I remember buying tickets in one part and seeing the film somewhere else. I also remember that at least one of the two theaters was very mod at the time, featuring the egg shaped chairs in the lobby. That was glorious fun for a kid.
The shopping center is now called Plaza Fiesta and is primarily a Latin/Spanish shopping center, with a few Asian run stores as well. Most the the Buford Highway corridor has a more ethnic bent now than when I grew up there. The glass wall that separated the theater from the mall has a huge climbing/kids playhouse thing there, blocking the entrance.
I agree that it was a terrible place for a theater, because, even in 1990, when we lived there, the neighborhood was starting to decline. Later, DeKalb County- it it’s wisdom- started tearing up parts of Peachtree Industrial Blvd, making access to Friday’s Plaza very difficult to anyone outside of the neighborhood. I can imagine that the initial location draw was the thought that it was located close to Dunwoody, near several housing developments and apartments and not too far from Buford Highway, still a major area at the time. Unfortunately, the area went downhill fast. We moved there in 1990 and were gone by early 1993 and we were far from the only ones.
Stan or Michael, is it possible that I saw, instead of Star Wars, one of the sequels at PM? Could that be why everyone is confused? I have no way of knowing, hence the question.
Time Square was only a minor cult hit- no where near the caliber of cult status of Rocky Horror. In fact, Time Square was never released on DVD and since it was put out by RSO, it probably never will be.
MPotts- what year was that? Maybe I saw the “Song of the South” at the Miracle and not the Belmont. I was sure it was the Belmont, but I could be wrong.
I seem to remember seeing the re-release of “Song of the South” there in the early 70’s and that the Belmont had a green roof, or am I dreaming? I know who I saw the film with, and it would have been my Cobb County friend (We lived in DeKalb and that was like driving to Alabama in the day).
I remember this theater mainly for the ice rink around it. At the time, that was a novelty. We attended one of our Cobb County friends ice skating/movie party there- and there was nothing else around Parkaire at all. It was a strange little mall, with low ceilings and I seem to remember having to walk up a lot of ramps to get out but that could be my imagination. I do remember the popcorn because there was no place to eat in the mall and we were starving.
We used to go here as a family when I was little. I think I remember a playground at some point. I continued to go there for years, with various friends and boyfriends. In the 80’s, we also used to set up a booth at the swap meet on the weekends. We were there the last night it was open, to see Deep Impact. I went with my high school boyfriend, his wife and my husband, sort of like blending the old and the new.
It was such a tiny cinema. I don’t remember there being much of a lobby and the ticket booth was next door or across the way. We went to see “Charlotte’s Web” there for a birthday party- my most vivid memory of the theater and it was just a lilliputian type place.
Spent much time at the Perimeter Mall Cinema. It was the closest one to my home (although I was also close to North Springs). We made the cinema circuit in the 70s/80’s. The lobby was pretty to look at, but incredibly crowded when all three theaters were letting out/letting crowds in. I remember more than once being herded like cattle into a theater. One of my fondest memories was going to a sneak preview of a film called “Time Square” at Perimeter. The film starred Tim Curry and many of the Rocky Horror crowd came to see this film, some in costume. The crowd got a bit rowdy, but still kept it cool and it was a wonderful night. The acoustics were fine for the music, but I do remember we had a hard time hearing the dialogue. I believe we won the ticket in conjunction with one of the radio stations.
Stan- I was sure I saw Star Wars there, too, but my memory isn’t what it used to be.
We used to call it the “Cohoes” Theater, after that chain of discount department stores, because it was the anchor at Northeast Plaza for a few years. The theater itself was nice and an easy place to catch a film for half price. Northeast Plaza has undergone so many changes. Originally it was a small, suburban strip mall with a Kroger and another grocery as anchors, a wig shop, drug store and a bowling alley. I thought the other food store was Colonial, but recently found out that my memory had failed me, so it may have been an A&P or a Winn Dixie.
We went to Lenox a lot when I was a kid, being the movie junkie that I am. Much later, after the theaters had been augmented, we would go sometimes before we went down to the Silver Screen to watch Rocky Horror. In the 80’s, the theater got to be a joke because the sound was horrid. The last film I saw there was “Revenge of the Pink Panther”, which itself was insipid. Still, I have so many good memories of Lenox Square.
One of the later films shown here was a tribute to Claymation that was outstanding. That would have been sometime in the late 80’s, if I remember correctly. It was a wonderful theater!
The Silver Screen was my weekend hang out from 1980 until 1983, when I was part of the Rocky Horror Picture Show “Cast”. So many wonderful memories associated with the theater. Often we could come down earlier in the evening, catch whatever was playing, go into the bathroom, change into Rocky attire and return to perform. To a generation of us, the Silver Screen was an iconic landmark and is still greatly missed. Best story? The night that Amy Carter came to see Rocky Horror, long after her dad was out of office, complete with Secret Service guards, who weer none too happy that we were throwing things. Ah, memories!
Is it possible that this is where my high school class came to see “Gandhi” in 1982? We went to a small alternative high school located near North Druid Hills and I am sure we came to the Columbia to see the film. I came back a few nights later with a date to see it again because the theater was so old school and extraordinary.
Rocky Horror played here at one point. The last film I saw there was about Betty Page..and that was a few years ago. I hate that we can’t keep one arthouse cinema (besides the Fox) open in this city. But then again, the Atlanta city bird is the crane…..
When I first got married, this was my “little cinema around the corner.” We could walk there and did quite a lot. It was a fun shopping plaza in the early 90’s and we were sorry to see it decline.
My first historical reclamation project was the Fox..I gave them money when I was a child to Save The Fox…after watching Yul Brynner in The King and I.
They had the best pizza ever at the Excelsior Mill in the 80’s. We’d have pizza and go see a film. It was my guilty pleasure to drive all the way from Dunwoody to go there.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there a jeans store next to the theater? An early GAP? I remember going to the theater and then buying jeans next door. At least I think it was the Cherokee. It was in Brookhaven, right? I am pretty sure this is the theater when the security guard pulled me out of the ladies room because he thought I was a boy. (I was a short haired 9 year old girl), but I am not sure. We went to the movies all the time and sometimes the theaters run together.
One of our favorite lines is “you know you’ve lived in Atlanta a long time if you saw a non-porn film at the Buford Twin”…which I did…Star Wars and I am sure a few others.
Sometime during my senior year in high school, while attending Open Campus West, the entire student body was taken to the then Columbia theater to see “Gandhi”. The huge screen was majestic and it was one of the most interesting memories of high school.(and also a wonderful film) 1982-1983
I remember buying tickets in one part and seeing the film somewhere else. I also remember that at least one of the two theaters was very mod at the time, featuring the egg shaped chairs in the lobby. That was glorious fun for a kid.
The shopping center is now called Plaza Fiesta and is primarily a Latin/Spanish shopping center, with a few Asian run stores as well. Most the the Buford Highway corridor has a more ethnic bent now than when I grew up there. The glass wall that separated the theater from the mall has a huge climbing/kids playhouse thing there, blocking the entrance.
Where was this theater exactly? Obviously on Buford Highway, but where?
I agree that it was a terrible place for a theater, because, even in 1990, when we lived there, the neighborhood was starting to decline. Later, DeKalb County- it it’s wisdom- started tearing up parts of Peachtree Industrial Blvd, making access to Friday’s Plaza very difficult to anyone outside of the neighborhood. I can imagine that the initial location draw was the thought that it was located close to Dunwoody, near several housing developments and apartments and not too far from Buford Highway, still a major area at the time. Unfortunately, the area went downhill fast. We moved there in 1990 and were gone by early 1993 and we were far from the only ones.
Stan or Michael, is it possible that I saw, instead of Star Wars, one of the sequels at PM? Could that be why everyone is confused? I have no way of knowing, hence the question. Time Square was only a minor cult hit- no where near the caliber of cult status of Rocky Horror. In fact, Time Square was never released on DVD and since it was put out by RSO, it probably never will be.
MPotts- what year was that? Maybe I saw the “Song of the South” at the Miracle and not the Belmont. I was sure it was the Belmont, but I could be wrong.
I seem to remember seeing the re-release of “Song of the South” there in the early 70’s and that the Belmont had a green roof, or am I dreaming? I know who I saw the film with, and it would have been my Cobb County friend (We lived in DeKalb and that was like driving to Alabama in the day).
I remember this theater mainly for the ice rink around it. At the time, that was a novelty. We attended one of our Cobb County friends ice skating/movie party there- and there was nothing else around Parkaire at all. It was a strange little mall, with low ceilings and I seem to remember having to walk up a lot of ramps to get out but that could be my imagination. I do remember the popcorn because there was no place to eat in the mall and we were starving.
We used to go here as a family when I was little. I think I remember a playground at some point. I continued to go there for years, with various friends and boyfriends. In the 80’s, we also used to set up a booth at the swap meet on the weekends. We were there the last night it was open, to see Deep Impact. I went with my high school boyfriend, his wife and my husband, sort of like blending the old and the new.
It was such a tiny cinema. I don’t remember there being much of a lobby and the ticket booth was next door or across the way. We went to see “Charlotte’s Web” there for a birthday party- my most vivid memory of the theater and it was just a lilliputian type place.
Spent much time at the Perimeter Mall Cinema. It was the closest one to my home (although I was also close to North Springs). We made the cinema circuit in the 70s/80’s. The lobby was pretty to look at, but incredibly crowded when all three theaters were letting out/letting crowds in. I remember more than once being herded like cattle into a theater. One of my fondest memories was going to a sneak preview of a film called “Time Square” at Perimeter. The film starred Tim Curry and many of the Rocky Horror crowd came to see this film, some in costume. The crowd got a bit rowdy, but still kept it cool and it was a wonderful night. The acoustics were fine for the music, but I do remember we had a hard time hearing the dialogue. I believe we won the ticket in conjunction with one of the radio stations.
Stan- I was sure I saw Star Wars there, too, but my memory isn’t what it used to be.
We used to call it the “Cohoes” Theater, after that chain of discount department stores, because it was the anchor at Northeast Plaza for a few years. The theater itself was nice and an easy place to catch a film for half price. Northeast Plaza has undergone so many changes. Originally it was a small, suburban strip mall with a Kroger and another grocery as anchors, a wig shop, drug store and a bowling alley. I thought the other food store was Colonial, but recently found out that my memory had failed me, so it may have been an A&P or a Winn Dixie.
We went to Lenox a lot when I was a kid, being the movie junkie that I am. Much later, after the theaters had been augmented, we would go sometimes before we went down to the Silver Screen to watch Rocky Horror. In the 80’s, the theater got to be a joke because the sound was horrid. The last film I saw there was “Revenge of the Pink Panther”, which itself was insipid. Still, I have so many good memories of Lenox Square.
One of the later films shown here was a tribute to Claymation that was outstanding. That would have been sometime in the late 80’s, if I remember correctly. It was a wonderful theater!
The Silver Screen was my weekend hang out from 1980 until 1983, when I was part of the Rocky Horror Picture Show “Cast”. So many wonderful memories associated with the theater. Often we could come down earlier in the evening, catch whatever was playing, go into the bathroom, change into Rocky attire and return to perform. To a generation of us, the Silver Screen was an iconic landmark and is still greatly missed. Best story? The night that Amy Carter came to see Rocky Horror, long after her dad was out of office, complete with Secret Service guards, who weer none too happy that we were throwing things. Ah, memories!
Is it possible that this is where my high school class came to see “Gandhi” in 1982? We went to a small alternative high school located near North Druid Hills and I am sure we came to the Columbia to see the film. I came back a few nights later with a date to see it again because the theater was so old school and extraordinary.
Rocky Horror played here at one point. The last film I saw there was about Betty Page..and that was a few years ago. I hate that we can’t keep one arthouse cinema (besides the Fox) open in this city. But then again, the Atlanta city bird is the crane…..
When I first got married, this was my “little cinema around the corner.” We could walk there and did quite a lot. It was a fun shopping plaza in the early 90’s and we were sorry to see it decline.
My first historical reclamation project was the Fox..I gave them money when I was a child to Save The Fox…after watching Yul Brynner in The King and I.
They had the best pizza ever at the Excelsior Mill in the 80’s. We’d have pizza and go see a film. It was my guilty pleasure to drive all the way from Dunwoody to go there.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t there a jeans store next to the theater? An early GAP? I remember going to the theater and then buying jeans next door. At least I think it was the Cherokee. It was in Brookhaven, right? I am pretty sure this is the theater when the security guard pulled me out of the ladies room because he thought I was a boy. (I was a short haired 9 year old girl), but I am not sure. We went to the movies all the time and sometimes the theaters run together.
One of our favorite lines is “you know you’ve lived in Atlanta a long time if you saw a non-porn film at the Buford Twin”…which I did…Star Wars and I am sure a few others.
Sometime during my senior year in high school, while attending Open Campus West, the entire student body was taken to the then Columbia theater to see “Gandhi”. The huge screen was majestic and it was one of the most interesting memories of high school.(and also a wonderful film) 1982-1983