Old Movie Theaters

BLASTER

Old movie theaters... at least theaters from my childhood if that counts as old

So I was looking at that Jedi thread and it reminded me of the theater I saw it at in Des Moines, Iowa. The River Hills / Riviera theater had 1300 seats and two screens one big and one big curved seventy foot screen. That's the screen that I saw all three Star Wars movies, Raiders, Body Snatchers, Top Gun and probably most other major films that I saw from the mid 70's through the early eighties.

I was just doing some reading on it and found these stats:

River Hills opened with a reserved-seat run of “Mediterranean Holiday” on April 19, 1968. (“2001” followed the booking of “Mediterranean Holiday on June 26, 1968.)
The RIVIERA half of the complex opened a week before the RIVER HILLS half on April 12, 1968, with the debut attraction being “Where Angels Go…Trouble Follows.”

River Hills is famous for being the host venue for the Des Moines area exclusive booking of the original “Star Wars.” The movie ran for 29 weeks in the River Hills auditorium (May 27-Dec. 13, 1977), and then when replaced by “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” it moved to the Riviera auditorium, where it ran for another 27 weeks. The combined 56-week run is, I believe, second only to the 113-week roadshow run of “The Sound Of Music” (at the Capri) as the longest-running movie in Des Moines exhibition history.

Newspaper ad from the Des Moines Register, May 27,1977
“Begins Tonight! Star Wars. Star Wars will be presented with DOLBY SOUND a special new sound system that the River Hills has installed that will astound your mind with the ULTIMATE QUAD SYSTEM.
Adults $3.00, Children under 12 $1.25”
Playing at the Riviera Twin- The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.


I haven't lived in Iowa for over 20 years and I knew the theater had been closed about 10 years ago in favor of malls and shoe box sized multiplexes but I hadn't really looked up anything on line about it before. I attached a couple of sad pics of it being demolished. Seats removed and a pic of the big curved screen where I saw all those films.
I know you can never go back but man I wish I could see some films there again.

So where was your big movie going experience back in the day?

Steven

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cayman shen

The Latchis Theater in Brattleboro VT was the nicest of the three theaters in my town. Now it's been subdivided into a few smaller theaters, but up until the mid 80s it was one big room with Greek murals/statues and a deep blue ceiling with the zodiac in gold spread across it. Totally felt like you were in some Italian Renaissance theater waiting to see a new play.

It still retains some of its former glory, but it is skimpier than it had been. You can't tell because the division happened at the back of the room (which cut off part of the awesome ceiling decor):

Latchis Hotel & Theater

[img]http://www.therpf.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=55694&stc=1&d=13073570 48[img]

[img]http://www.therpf.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=55695&stc=1&d=13073572 33[img]

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SVTStingRay

i believe its a theater, but in the music video for dancing in the sheets by shalamar, they filmed backgrounds at some old looking abandoned what looks like a theater. anyone know if its still around or what it was?

cayman shen

I can't believe this thread isn't getting more traffic! I LOVE the big old downtown movie theaters! So what the heck, I'll share two more, shut down for several years now, sadly...

In Pullman, WA from 98-00 I worked at the Audian, a full on 500 seat art-deco downtown theater. The owner had a skeevier sister theater the Cordova that now and then I filled in at which was creepy, and the projection booth was so small I could barely assemble the reels on the platter, but it had some really beautiful touches, such as light fixtures with shades of thinly sliced stone. Just lovely. I managed/ran the projector at the Audian, including during the magic summer of The Phantom Menace, and those memories are some of the best of my life.

Not grand on the outside, but a step into the forties inside:

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BLASTER

thanks for sharing Caymen Shen. I hope this thread picks up as well. My post about River Hills was actually an email I sent to a friend reminiscing and thought it would make a good topic here.
I added a pic of the Cinerama splash screen slide from River Hills.

Steven

CB2001

There was the dollar theater and drive in that used to exist in Madison until the end of the 1980s.

There was Ashley Cinema and Movies at the Mall (the movie theater attach to the Valdosta Mall, then renamed to Colonial Mall Valdosta). That was until Ashley became a $1 theater and a Regal movie theater opened across the way from the mall in 2003. The part of the building where the Movies at the Mall used the reside was torn down and now resides a parking lot extension.

ManfromNaboo

Think international! In my case, well, you might probably know it, German.

I researched movie theaters for a movie about Romy Schneider three years ago, and came across a lot of gems ( and a lot of really sad stories), this one´s a fave, since it´s actually right around my neck of the woods :

http://www.lindentheater-frechen.de/?page_id=11

If you´re wondering why there´s a vintage (or is that antique?) VW Beetle in the foyer, the foyer is actually the garage, the car has to be moved out before shows, since the ticket counter is in the garage as well.

Then there´s this jewel:

Lichtburg Essen - Deutschlands grter Filmpalast

And that´s for now, otherwise I´ll become sad again because of all the temples of movie culture that have been either torn down or remodeled into starbucks (no cliché here, actually happened to this one : Der Umbau - Lichtburg Düsseldorf ). Agh, already starting...

Andy1

I worked at the aforementioned River Hills/Riviera theaters in Des Moines, IA while in high school in late 70's early 80's. I was an usher and evenually asst mgr. It was a grand place to watch such movies as the Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, etc... The River Hills boasted a giant 70 ft curved screen with dolby surround sound and seated 640. The Riviera had the capability of running 70mm film and seated 710. I have fond memories of lines of people wrapped around the block waiting to see some of the biggest films of the time. I even met Charleton Heston there when he showed up for the premier of "The Mountain Men" with Brian Keith! I was sad when they tore it down. It was replaced by Wells Fargo arena that hosts concerts and sporting events.

BLASTER

Hey Andy, Thanks for replying. We probably crossed paths in the lobby way back when. Maybe you tore my ticket on the way into Empire Strikes Back!
River Hills / Riviera is what I remember as the best theaters but I frequented the Southridge and Fleur 4 theaters quite a bit, just to throw out another couple of names you might remember.


Steven

Mr_Creepy

I spent a lot of time here as a kid, too bad it's really gone to pot. Hard to tell in the video, but from what I've been told, there's structural issues with the balcony seating area.

YouTube - ‪Historical Dodge Theater for sale at Auction Dodge City June 24th, 2010 High Noon‬‏

Zombie_61

Of the four local movie theaters I frequented growing up, only one remains and it has been turned into a mini multiplex (10 screens) with only faint remnants of it's former glory.

timelordjedi777

These are the two theaters I grew up around. My grandparents went on dates at the drive in.

BLASTER

The last movie I remember seeing at a drive-in was Smokey and the Bandit and the second feature was "The Car"... I remember we left after about 15 minutes of The Car.


Steven

ECBBFan

Blaster -
Des Moines had some great theatres. I was born there and lived in the area until I graduated high school and moved to the Southwest but I went back and saw movies there on a fairly regular basis through the rest of the 80s and parts of the 90s, so I’m kind of familiar with the Des Moines area movie theatres – especially:

CAPRI
FLEUR IV
FORUM IV
PLANTATION DRIVE-IN
PLAZA III
RIVER HILLS/RIVIERA
SIERRA III
VALLEY III
VARSITY
WEST-VUE DRIVE-IN

I remember going to movies at the Forum IV theatre as early as the summer of 1975 (“Jaws”).

The Valley III in West Des Moines opened the same time as the Mall it was contained in - 1975 or shortly after. It’s kind of sad, but with the opening of the Jordan Creek Mall, the Valley West Mall that I spent a lot of time in – and saw some great movies at – now seems to be the “old” mall, and despite efforts to spruce it up, is not the same. The Valley III is gone – replaced by a bar & grill.

The Plantation Drive-In was open until around Labor Day 1986 or maybe 1987 (I was away at college when it closed). You can see photos of it here: CinemaTour - Cinemas Around the World - Plantation Drive-In Theatre, Des Moines IA - It later became “The Sands” Volleyball Club.

I agree that the jewel in the crown of Des Moines area theatres had to the the River Hills/Riviera with the enormous, curved “Cinerama” screen on the River Hills side (the Riviera side was fantastic too). I remember seeing a re-release of "The Greatest Show On Earth" there in the early to mid-70s (anybody know exactly?) and “2001: A Space Odyssey” there in about 1975 (anybody know exactly?) and of course “Star Wars” there many times in 1977-1978. Also “Superman” when it opened in December 1978, “Superman III” in 1983 and “Return Of The Jedi” in 1983. I think the last movie I saw there was “The World Is Not Enough” in November 1999.

The West-Vue Drive-In was only a couple of blocks from my house in Urbandale. My family could see the screen from our front yard. Somewhere I must have a picture of it. It closed in 1977, stood empty for about a year, then was torn down to make way for a “business park” cluster of single story multi-business buildings (which are still there today).

Thankfully there are still some cool theatres left there, like the Varsity and the Plaza, and some of the newer theatres aren’t bad.