Stonemont Theatre
5241 Memorial Drive,
Stone Mountain,
GA
30083
5241 Memorial Drive,
Stone Mountain,
GA
30083
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 40 of 40 comments
I spoke to someone who works this area and he confirms that the theatre and the east wing of the shopping center has been torn down. It seems that these stores and especially the theatre had become a haven for the homeless who were constantly breaking in, which probably accounts for the appearance of the place that I noted in my last post. Not only was the theatre completely trashed on the inside, but it also had an overwhelming mold problem. I wonder if this is a problem common to old closed up locations as someone made a similar observation on the Town and Country page of this site. At any rate, the place was a public nuisance and had to go.
In total this theatre lasted 30 years, about 25 of those in use, about average for the more successful examples of theatres built during its era. This gives it about the same longevity as the Perimeter Mall, but a good bit longer than either of the Northlakes, the North DeKalb, South DeKalb, Akers Mill, Suburban Plaza, Village, and any of its later neighbors along Memorial Drive. It even lasted a little longer, counting its Bollywood days, than the great Phipps Plaza Theatre.
As I said in my post on the Town and Country, this was just an example, among the nicest in fact, of the stopgap between the movie palaces of old and the megaplex of today. For someone new to this business looking back on this era, it does not seem like a big deal. However, it was to those of us who grew up and worked during this time, and I am grateful that I got to experience this example of the movie theatre business before it turned into the fast food / amusement park atmosphere of today.
As for the time capsule, I do not know what happened to it but I hope whoever got it is an honest person. Among the many news items and theatre memorabilia items inside were hundreds of polaroids of the children who attended the opening showing of “Peter Pan” that I described in the original post that started this page. The idea was that years later, when the capsule was opened they would be sent the picture to remind them of what they were doing on June 27, 1976. And just how, you ask, were all of these children, many with different last names, going to be located? Easy. Their mothers supplied the children’s Social Security numbers which were written on the back of the picture. I wonder how many of these now grown ups have had their identities stolen because of this well intentioned effort made in a more innocent time.
Torn down in 2006
lost do you know is the theater still there?
Lost what year was this taken???
Man, I saw lots of movies here in the early 80s: Every Which Way But Loose, Flash Gordon, Airplane 2…
Great posts here!
I was 9 years old when my family moved to Stone Mountain,
and I got to see quite a few great movies at Stonemont theater.
Something’s been bugging me: surely one of you guys remembers
the “Time Capsule” that was embedded in the concrete outside
of the front of the theater. My hazy recollection is that there
was a small metal plaque marking the spot, and that the date
was sometime in the 21st century.
I just drove by the (sadly dormant) theater 2 weeks ago and
saw no sign of a time capsule. Perhaps the grand date has
passed and I missed the festivities?
thanks!
Well, if it isn’t my old friend and co-worker Tommy Young, who I have not seen in at least 25 years. I first met Tommy on the football field of Grady High School in the fall of 1974 when as manager of the South DeKalb Twin, I took part in one of those Georgia Theatre / ABC Theatres employee football games. I seem to recall the manager of Phipps Plaza being carried off the field with a broken leg during one of those grudge matches. For those of you who are interested not only in theatre buildings but the operation and culture of the employees, Tommy and I (and probably Raymond Stewart from this thread although I never worked with him) were fair examples of the type of people who worked at theatres in the late 60’s to mid 80’s. In those days when pay and hours were even worse than they are today, theatres were staffed by people who either enjoyed the movie business, liked working at night, liked the slow periods during the week or the entire fall when you could study or take care of maintenance, or just liked working without the aggravation of someone always looking over your shoulder.
For the most part theatre companies would give managers a set of keys and the combination to the safe and tell them to go manage. If the money made it into the bank and not too many complaints were received at the home office they pretty much left you alone. It was like working for yourself except that all of the profits went to someone else. I found this to be true of local companies like Georgia Theatre Company and national ones like Loews. Managing challenges consisted mainly of finding a good staff that would show up for work and behave, and keeping the theatre in good shape. There was always a fine line to be walked between making the theatre a pleasant place to work (an absolute necessity in view of the low pay) and letting the help turn the lobby into a frat house. (I remember stopping by Stonemont on the way home from my theatre on Saturday nights to join some off duty employees watching Saturday Night Live on the TV in the office.) The actual running of the place in regards to customers was much easier than now because people behaved themselves better back then, and with only two to four or five screens you never had the crush of people you do these days. The concession business was much simpler as well. Fewer items, fewer employees needed, and more down time between shows. I am sure the manager of the Burger King where I worked while in high school had an easier job than that of whoever is in charge of the concession operation in one of today’s megaplexes.
All of this changed in the late 80’s with the rise in consolidation as the local and smaller regional companies started selling out to the big national chains. ABC went to Plitt then Cineplex, etc… GTC sold out to UA, and Storey to Regal which later ended up with UA as well. With every transaction there seemed to be a new batch of bosses who had as their first priority the elimination of every single existing employee and replacing them with their “own” people imported from wherever they had come from. Managers, employees, projectionists, and even janitors were swept out for no other reason than they had been hired by the previous order and thus were not part of the new team. Later we had the pleasure of seeing the new team swept out by an even newer team, and so on down the line. Since most theatre companies seemed to look on their employees as recurring expenses, like the power bill, or even outright thieves yet to be caught, instead of potential assets, micro managing from HQ became the new way. The internet and email made it much too easy for the corporate bosses to dictate every single activity of the day, and towards the end of the General Cinema days there was talk of the folks up in Chestnut Hill working on a set up where they could view the security cameras of any theatre in real time back in Boston. This may well be the case now although I am happy to say that I would not know.
Those workers are just as much a “Cinema Treasure” as the theatres we talk about on this site. As sad as it is that those times are over, at least we did not get carted off to the landfill like so many of the places of which have these good memories. I know there are some who think this subject has no place in a forum such as this, but I disagree. While it is fine to admire the physical plant of the venues themselves, the people who worked such long hours to keep them running are an equally important part of their history. I am sure that the gist of what I have written here would apply to the vast majority of sites that appear on the Cinema Treasures website.
As for the question of who my city manager was, that gentleman would be Mr. Tom Pike Sr. Although not always the easiest man to work for at the Lenox Square Theatre, overall he was a good boss and an even better friend both then and after our days of working together were over. Sadly, Mr. Pike died of cancer about 4 years ago. Even sadder, his son, Tom Jr., a long time manager of the Village, South DeKalb, and Greens Corner, and my best friend from those years died in 1990 at the age of 40.
Tommy, you can contact me at If you are still in Atlanta we could get together and trade lies about the good old days.
Brannon Square was “never” under ABC, I was the city manager for them until Plitt came into the picture. I was also the opening manager of Stonemont, how awesome it was to find this site. And Stan, I appreciate you starting this forum about the theatres. It brings back some good memories. The Dolby instalation at Stonemont was correct for “Close Encounters”. Wil-Kin installed it and it took Tom Paris 2 days and no sleep to get it working properly. When Animal House opened we did so much business that Universal Exec called me from Cal. to see if the figures I was turning in was correct. I suppose with all the crazyness there, it was appropiate that we won the bid to show it. I also opened the Penthouse Theatre as well, with of course “The Exorist”. It was wild to watch everyone freak out during certain scenes. We would stand in the back and laugh. Stan, who was the city manager for Georgia Theatres when you were at Lenox? And do you remember the “continental” seating at phipps it was awesome. You could literally strecth out your legs and barely touch the seat in front of you.
Re early Dolby Stereo presentations in the Atlanta area, another round of research and attempt to summarize yields the following:
Nov 24, 1977: “Star Wars” opens a sub-run at Canton Corners Twin in Marrieta. “Dolby System” logo + “Stereophonic Sound” text is present in the ad, with “Starts Today! Full Surround Stereo” in another part of the ad.
Dec 14, 1977: “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” opens in four area theaters, three of which were promoting Dolby Stereo presentations. (1) Phipps Penthouse, Atlanta (Dolby). (2) Stonemont, Stone Mountain (Dolby). (3) Arrowhead, Jonesboro (Dolby). (4) Akers Mill Square, Smyrna (mono).
Dec 16, 1977: “Saturday Night Fever” opens. The engagement at Mableton Twin in Mableton is advertised as a Dolby Stereo presentation. (“The Only Atlanta Engagement of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ Where You Can Hear The Bee-Gee’s In Our New 4 Channel Stereo Sound”)
Dec. 23, 1977: “Star Wars” begins sub-run at Buford Higway Twin in Doraville. Promoted as “Exclusive Engagement! For The 1st Time In Atlanta — Dolby Sound! You May Have Seen ‘Star Wars’, But For The 1st Time, Hear It!”
July 21, 1978: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” opens. Stonemont’s engagement advertised in Dolby Stereo.
Bummer, major bummer. Just noticed the referance to the Brannon Square. I didn’t know that it was once part of ABC. I knew it was once a Jerry Lewis, then a Septum. It wasn’t anything like the other ABC properties.
“Dolby was added to the #2 side in 1978.”
“…it took the booking of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band to finally get Dolby installed.” (StanMalone)
Dolby’s listings of equipped theatres indicate the Stonemont was equipped as of November 1977. Is it possible the theatre simply never received any Dolby-encoded prints until “Sgt. Pepper” in the summer of ‘78?
(Stan: also see my recent comments in the entry for Phipps Plaza)
The layout of the Ben Hill was the same as the original auditorium of the Town & Country and the single Cobb Cinema. Low ceilings, Cinemechannica (sp?) projection, restrooms under the booth down some steps, etc. There was always rumors around the company about what came from what since there were so many different designs and equipment scattered across town. Going way back, when the Thunderbird drive-in was still open, that was originally a Cobb property. I was told the North Springs, Miracle, Belvedere, Cherokee and Toco Hills were built for Cobb as well. I visited a Cobb theater outside of Tampa 15 years ago and it was the same setup as those.
The Brannon Square twin was another old ABC property that went on to Septum and, while I was never in the booth, it always struck me as similar to the Town & Country/Cobb Cinema/Ben Hill setup.
I think the Ben Hill (est.1970 ?) was part of the Eastern Federal from the get go (they’re attempt to cash in on the Greenbrier Mall/Westgate market controlled by the Georgia Theatre chain.) I recall seeing Willy Wonka there during its initial run. Aside from the fact that both the Ben Hill and Stonemont began and ended their careers as twins, I don’t think there were any other similarities between the two.
Did ABC also own the Ben Hill Twin? It was on the west side of town and was later operated by Eastern Federal. It looked just like the Stonemont. There was a time capsule buried at the Stonemont’s grand opening, I wonder what happened to that? It was still standing about a year ago. It did operate at the Hollywood Stonemont for a short time, then Bollywood. I think it is closed and teh Bollywood stuff moved to the old UA/GTC Green’s Crossing up in Gwinnett Co.
Thanks Sam! The ABC theatres were my favourite circuit during my tenure in Marthasville. Didn’t they also build a triple down around Morrow before Plitt bought them out?