in Hawaii that was capable of showing films in 70mm in addition to 35mm with a Norelco 35/70mm projector. The only 70mm film to play at the Kailua was "MY FAIR LADY" after it finished it's long run at the Cinerama Theatre. There were two other drive in theatres that was operated by Royal Theatres, Consolidated's only competitor in Hawaii and they were the Waialae in Honolulu I mentioned yesterday and the Royal Sunset here in Waipahu where I live.

-Claude

[ 03-08-2003, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Claude S. Ayakawa ]
 

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Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 03-08-2003, 08:29 PM:
 
Hi all

Here is the Hawaii Drive-in Theatres page I am working on at present.

If anyone wishes to contribute photos or information I would be most grateful (they will be acknowledged)

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~p.berrett/drivein/hawaii.html

cheers Peter
 

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Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 03-08-2003, 11:45 PM:
 
Hi,
As far as I know, there never were any drive-ins on this island, but for a few years I had instorage in our booth a pair of Simplex portable projectors that were used for outdoor showings at various sugar plantation camps here in the 1930s. They were metal framed and paneled with heavy masonite, and had four splayed adjustble legs. The reel boxes were detachable for transport. There was an integrated optical soundhead, and the motor was at the rear in the lamphouse, which used a 1000 to 1500 watt incandescant lamp. They actually ran really well and treated the film very gently, but the image was very dim.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-09-2003, 01:12 AM:
 
Chris,

When I was little, my parents belonged to the Waipahu Japanese Social Club and the primary membership service the group offered was the opportunity to to enjoy first run Japanese films as soon as they finish their run either at the Kukusai Gekijyo (Theatre) or the Nippon in Honolulu. The Kokusai was Daei Motion Picture company's first run house and the Nippon featured films from Shochiku & the Toho Studios. (This was before Toho opened their own theatre) All of the club's showing which used to be held as often as three Saturday evenings in a month were on the grounds of a little pre school at the Oahu Sugar plantation here in Waipahu.
There was a permanent projection booth in a wood shack with a regular pair of 35mm projectors. I did not know the brand name of the projectors because I was too young. The screen was a large sheet of cloth on a roll and mounted on the ceiling of the outdoor stage. The sound was from a regular PA sound system. Thank God, I was only a kid who did not know the difference between good and bad sound like I do today. Mr Jack Matsuura who owned and operated both the Victory in Wahiawa and the Haleiwa on the north shore was the projectionist during the club's showings. I used to always bother him with all kinds of questions about motion picture exhibition because I have always loved to see movies and the way they are shown. Most of the time, there would be American short subjects including a cartoon and a Japanese Yomiuri newsreel and than the feature. Some times, there would be a special bonus. The bonus was alway an American full lenght feature film in addition to the regular Japanese film. By the way, the club showed a Japanese science fiction movie that later became a cult favorite in America. When I saw the film, it was the original without Raymond Burr. The film was "GODZILLA' but it was know as "GOJIRA" at the time. When the Japanese started to produce films in scope, the club showed them on a much wider cloth screen. The neighboring village of Ewa also had a social club muchh like ours because they too had a large Japanese population. The Oahu Sugar Company and the Ewa Plantation closed up shop many years ago and the happy memories of enjoying Japanese and sometimes as a bonus, an American feature under the stars would come back to me when I recollect my very happy childhood.

-Claude
 

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