“Jimmy Zimmerman” in an above post was a friend’s dad and was a long time Martin, later Carmike man. Managed the Strand in Marietta at one point and was high ranking exec w/Carmike when he passed away. He was a really great guy to have known.
I don’t know of the Georgia ever being known as the Marietta but could have been. The city and state spent a bundle of money at that intersection so Martin could have been paid some money to relocate signage and changed it then. The Smyrna was known as the Fair Oaks at one point. As the area grew Smyrna and Marietta grew and the area known as Fair Oaks faded away. As far as I know the Martin was always the Martin. Martin used their name just about anywhere they could, so since there wasn’t a “Martin” hardtop in the area it makes sense they’d use it for the drive in.
The Atlanta Rd location was the Smyrna/Fair Oaks, the Cobb Pkwy was the Georgia and the Roswell Rd was the Martin. Some of the equipment from when the Martin closed was stored at the base of the screen at the Smyrna, where it sat until the Smyrna closed.
I remember seeing Fiddler on the Roof here as a child. I don’t recall, but it may have been a hard ticket show. I also recall it being on the news when Godfather came out for people needing medical attention from the “shock”. Hard to believe how cutting edge it was then considering it can be shown on TV today almost completely uncut.
I remember calling the Marietta Star when it closed and being referred to the Town Center, not when Blackwell closed. The Blackwell was always so well run, a nice clean family sort of place, regardless of who operated it. Now for the Marietta location, there was a marked improvement once you took over from Lefont. I was always stunned at how slipshod it was run compared to all of his other locations. Once he was gone the experience improved dramatically.
Carmike’s old (late 70’s – early 80’s) twins and triples seem to cover the small towns of the Southeast. No competition coupled to the bad economy in the business during the bankruptcy era allowed many of them to become pretty threadbare. The newer locations are not better or worse than everybody else.
Well AlanATL, you takeover was seamless, never knew there was a change. Was that you on the recording when Marietta Star closed sending folks to Town Center when it was a discount house?
It may be the old Georgia Drive In, situated at the corner of Hwy 41 and Marietta Parkway. Back in the 70’s it had a nice entrance right at the light but due to road widening it moved to a long driveway by Southern Tech. Last I was by there the Greyhound station was along the drive in’s old driveway. As I recall it closed in the early 80’s, but the screen stood for years while the school used it as a parking lot. Was a Martin property.
In Carmike’s defense, the batch of locations they took over from Cineplex was in poor shape. Cineplex took, IMHO, the best chain at the time in Atlanta, Plitt and the shabbiest run, Septum and made a huge mess. But then again they were due since thier previous company, Martin, unloaded a similar batch on GTC some years earlier.
Now “Masquerade”, a live music venue. Was in a building that had been converted into an entertainment venue with multiple venues inside that was an Excelsior Mill from way back when. Has been threatened with destruction about a million times since the 80’s, but seems to be still standing. Last I heard it had three levels, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, very young crowd I think.
Was a gold mine for AMC. Regularly was a top earner for them as a chain and the biggest earner in the Atlanta market. Nothing special to see a film at though….
Built in place of a defunct department store and utilized some space from a previous 4 screen location. I seem to recall the 4 screen (Plitt I think) replaced and older property that was a Storey property. I once saw it referred to as “forest green” theatre in an article about AMC’s expansion to this location.
Back when Regal bought out Storey, I heard that one of the primary reasons that they bought them was for the drive-in site to build this on. There is really not much left of the old Storey chain now, such a shame.
Yeah, Hoyts bought those from Interstate to make their way into Atlanta. After some time they were somehow joined with Lefont; the adds were for both chains, but when they split the Tara stayed with Hoyts and Lefont was left with the Graden Hills, Plaza and Screening Room. As best I can recall all his others had closed and it was prior to his brief stay at Toco Hills.
I never knew if Hoyts was managing Lefonts properties or (more likely I think) Lefont was handling things in Atlanta for Hoyts. At that point Atlanta was pretty far from most of Hoyts other locations and having only 2, it makes sense that they might want to sub out the day to day stuff. After the split Hoyts was bought out by UA who I always thought did a respectable job with the Tara (not so much with any of the other Atlanta properties…)
Who knows how the Tara became a Hoyts (and later UA & Regal) property? I’ve never heard just how that came about. I remember when Hoyts and Lefont were operating as a single unit, but after they split, the Tara went to Hoyts. Did they buy it? Did they invest in Lefont and that was the price of the “divorce”? I always thought that the Tara was a perfect place for Lefont to have been; the location was great for alternative/specialty/art films and the layout and size of the theatres were great for that fare.
The Marbro was the “nice” drive-in in the area. While it may have had an Austell address, it would have been in the very eastern edge of Austell, close to the point where Smyrna and Marietta meet. The other drive-ins in the area (Georgia, Smyrna, etc.) showed more “drive-in movies” such as cheap horror, cheerleader, prison, etc. B films. The area where the drive-in was built was previously an airfield. The Marbro was always kept up and clean, and had a spectacular neon filled sign. It closed without much fanfair and was replaced with an apartment complex and shopping center. In the same area there is a closed Litchfield/Regal (pre-bankruptcy) 10-plex that is now a church. If there is any justice, the shopping center that took up some of the Marbro’s space has never been much of a success, as the better commercial area moved further down the road to the East-West Connector.
Many nights of a mis-spent youth included a trip to the Marbro, after a trip to buy beer! At least Atlanta still has the Starlight, ever if it is an hour away.
“Jimmy Zimmerman” in an above post was a friend’s dad and was a long time Martin, later Carmike man. Managed the Strand in Marietta at one point and was high ranking exec w/Carmike when he passed away. He was a really great guy to have known.
I don’t know of the Georgia ever being known as the Marietta but could have been. The city and state spent a bundle of money at that intersection so Martin could have been paid some money to relocate signage and changed it then. The Smyrna was known as the Fair Oaks at one point. As the area grew Smyrna and Marietta grew and the area known as Fair Oaks faded away. As far as I know the Martin was always the Martin. Martin used their name just about anywhere they could, so since there wasn’t a “Martin” hardtop in the area it makes sense they’d use it for the drive in.
The Atlanta Rd location was the Smyrna/Fair Oaks, the Cobb Pkwy was the Georgia and the Roswell Rd was the Martin. Some of the equipment from when the Martin closed was stored at the base of the screen at the Smyrna, where it sat until the Smyrna closed.
The last new GCC property in Atlanta, taken over by AMC, who later closed the Galleria 8 that was nearby.
I remember seeing Fiddler on the Roof here as a child. I don’t recall, but it may have been a hard ticket show. I also recall it being on the news when Godfather came out for people needing medical attention from the “shock”. Hard to believe how cutting edge it was then considering it can be shown on TV today almost completely uncut.
I remember calling the Marietta Star when it closed and being referred to the Town Center, not when Blackwell closed. The Blackwell was always so well run, a nice clean family sort of place, regardless of who operated it. Now for the Marietta location, there was a marked improvement once you took over from Lefont. I was always stunned at how slipshod it was run compared to all of his other locations. Once he was gone the experience improved dramatically.
No, lots of “congs” around here, Lopatcong, Netcong, I think it’s all Native American stuff.
Carmike’s old (late 70’s – early 80’s) twins and triples seem to cover the small towns of the Southeast. No competition coupled to the bad economy in the business during the bankruptcy era allowed many of them to become pretty threadbare. The newer locations are not better or worse than everybody else.
Well AlanATL, you takeover was seamless, never knew there was a change. Was that you on the recording when Marietta Star closed sending folks to Town Center when it was a discount house?
It may be the old Georgia Drive In, situated at the corner of Hwy 41 and Marietta Parkway. Back in the 70’s it had a nice entrance right at the light but due to road widening it moved to a long driveway by Southern Tech. Last I was by there the Greyhound station was along the drive in’s old driveway. As I recall it closed in the early 80’s, but the screen stood for years while the school used it as a parking lot. Was a Martin property.
In Carmike’s defense, the batch of locations they took over from Cineplex was in poor shape. Cineplex took, IMHO, the best chain at the time in Atlanta, Plitt and the shabbiest run, Septum and made a huge mess. But then again they were due since thier previous company, Martin, unloaded a similar batch on GTC some years earlier.
Drove by today, such a shame, like so many other NA locations of it’s era, boarded upand sitting there.
Wasn’t this a old Cineplex location, maybe even Plitt?
Now “Masquerade”, a live music venue. Was in a building that had been converted into an entertainment venue with multiple venues inside that was an Excelsior Mill from way back when. Has been threatened with destruction about a million times since the 80’s, but seems to be still standing. Last I heard it had three levels, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, very young crowd I think.
Was a gold mine for AMC. Regularly was a top earner for them as a chain and the biggest earner in the Atlanta market. Nothing special to see a film at though….
Glad the hear it’s open again. Loews never acted like they had any real interest in the Atlanta market while they were running this location.
Built in place of a defunct department store and utilized some space from a previous 4 screen location. I seem to recall the 4 screen (Plitt I think) replaced and older property that was a Storey property. I once saw it referred to as “forest green” theatre in an article about AMC’s expansion to this location.
I thought I’d read this had closed in the last few months.
This may have been a Cineplex Odeon property that was taken over by Carmike. Seems like Plitt was done before this opened.
Parts of the Howell were still standing into the 80’s, but very overgrown. I never knew it to be operational going back into the 70’s.
Back when Regal bought out Storey, I heard that one of the primary reasons that they bought them was for the drive-in site to build this on. There is really not much left of the old Storey chain now, such a shame.
Yeah, Hoyts bought those from Interstate to make their way into Atlanta. After some time they were somehow joined with Lefont; the adds were for both chains, but when they split the Tara stayed with Hoyts and Lefont was left with the Graden Hills, Plaza and Screening Room. As best I can recall all his others had closed and it was prior to his brief stay at Toco Hills.
I never knew if Hoyts was managing Lefonts properties or (more likely I think) Lefont was handling things in Atlanta for Hoyts. At that point Atlanta was pretty far from most of Hoyts other locations and having only 2, it makes sense that they might want to sub out the day to day stuff. After the split Hoyts was bought out by UA who I always thought did a respectable job with the Tara (not so much with any of the other Atlanta properties…)
Who knows how the Tara became a Hoyts (and later UA & Regal) property? I’ve never heard just how that came about. I remember when Hoyts and Lefont were operating as a single unit, but after they split, the Tara went to Hoyts. Did they buy it? Did they invest in Lefont and that was the price of the “divorce”? I always thought that the Tara was a perfect place for Lefont to have been; the location was great for alternative/specialty/art films and the layout and size of the theatres were great for that fare.
Just curious, anybody know what went on?
The Marbro was the “nice” drive-in in the area. While it may have had an Austell address, it would have been in the very eastern edge of Austell, close to the point where Smyrna and Marietta meet. The other drive-ins in the area (Georgia, Smyrna, etc.) showed more “drive-in movies” such as cheap horror, cheerleader, prison, etc. B films. The area where the drive-in was built was previously an airfield. The Marbro was always kept up and clean, and had a spectacular neon filled sign. It closed without much fanfair and was replaced with an apartment complex and shopping center. In the same area there is a closed Litchfield/Regal (pre-bankruptcy) 10-plex that is now a church. If there is any justice, the shopping center that took up some of the Marbro’s space has never been much of a success, as the better commercial area moved further down the road to the East-West Connector.
Many nights of a mis-spent youth included a trip to the Marbro, after a trip to buy beer! At least Atlanta still has the Starlight, ever if it is an hour away.
Long gone, seems like it was used a warehouse for plumbing supplies into the 80’s, then torn down and replaced with a school of some sort.