Red Rock 11 Theaters
5201 W. Charleston Boulevard,
Las Vegas,
NV
89107
5201 W. Charleston Boulevard,
Las Vegas,
NV
89107
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 55 comments
Closed for the final time on October 15, 1999.
The longest running engagement of “The Godfather”—at 41 weeks—was held here at Red Rock. Other sources erroneously claim that film’s longest run was at 5 Points in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find this and loads of other great information in my recently-published 11-page 50th anniversary “Godfather” retrospective .
Became part of Syufy theatres on October 15th, 1984. Syufy gains a monopoly on first-run movies in the area after this purchase.
Expansion phases for this cinema. June 24th, 1971 4 screens. March 31st, 1972 5 cinemas as the Continental screen is added. April 22nd, 1972 6 screens as the Americana screen is added and 11 screens on August 17th, 1973 making this the world’s largest theatre complex at the time. Grand opening ads posted.
This expanded to 11 screens on August 17th, 1973 integrating the Red Rock 4 Theatres, The Continental, The Americana and the Red Rock Plaza Theatres with 5 screens. It was the world’s largest theatre complex at the time of the opening.
This opened on June 10th, 1966. Grand opening ad in the photo section. more to come.
Hi Everyone, I just posted the Review Journal photo of the Bugsy Malone promotional. Sorry it took so long. No I don’t have the date it was taken. I also posted pics of a Redrock 11 matchbox. It was great fun and a privilege to work there. One thing to note is that there were celebrities who would show up to attend movies. I remember Mel Torme.
How great it is to read about the memories people had at the Red Rock Theaters. My name is Jeff Jones, I graduated from Western High School in 1966 and began working for Horst Schmidt and Mrs. Lucille Cragin that same year. They owned KRGN FM Radio Station located on east Sahara. I worked there recording music on tape to be played back later on an automatic playback system. Later that same year Horst made me manager of the Red Rock Theater. At that time there was only one theater. Mr. Leon Stephenson was the general manager of both the Red Rock theater and the El Portal theater. Horst and Mrs. Cragin owned the theaters, but Mr. Stephenson was responsible for running of the theaters. Mr. Stephenson was one of the best people I ever worked for. In 1968 I joined the Air Force and went to Vietnam. While in Vietnam I received a letter from Horst saying Mr. Stephenson had passed. I received that letter with great sadness. He died in the lobby of the Red Rock theater when nobody else was there and I believe he was found by Rory O'Conner,our projectionist. Rory was a great little Irishman. He really had an Irish accent. It was great fun to ride in his Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. I don’t think he would mind if you knew the lady on top of the radiator was sterling silver. When I got out of the Air Force in 1972 I came back and worked at the Red Rock and El Portal theaters. In 1972 we showed The Godfather. We had it in four theaters and the lines went around the theater and crowd control was really a problem. We had a few celebrities show up. One night Tony “The Ant” Spilotro shows up with his wife and bodyguard. He doesn’t want to stand in line like everybody else. So, his bodyguard starts calling me every name in the book. I just want to get him out of the lobby, so I seat his party and as i’m walking away he stuffs a five dollar bill in my pocket. After that incident I started carrying 357 under my jacket. These guys really don’t care about anybody but themselves. The El Portal theater was the oldest theater in Las Vegas. There is a plaque in front of the building where it used to be on Fremont St. It was the first building in Las Vegas to have air conditioning in 1928. I read were Horst passed away in 2004 with great sadness. I enjoyed our talks. He told me what it was like to grow up in Germany during WWII. I left the Red Rock theater in late 1972 and that’s when Boyd Moseley replaced me as manager. I remember the faces of the candy girls and ushers, but it’s hard to remember the names, I’m now almost 70. One of the best times of my life was growing up in the sixty’s in Las Vegas. In 2005 I went to visit my Mom in Las Vegas and I drove past were the Red Rock Theater used to be. There was just a concrete slab – I cried.
I was so saddened to learn about the death of Boyd Moseley, the manager of the Red Rock. I had worked my way up from candy girl to cashier and remember Boyd bringing his wife and children in frequently. He was such a proud dad! I used to love to work in the plaza ice cream parlor, and Boyd would sit at a little table next to the parlor and the box office, smoking and carefully keeping track of everything that went on in the theater. He would chat with me, and I just thought he was the most wonderful boss!
I remember that, as a little girl, the original Red Rock, was only one theater—the huge Theater One, which was in the front of the theater. Moms could buy movie packages from the PTA and drop their kids off every Monday or Tuesday for a movie and a chance to be kid free for awhile. The theater would be packed with kids, and we’d watch old movies like “Tammy and the Professor.” It was incredibly noisy in the theater with all of the unattended, summer wild kids. It was during this time that I bought my very first package of Flicks—a long tube wrapped in foil that had chocolate chips inside.
Many years later at age 17 I got a job working in the newly expanded theater. People used to marvel that we had eleven theaters, and I think it was billed the largest multi-cinema movie theater in the world. When Bugsy Malone opened, Boyd asked two of the ushers, myself, and another girl to go to a thrift store and buy outfits from the gangster era. The four of us posed sitting in the plaza for a photo that was in the RJ newspaper advertising the movie. I would LOVE a copy of that photo if anyone has one!
Movies ran $4.00 for adults back then, and I remember how people used to grumble about the price. Then we ran “The Deerhunter” and the tickets were $5.00, and people thought THAT was insanely high, but they still paid. One Christmas, we ran “Animal House,” “Good bye Girl, and "The Turning Point” in the plaza, and the lines would be out the door. When a movie was sold out, the other cashier and I would holler, “‘Animal House is sold out!” People would then choose another movie.
It was great fun working there. Boyd intuitively knew how to hire and train the best kids in town. We were all great kids, and we all came from different high schools, but we all got along great! Rory was the projectionist back then, and he was such a handsome, sweet man with the most beautiful Irish accent. Boyd truly gave all of us teenagers such a great first job and an excellent training ground for future jobs. When a customer was rude to me once, he actually said to the man, “I don’t allow people to treat the kids that work here like that. I hire good kids, and their parents expect me to look after them while they are here.” The customer apologized, and I was so impressed that Boyd would stick up for a skinny seventeen year old.
Still married for 35 years to the handsome usher who worked tearing tickets when we met in high school at the Red Rock. We’ve raised two great sons, still have wonderful memories of the kids we worked with and our wonderful first boss. All that remains of the Red Rock are a brick and a piece of the red curtain that my husband managed to pull out of the rubble when they tore it down.
If anyone knows where I can get a copy of the RJ photo with the Bugsy Malone picture, please let me know. To Boyd’s son and daughters, you father was a wonderful boss and very kind behind his facade gruff exterior.
Very cool to discover this conversation about the Red Rock 11 Theaters in Las Vegas. Great memories. Our family moved to Las Vegas from the Midwest when I was in junior high school. My dad, who some of you may remember if you lived in Vegas in the 70s and 80s, was Walt Reno, the TV and radio personality. My dad and I and my friends spent lot of time seeing movies at the Red Rock in the 70s, from classics to obscure movies that most people probably don’t remember. We got to know Boyd, the manager, pretty well. Very nice guy. The theater really was so “Vegas.” So over the top. But in a good way. It was fun. The town square section in the back was amazing. Didn’t each movie theater in that area actually have its own marquee and its own name? My dad even let me see a few R-rated movies at the Red Rock when I was a teen, including cult films like “Harold and Maude” and Oscar-winners like “The Last Picture Show.” The last movie I remember seeing at the Red Rock before was an entertaining stinker called “Moment by Moment” with John Travolta and Lily Tomlin. It wasn’t a great movie by any stretch, but it was filmed in California and it got me and my buddies even more excited about going to California to attend college. I stayed here (San Diego) after college and remain here to this day, and after my dad died I really didn’t have much reason to go back to Vegas. But it still holds a special place in my heart. Good times at the Red Rock. I could name just about every movie theater in Las Vegas back in the 70s. But the Red Rock was special. It had to be one of the first multiplexes in America, yes? This Quora page addresses the growth of the multiplex, but neglects to mention the Red Rock 11: https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-first-multiplex-theater-in-the-United-States
Hi JAS, I will post it as soon as possible. Hopefully soon!
Crystal, I was one of the Bugsey Malone ushers. Any chance you can post the pic you have?
Hi Kevin Moseley, I remember your father. I have many fond memories of the Redrock. My job working at the Redrock was my first one as a teenager. You father was my first boss. Working at the Redrock was the best job ever. It was so fun to work in such a fun and beautiful environment. There was nothing like it. When Horst was in town the carousel was turned on. It was like Christmas. All year it reminded me of Disneyland. Working with fellow teens from area high schools meant lots of new and best friends. I remember Rory and Pat who were projectionists there. At the time I worked there Rory parked his Rolls in back by the entrance. The young men usually worked as ushers and the young ladies worked as candy girls. After some time one could work up to ticket sales/cashier. We all clocked in with our time cards in a back room in the plaza area and put on our red vests or red aprons over our white shirts and black pants. The theater food was good. The hotdogs on the rotating cooker with the buns in a warmer steamer were good. There was real butter ladled onto the freshly popped popcorn which was melted by the bricks in warmers. There was an old fashioned ice cream parlor over in the plaza area. No one loved working up in “Siberia” which was up a ramp to the right of the main lobby where one could find a small coffee shop and a few theaters. Lonesome territory when everyone else was in the main lobby or plaza area. I do have a promotional picture of the cashier’s cage in the plaza area taken with ushers dressed up like Bugsey Malone characters. It is too bad the theater was sold and changed and then later demolished. Would love to get copies of the pictures you posted. Thanks.
Thetruth702 If you open the Red Rock theater again please post the opening date a few months in advance. I don’t live in Vegas anymore, but would come out just for your opening day to see the sight and bring back some great memories. Would love to see if the projector rooms and such are the same, used to have to run all over the place to get all 11 movies running on time, would love to see it all again. Best wishes for your endeavors, I think playing moves from the 80’s & 90’s in the theater might be very profitable, especially if you have the whole place set up like the 80’s (arcades and such), wow, blast from the past….
Its a shame how classics come and go i found memories of this place i remember big trouble in little china bttf and so may at the great place i remember singing in a karaoke booth wheres johny song from short circuit they had there and u can take the tape home the years that why i am re opening a theater based on red rock 11 i have blue prints to original from city entire project will cost 1 .2 mil i have 4 investors we break ground in jan 2015 expected to open late 2015 it will be modeld to the tee of the classic establishment we will run 80sclassics only and will be retro only it will be located in henderson
Does anyone remember Rory O'Connor? He was the projectionist that owned the beautiful Rolls-Royce. He always parked it across the street under a street lamp.
Yes undercover, there were red curtains. The Red Rock 11 was an absolutely magical place, especially for a kid. I grew up close by from 1970 until it’s demise. Some very special memories. Here’s a couple:
Me & my dad showing up 5 minutes late to see Star Wars (for the 3rd time), so we stayed after to watch the first 5 mins of next showing. Ended up watching the whole movie again (our fourth time;).
3 buddies & I stop in for “Goodfellas”. We were hungry with no extra $ for food. Turned out to be one of our fav movies ever, but watching them constantly eating with uncle Paulie was murder for 3+ hrs, lol!
Tom & I driving by one night, we see the parking lot overflowing. We don’t know why. So we go to a back door (random)and crack it open. Inside, a packed theater partying with KOMP FM92 awaiting the sneak preview of “Batman”. Unbelievibly, there were 2 seats in front open. We run in, sit down, no one says a thing. 5 SECONDS later, lights dim, BATMAN comes on. Great movie. I miss the Red Rock and I loathe Las Vegas for it’s careless mindless sense of history.
Had great memories of the red rock… hate that they like to destroy buildings that were part of many wonderful memories growing up..they really should have so respect.. I have a question … did the redrock have red curtains that opened when the movies would start.. I’m almost positive it did..but I need to kno for sure…? Thank u
Oh and Kevin, your dad did an excellent job running the theater! I always had such positive experiences and the employees really seemed to enjoy their work environment. Thanks again for the great pics!!!
I was born and raised in Vegas. Thanks so much for the great pics of the theater! Had so many good times there! Such a shame that all of our history gets demolished. I saved these pictures and will treasure them forever!
My name is Greg Barnaby and I grew up in Las Vegas. One night in 1972 after having returned from my Gorman High senior class trip, My friend, Tom Byrne and I took in a midnight showing of ‘The Godfather’. Decatur Blvd. was pretty much the west end border of the city in those days and the Redrock theater stood as a sentinel before the vast expanse of desert spreading out toward the spring Mountains. Movies that I enjoyed there are: ET, The Thing, A Star is Born, Logan’s Run, Jurassic Park, All the Presidents Men, and Heaven can wait. Thanks for the great memories of Las Vegas passed.
Very true about “Kool Kollectables.” The owners treated everyone like criminals, and as a comic collector, never was comfortable shopping there. I recall a sports apparell store (complete with baseball cards) and a martial arts retailer sharing space with RedRock Theatres. Longest line ever? “Batman” in the Summer of 1989. First movie: Star Trek IV or “Follow that Bird” Last: “Nothing to Lose” in 1997. Very lame finish.
Thanks so very much for the photo post, Kevin. I haven’t seen the interior since way back in the Summer of 1997. Truly, a magical place “Redrock” was. My family first experienced the wonderful “Turn of the Century” decor in the mid to late ‘80s. I’ll look for photos, but I’m sure I’ll never find a great shot of the inside like this one. Thanks again.
You’re welcome for the pictures guys. I just wish even after all the years that dad ran the place, we would’ve kept more of them. I was only able to find the two…but I think they are good shots and will help alot of people to remember the good times and the theater!
Love the pictures that were posted, really brought back some good memories.