Mann Southtown Theatre
7770 Penn Avenue S,
Minneapolis,
MN
55423
7770 Penn Avenue S,
Minneapolis,
MN
55423
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 63 of 63 comments
Lots of memories here. First movie I saw at Southtown as a young child was “The Poseidon Adventure”….then we went to Montgomery Ward’s for glazed doughnuts and warm spanish peanuts at the candy counter. I must have sat through 25 showings each of “Grease”, “Rocky” and “Superman” at the Southtown theatre as well. My candy obsessed friend would buy giant SweetTarts at the snack bar and lick them until her tongue was bleeding. I miss the old Bloomington. Southtown was a particulary plush theatre with beautiful bathrooms and a HUGE single screen.
“Southtown did have 70 mm.”
I wasn’t questioning the theatre’s 70mm presentation capability; I was questioning the person’s claim of seeing “Soylent Green” in 70mm. (I’m not aware of any 70s having been struck for that title. For that matter, I’m not aware of it even being mixed in stereo.)
Big Red, email those pics to and I will be eternally grateful!
Southtown did have 70 mm.Only one theater could run 70 mm it was the south theater or the one closest to the entrance. When it opened it had 3 projectors for the new format cinescope but was never used. When the theater was split a second projector was used for the second theater and the third was later transfered out. The last films run in 70 at Southtown were Gettsbury and Remains Of The Day.
There are to many pics to post but if you give me an email I’ll send them to you.
Oh my God-I spent my whole childhood at that theatre! We moved to Bloomington in 1963 when I was a kid and I swear, if I close my eyes, I can still see that patch of land with the ‘for sale’ sign on it that eventually became the Mann Theatre. I saw eveything there from ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Help’, ‘Tommy’, ‘the Sound of Music’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Grease’ and so many, many more. Just looking at that massive marquee was magical! I later moved away and didn’t move back to Minneapolis until 1998 and was brokenhearted when I went past Southtown and saw my theatre gone! Awesome memories! I remember that sometimes they use to have spotlights in front and to a kid—well, Hollywood had come to us!!
“Saw Solyent Green there in 70mm.”
Are you sure you’re not confusing widescreen “scope” with “70mm”?
“Also, Star Wars…”
“Star Wars” opened in Minneapolis at the St. Louis Park. It later expanded to the Southdale and Northtown, both similar-sounding in name to the subject of this thread, the Southtown. (Both “Empire” and “Jedi” opened at the Southtown.)
By the way, the Southtown Theater is actually located in Bloomington, not Minneapolis proper.
Big Red, I would kill to see those pics. Any chance of posting them?
I have to correct some information given. Mann/General Cinema Southtown never had an outside boxoffice. It opened with 1250 seats and after it was split the theaters had 540 each. The screen was 80 ft. wide by 22 ft. high when it opened. It opened on Aug. 7,1964 as a single screen and Good Neighbor Sam was the movie. It closed on Sept. 17, 1995 as a twin with the movies Dangerous Minds and Brothers Mc Mullan. General Cinema bought it from Mann in 1970.
General Cinema kept about 500 or so of the seats for a feature cinema. They hired a local copmpany to remove and store the seats along with seats they weren’t keeping. Some employees also kept some seats.
I also have some pics but some are not good quality but most are.
ANYONE?
Images anyone? That would be sweet…
I always have fond memories of this place; it signaled to me, coming from rural Western Minnesota, that I had arrived to the ‘Twin Cities’. (Coming in on ‘494’)
My cousin, who lived in Richfield, said it was the only Theater her husband would go to; it did have Rocker Seats that were made of metal,unlike the plastic of today!!
Where did they go??????
Plus, unlike the Plexes of now, it had Curtains; must have been thousands of pounds of them!! They alternated maroon, red, and other colors. And the Screen was huge…….Saw Solyent Green there in 70mm………..
Also, Star Wars,; I recall the Marquee which wrapped around the building, had all the lights going, and the reviewer from the small local rag, said we would all be enveloped in Star Wars merchandise; dolls, etc.
Well, he was right, and I remember when the screen opened, everyone in the theater cheered and clapped…..
What a Great Time!!
I actually know who drew the design for this theater- my now-deceased uncle, Daniel Ploetz.
He was not the architect- he wasn’t registered as an architect ever- but he did do the design for this theater. I don’t happen to know which firm he worked for at the time.
Let me know if you want more info. My email is: