Simply amazing… I am at lost for words. Great job, Ed.
dwodeyla
The day that they invent Sims Cinema will be the day that I quit my job. :) Ahh….to manage a theatre without the sour soda and rotten popcorn trash smell. ;)
UA, which took over in 2001 after Regal’s bankruptcy…
Although I too would love to think that UA took over Regal’s debt but alas that is not true. After acquiring United Artists Theaters in September 2000 and Regal Cinemas, Phillip Anschutz then purchased Edwards Cinemas. In late 2001 all UA theatres began to receive a memo concerning a merger and debt by-out of Regal, UA and Edwards. In the Spring of 2002 it was made offical.
UPDATE: This past week the Belevedere Theatre was raided the and is now closed. So,yes, she is/was in a rather shady part of town.
I also found out that she was in the Eastern Federal theatre chain before her current owners took over.
BTW, there was story posted in my original entry concerning Ringo Starr showing up to the premiere of a movie that he was in purely because the Belvedere Theatre was the only theatre in GA that agreed to screen it.
You’re like 85% correct. :) There are several other ghost theatres that hung around for a few years in the buildings that used to be theatres. Then there were a few fly by nighters that took residence.Concord also had several negros-only theatres. I’m typing it up as a word document. If you’d like a copy give me a e-mail. It’s rather large.
One note, the Newton-Conover theatre is located and hour north of the Newtowne 1 & 2 in Conover,NC. That’s like two and half hours away from Concord,NC.
It wasn’t quite 5:00 so I tried the front doors, but they were locked.*
Yeah, it will always be “locked” because after 9/11 First Charter made that operations center employee pass only. It’s not open to the public. The auditorium was divided into two floors. Luckily they save the old style balcony steps as a way to access the top floor. The signatures are located in the second set of doors on the right side of the entrance. Keep looking,you’ll find them, but remember this is a secured bank building. They might take it the wrong way if they saw someone glaring in to find the framed signatures.
Also wanted to find the other former Concord theatre…..
If you mean the first location for the Cabarrus theatre then you weren’t too far away from it. The bricked up building across from the Concord Hotel is the theatre. To the right of it sits the Star Theatre which now houses the community planning offices for Concord.
I wasn’t doubting your hobby just posting an observaion.
Yep, I am UAGirl but due to me closing out my RR account (thank you creepy college “friend”) and forgetting my old password I was unable to continue to log in as that name. I’ve been with the theatre chain for 8 or so years and have been collecting local information for about 9 so you’re miles ahead of me.
Have you found any pictures of the black only theatre in the Concord/Kannapolis area? I have found one picture of a theatre that is now a funeral home and that’s it.
If you wouldn’t mind could you drop me a mail at ? Thanks! :)
After 9/11 First Charter made it into a pass key only building but before that I got to look around the building a good bit. For me the coolest artifact of the building is the movie theatre deed hanging in the entrance. I wish I could remember the names but I recall that there are some very well known names signed on it.
Across the street from the Cabarrus Theatre is the original site for the Cabarrus, but then it was called the Paramount. In fact you cannot even tell that the bicked over building contains a theatre until you walk around the back (towards the Police station) and see the booth projector’s smoking/exit door and stairwell. Over the years several restaurants have chipped away from the interior but there is still a great deal left to be restored. (hint hint)
The is yet another theatre located near the 1st Cabarrus Theatre site. I’ve looked through the papers and old phone books and believe that it was called the 3 Star Theatre. If you walk up to it you can still see the rings that supported the marquee. Further up you can see the angled projectionist’s windows. That way the outside light wouldn’t shine directly into the auditorium. This same building also has two huge front glass windows. You can’t miss them. If you look in you can see the original entrance to the box office.
Simma down… Have you actually seen this building? I live about a mile from it an it is physically impossible for it to be returned into a movie theatre. First Charter bank did an excellent job maintaining and restoring much of the interior.
Don’t worry downtown Concord will have a renivated theatre soon enough.
That’s were the she is/was located! :) I have trying like a madman to find out that theatre’s location. After watching that scene I kept thinking “That theatre had to have been abandoned/closed”. That scene was so brutal on the building. Well…if she had to go out why not in a movie.
Actually the Charlotte area theatre count sits at 12 with the semi-recent closings of the Delta 6, Movies at the Lake, and The Palace. I believe some of the theatres you are including are as far south as Rock Hill and as far north as Mooresville. None the less Charlotte remians saturated with screens. Can’t wait for the new AMC 14 plex to open up on WT Harris. oh jooooy!
The Consolidated Theatres Abortium 12, Phillips Place 10 and AMC Pavillion 22 are located on the other side of Charlotte. Interstate 485 wasn’t open yet so would have taken a great bit of time for someone in the university area to drive down to these theatres. There was a number of factors that darkened these screens. Whenever I originally posted this theatre I didn’t want to slam the former operators of these two theatres but here goes…
Town Cinema and University were poorly planned from the get go. As I previously mentioned they were built within a mile of each other. The plan was that Town would serve the students at UNCC and University would cater to Charlotte’s developing art house community. Infact, the “Screening Room” at University would bring in some really hard to rent prints that Atlanta didn’t even have! Be here’s why things went sour…
University was built in a extremely cramped shopping area. The parking is very limited and is located at the very busy and dangerous interestion of Hwy 29 and WT Harris Blvd. If one screen sold out then there really was no room for anyone to park. Another negative aspect to this theatre is that her box office tellers were on the ends of the concession island in the middle of the lobby. Fridays were horrible. Both sets of lines would merge into each other and it was hard to tell if you were in line for tickets or popcorn. This also made very easy to ahem skip. Given that the theatre had dual entries the theatre became the target of several robberies. As you all can guess robberies will quickly take away from a theatre’s reputation.
Town Cinema catered to the university crowd but then things turned for the worse. Carmike continually jacked up the prices to levels that the average on campus non working student would question. Seriously think about about it.. Tony could spend $6.00 on one ticket or get a rental for a few nights and maybe go down to the Taco H#ll down the street. To make things even worse they discontinued students prices whenever things started going down hill. The last nail in the coffin arrived in the summer of 1997. Eastern Federal Cinemas opened the Starlight 14 Cinemas a quick mile up Hwy 29. A year or so later AMC opened up a 24 screen demonplex in Mall of America’s Concord Mills.
As for renovations, the mere thought was laughable. My friend who co-managed BOTH theatres gave me a tour of the builds and folk is wasn’t pretty. These poor theatres were just a Carolina rain storm away from being a safety issue. Town Cinemas had mold, rats and roaches. University was infested wih roaches and had severe problems with her ceiling and HVAC.
Now let’s talk about the manager’s pay. Given the circumstances you would think that the manager might earn some form of check that could justify the fun times at the theatre. Oh my fellow cinephiles..not so. Carmike didn’t hold her managers in too high of a light. The highest that any GM was paid at University was around $275-$300 per week..before taxes. Even then that was horrible pay.
Whenever you add up low pay + long hours (managing two theatres at one time)+ poor attendance + no renovations you will get theatres that closely resimble Town Cinema 6 and University Cinemas.
I recently ..uumm..eplored the Capri and she’s in horrible shape. The roof of the lobby has a horrible leak in it and the floors are cracked. The auditoriums are a wreck. The inside poster frames still contained old boxing posters. If you go back into the woods you’ll find the remains of her trashed marquee.
BTW, she served as a used car lot between the time that she closed as a theatre and was converted into a boxing center.
I have oddles of exterior and interior photos available.
The Carolina Theatre in Charlotte,NC. Her lobby was raised by a failed attempt to put a mini mall in downtown. All that is left is the auditorium. If she were to rebuilt there isn’t nearly enough psrking in downtown to accomidate the crowd. There have been several successful fund raisers but no change in me lady. :(
I dig what you’re saying dwodeyla. Then again that car parked in front of the Fremont is perfect for that photo. Hands down that is my favorite print. Also,the detail on the top of the Vista is excellent.
I’ve got to agree with Patrick and Neo. The UA graffiti is vandalism but from the provided photos it adds a bit of life to the grand lady. Given the long history of abandonment I think that the window art at least gives some form of colorful beauty and life to the UA. After seeing her in person it was very obvious that the owner doesn’t care about the theatre. So why let her sit and rot while folks scream about how it is a travesty for the building to be in such a wreck? I think that it is high time that folks face the facts about this palace…she and many other buildings in downtown Detroit are in a state of congestive heart failure. Detroit had its boom a good while back and most of the city is in a state of physical decay. The financial means to bring her back up to health are far beyond what the local economy can handle. Even if: (a) the funds were available and (b) the public would agree on the budget there is a great chance that the building itself could withstand the restoration. It’s not a matter of what belief is correct but a matter of what process is functional for the city to carry on.
On a note… it’s funny that someone should say this:
“How sad to mark the demise of the UA theatre partially due to society’s permissiveness = a failure to stand up for right versus wrong, regardless of how ‘artistic’ it may be in the eyes of some.”
The permissiveness that allowed this palace to be painted is the same permissiveness that let such a beautiful theatre go to waste. If the owners fully believed that the theatre was such a vital asset then rather than passing her off from one owner to the next why did they not do their best to keep her running? Until her final days I think that the UA Detroit should be held for what she was and for not what she could be. The city is filled with the remnants of things that could have been.
As a note: I too have had my car and my theatre painted. The tagging of my car wasn’t too great but the over night mural that appeared on the side of my theatre was rather good. Two months later my company took notice and tagged the interior and exterior of the building with several coats of paint. Plus, they made massive repairs. Profits are up a grand bit and the community respects my theatre…again. In a time where functionality out weighs frivolousness many older/declining theatres will be place on a scale that will reveal sad results.
Charlotte,NC had a great little Latino cinema from 1999 until 2003(?)
but it just never really took off. I was such a blast to go there. I hope this on will stay open.
In mid 2002 the theatre woke up. REG began to massively renovate the entire theatre. Yet again the little boy was making appearances in booth and had ventured into the actual theatre. Two customers had reported seeing a boy running up the main aisle and vanishing as soon as he got near the exit door. My best projectionist , who was very unaware of our guest , would occasionally mention that she would see a kid playing around in Imagine her†joy†whenever I hinted about the story of the little boy. By this time I was the assistant GM and I developed a method to placing my film bookings. I would place my highest selling kiddie films in or right around that theatre. Things calmed down just a tad…at least in theatre 7.
That same year we installed video cameras in the building. The clientele was getting chancy and after 14 years it was very overdue. Once night my slacker projectionist
decided to leave the theatre a good hour before the last show let out…this was also inventory night. I had counted our concession stand several times but things were way off. I looked over to the security camera and I thought that I saw Travis standing concessions. I used the air phone to ask him to count the cups. The person in concessions
kind of looked up at the camera and then looked down at the ground. Once again I asked him to count the cups and once again he looked up at the camera and looked down. He then looked up at the camera.
Simply amazing… I am at lost for words. Great job, Ed.
dwodeyla
The day that they invent Sims Cinema will be the day that I quit my job. :) Ahh….to manage a theatre without the sour soda and rotten popcorn trash smell. ;)
UA, which took over in 2001 after Regal’s bankruptcy…
Although I too would love to think that UA took over Regal’s debt but alas that is not true. After acquiring United Artists Theaters in September 2000 and Regal Cinemas, Phillip Anschutz then purchased Edwards Cinemas. In late 2001 all UA theatres began to receive a memo concerning a merger and debt by-out of Regal, UA and Edwards. In the Spring of 2002 it was made offical.
Thus the sad tale of the multimedia merger…
Will,
You nailed it on the head! Here’s your star for the day. * :)
Have you folks checked out the shirts? Professional Movie Goer.. I kind of dig that title. :)
UPDATE: This past week the Belevedere Theatre was raided the and is now closed. So,yes, she is/was in a rather shady part of town.
I also found out that she was in the Eastern Federal theatre chain before her current owners took over.
BTW, there was story posted in my original entry concerning Ringo Starr showing up to the premiere of a movie that he was in purely because the Belvedere Theatre was the only theatre in GA that agreed to screen it.
Charles, you are correct.
Patsy it would be very hard to get in there. Like I said several posts up I was very lucky to get in there before 9/11.
BTW, am I missing something in your post? All I am seeing are quotes that I wrote several days ago.
Charles,
You’re like 85% correct. :) There are several other ghost theatres that hung around for a few years in the buildings that used to be theatres. Then there were a few fly by nighters that took residence.Concord also had several negros-only theatres. I’m typing it up as a word document. If you’d like a copy give me a e-mail. It’s rather large.
One note, the Newton-Conover theatre is located and hour north of the Newtowne 1 & 2 in Conover,NC. That’s like two and half hours away from Concord,NC.
Here is a link for my girl the UA/REG Carolina Mall Cinemas 8 . AMC Concord Mills 24 is located in Charlotte,NC.
Patsy
Yeah, it will always be “locked” because after 9/11 First Charter made that operations center employee pass only. It’s not open to the public. The auditorium was divided into two floors. Luckily they save the old style balcony steps as a way to access the top floor. The signatures are located in the second set of doors on the right side of the entrance. Keep looking,you’ll find them, but remember this is a secured bank building. They might take it the wrong way if they saw someone glaring in to find the framed signatures.
Also wanted to find the other former Concord theatre…..
If you mean the first location for the Cabarrus theatre then you weren’t too far away from it. The bricked up building across from the Concord Hotel is the theatre. To the right of it sits the Star Theatre which now houses the community planning offices for Concord.
Charles
I wasn’t doubting your hobby just posting an observaion.
Yep, I am UAGirl but due to me closing out my RR account (thank you creepy college “friend”) and forgetting my old password I was unable to continue to log in as that name. I’ve been with the theatre chain for 8 or so years and have been collecting local information for about 9 so you’re miles ahead of me.
Have you found any pictures of the black only theatre in the Concord/Kannapolis area? I have found one picture of a theatre that is now a funeral home and that’s it.
If you wouldn’t mind could you drop me a mail at ? Thanks! :)
I believe that Charles in the St. Louis area. Traditionally he tends to be the “what’s that addy for that theatre” guy on this website.
Charles,
Just wondering…what year are you referencing? The numbers on Union Street have changed several times.
After 9/11 First Charter made it into a pass key only building but before that I got to look around the building a good bit. For me the coolest artifact of the building is the movie theatre deed hanging in the entrance. I wish I could remember the names but I recall that there are some very well known names signed on it.
Across the street from the Cabarrus Theatre is the original site for the Cabarrus, but then it was called the Paramount. In fact you cannot even tell that the bicked over building contains a theatre until you walk around the back (towards the Police station) and see the booth projector’s smoking/exit door and stairwell. Over the years several restaurants have chipped away from the interior but there is still a great deal left to be restored. (hint hint)
The is yet another theatre located near the 1st Cabarrus Theatre site. I’ve looked through the papers and old phone books and believe that it was called the 3 Star Theatre. If you walk up to it you can still see the rings that supported the marquee. Further up you can see the angled projectionist’s windows. That way the outside light wouldn’t shine directly into the auditorium. This same building also has two huge front glass windows. You can’t miss them. If you look in you can see the original entrance to the box office.
Pasty
Simma down… Have you actually seen this building? I live about a mile from it an it is physically impossible for it to be returned into a movie theatre. First Charter bank did an excellent job maintaining and restoring much of the interior.
Don’t worry downtown Concord will have a renivated theatre soon enough.
That’s were the she is/was located! :) I have trying like a madman to find out that theatre’s location. After watching that scene I kept thinking “That theatre had to have been abandoned/closed”. That scene was so brutal on the building. Well…if she had to go out why not in a movie.
Actually the Charlotte area theatre count sits at 12 with the semi-recent closings of the Delta 6, Movies at the Lake, and The Palace. I believe some of the theatres you are including are as far south as Rock Hill and as far north as Mooresville. None the less Charlotte remians saturated with screens. Can’t wait for the new AMC 14 plex to open up on WT Harris. oh jooooy!
Charles,
The Consolidated Theatres Abortium 12, Phillips Place 10 and AMC Pavillion 22 are located on the other side of Charlotte. Interstate 485 wasn’t open yet so would have taken a great bit of time for someone in the university area to drive down to these theatres. There was a number of factors that darkened these screens. Whenever I originally posted this theatre I didn’t want to slam the former operators of these two theatres but here goes…
Town Cinema and University were poorly planned from the get go. As I previously mentioned they were built within a mile of each other. The plan was that Town would serve the students at UNCC and University would cater to Charlotte’s developing art house community. Infact, the “Screening Room” at University would bring in some really hard to rent prints that Atlanta didn’t even have! Be here’s why things went sour…
University was built in a extremely cramped shopping area. The parking is very limited and is located at the very busy and dangerous interestion of Hwy 29 and WT Harris Blvd. If one screen sold out then there really was no room for anyone to park. Another negative aspect to this theatre is that her box office tellers were on the ends of the concession island in the middle of the lobby. Fridays were horrible. Both sets of lines would merge into each other and it was hard to tell if you were in line for tickets or popcorn. This also made very easy to ahem skip. Given that the theatre had dual entries the theatre became the target of several robberies. As you all can guess robberies will quickly take away from a theatre’s reputation.
Town Cinema catered to the university crowd but then things turned for the worse. Carmike continually jacked up the prices to levels that the average on campus non working student would question. Seriously think about about it.. Tony could spend $6.00 on one ticket or get a rental for a few nights and maybe go down to the Taco H#ll down the street. To make things even worse they discontinued students prices whenever things started going down hill. The last nail in the coffin arrived in the summer of 1997. Eastern Federal Cinemas opened the Starlight 14 Cinemas a quick mile up Hwy 29. A year or so later AMC opened up a 24 screen demonplex in Mall of America’s Concord Mills.
As for renovations, the mere thought was laughable. My friend who co-managed BOTH theatres gave me a tour of the builds and folk is wasn’t pretty. These poor theatres were just a Carolina rain storm away from being a safety issue. Town Cinemas had mold, rats and roaches. University was infested wih roaches and had severe problems with her ceiling and HVAC.
Now let’s talk about the manager’s pay. Given the circumstances you would think that the manager might earn some form of check that could justify the fun times at the theatre. Oh my fellow cinephiles..not so. Carmike didn’t hold her managers in too high of a light. The highest that any GM was paid at University was around $275-$300 per week..before taxes. Even then that was horrible pay.
Whenever you add up low pay + long hours (managing two theatres at one time)+ poor attendance + no renovations you will get theatres that closely resimble Town Cinema 6 and University Cinemas.
That my friends is what killed the sisters.
I recently ..uumm..eplored the Capri and she’s in horrible shape. The roof of the lobby has a horrible leak in it and the floors are cracked. The auditoriums are a wreck. The inside poster frames still contained old boxing posters. If you go back into the woods you’ll find the remains of her trashed marquee.
BTW, she served as a used car lot between the time that she closed as a theatre and was converted into a boxing center.
I have oddles of exterior and interior photos available.
The Carolina Theatre in Charlotte,NC. Her lobby was raised by a failed attempt to put a mini mall in downtown. All that is left is the auditorium. If she were to rebuilt there isn’t nearly enough psrking in downtown to accomidate the crowd. There have been several successful fund raisers but no change in me lady. :(
Ordered a few for Christmas gifts. :)
I dig what you’re saying dwodeyla. Then again that car parked in front of the Fremont is perfect for that photo. Hands down that is my favorite print. Also,the detail on the top of the Vista is excellent.
DetroitYes.com come has demolition pictures posted on the front page.
http://www.detroityes.com/
shakes head
I hope that REG will be able to incorporate some of the stone work into the new building. This story is becoming far too common. :(
I’ve got to agree with Patrick and Neo. The UA graffiti is vandalism but from the provided photos it adds a bit of life to the grand lady. Given the long history of abandonment I think that the window art at least gives some form of colorful beauty and life to the UA. After seeing her in person it was very obvious that the owner doesn’t care about the theatre. So why let her sit and rot while folks scream about how it is a travesty for the building to be in such a wreck? I think that it is high time that folks face the facts about this palace…she and many other buildings in downtown Detroit are in a state of congestive heart failure. Detroit had its boom a good while back and most of the city is in a state of physical decay. The financial means to bring her back up to health are far beyond what the local economy can handle. Even if: (a) the funds were available and (b) the public would agree on the budget there is a great chance that the building itself could withstand the restoration. It’s not a matter of what belief is correct but a matter of what process is functional for the city to carry on.
On a note… it’s funny that someone should say this:
“How sad to mark the demise of the UA theatre partially due to society’s permissiveness = a failure to stand up for right versus wrong, regardless of how ‘artistic’ it may be in the eyes of some.”
The permissiveness that allowed this palace to be painted is the same permissiveness that let such a beautiful theatre go to waste. If the owners fully believed that the theatre was such a vital asset then rather than passing her off from one owner to the next why did they not do their best to keep her running? Until her final days I think that the UA Detroit should be held for what she was and for not what she could be. The city is filled with the remnants of things that could have been.
As a note: I too have had my car and my theatre painted. The tagging of my car wasn’t too great but the over night mural that appeared on the side of my theatre was rather good. Two months later my company took notice and tagged the interior and exterior of the building with several coats of paint. Plus, they made massive repairs. Profits are up a grand bit and the community respects my theatre…again. In a time where functionality out weighs frivolousness many older/declining theatres will be place on a scale that will reveal sad results.
Charlotte,NC had a great little Latino cinema from 1999 until 2003(?)
but it just never really took off. I was such a blast to go there. I hope this on will stay open.
Part 2 :
In mid 2002 the theatre woke up. REG began to massively renovate the entire theatre. Yet again the little boy was making appearances in booth and had ventured into the actual theatre. Two customers had reported seeing a boy running up the main aisle and vanishing as soon as he got near the exit door. My best projectionist , who was very unaware of our guest , would occasionally mention that she would see a kid playing around in Imagine her†joy†whenever I hinted about the story of the little boy. By this time I was the assistant GM and I developed a method to placing my film bookings. I would place my highest selling kiddie films in or right around that theatre. Things calmed down just a tad…at least in theatre 7.
That same year we installed video cameras in the building. The clientele was getting chancy and after 14 years it was very overdue. Once night my slacker projectionist
decided to leave the theatre a good hour before the last show let out…this was also inventory night. I had counted our concession stand several times but things were way off. I looked over to the security camera and I thought that I saw Travis standing concessions. I used the air phone to ask him to count the cups. The person in concessions
kind of looked up at the camera and then looked down at the ground. Once again I asked him to count the cups and once again he looked up at the camera and looked down. He then looked up at the camera.
About this time Travis calls to ask me to let him in the building because he forgot his school books. I looked at the camera, saw the person in concessions, ask Travis where he was at and once he told me that he was outside the building I when absolutely white.
I looked back to the security camera and in yet another clichéd moment he was gone.
“It was a customer…†you might say but ponder this fact: there were no patrons in the theatre that night. After we merged with Regal Cinemas all films had to be started regardless if it sold. (This policy has changed since then.) The next day I informed my GM of what happened and described the person that I saw in concessions. His response…â€Oh that was Rocky.†Needless to say I never closed the theatre by myself again.