Cooper Theatre

I worked there for a few years in the 80’s. As BCV commented on, the smaller box-like theater was called the Cameo. You can imagine the dissapointment from moviegoers when a movie like “Glory” was being shown on both screens and they arrived, bought tickets, and were directed towards the Cameo instead of the big screen…ouch! I went there a few months after it closed and the SLP police had been using the Cooper Theater for training grounds. There were bullet holes everywhere, how depressing. Anyone remember the premieres we had? I once sold popcorn to Kirk Douglas at one of these.

The Cooper Theatre was truly an amazing place in which to EXPERIENCE films. I was also there the night of the last showing… and offer a minor correction to one of the comments above. While it is true that “Dances With Wolves” was shown on the main screen on the final night, that was technically not the last film to screen at the Cooper. The Cooper actually had two theaters; the main, giant, curved screen AND a little shoebox-style, standard, flat screen in the theater out back. (This was in the days when multi-plex meant TWO screens.) On closing night, I attended the late showing of “The Godfather – Part III”, which was actually the last screening at the Cooper Theatre before it was dismantled and demolished.

I had already seen DWW at the Cooper, probably earlier that week. I remember that a group of college friends and I ended up in the very front row because that was the only large group of seats left where we could sit together. With the curved screen, it completely filled your field of vision! And when you read the subtitles in DWW, you had to rotate your head back and forth like you were watching a tennis match. This is not a complaint, by the way, just another great memory of one of my experiences at the Cooper.

On that last night, since I had already seen DWW, I decided to see Godfather III. Probably a poor choice on my part considering it was on the small screen. While DWW is 180 minutes long and Godfather III was only 162 minutes (imdb rocks), the minor theater got the later start time. So, when we exited the theater, the DWW crowd had already left the building. In fact, there was a crew of people already dismantling the theater fixtures. A group of people were trying to get a court order to keep the owners from destroying this landmark, so the owners wanted to get as much dismantled as possible before any court ruling took place.

Fixtures in the lobby were already removed and being loaded on a waiting semi-truck rumbling outside the main entrance. I remember wandering about on the sidewalk, disgusted at the speed with which they were destroying the place. I even recall that they already had the projector from the main theater on a dolly and were trying to load it on the truck. The crowd in the back theater was fairly small and some of us stood around discussing the obvious finality of the process.

I do have some pictures of the Cooper Theatre. Unfortunately, I think they are all exteriors after the closing and through the demolition process. I also managed to acquire a few bricks from the pile of ruble that the Cooper ended up as.

And a final note: The Cooper property was sold to an office supply chain and their big box store closed after only a few years in business (even though it is fairly close to a vast number of office towers). I doubt that my personal boycott of that store was responsible for its demise, but I like to think that maybe the ghost from the Cooper is still holding his ground. If the contracting company now on the site goes bankrupt, we can all believe in the Ghost of the Cooper.

My memories for the Cooper pull my heartstrings more than any tearjerker projected onto its screens ever could. Hopefully they’ll somehow manage to save the Terrace. I hate seeing these cinemas of a bygone era demolished to put in a Starbuck’s, or some other modern disaster.

Anyone with any pictures and/or memories to share regarding the Terrace, the Cooper or any other great old theater in the Minneapolis area email me at We can keep the memories alive, even if we lost the theatres!

Wasn’t the largest screen in the Upper Mid-West the one at the France Ave. Drive-In?

I found somewhere else that the Cooper screen was 105 feet along the curve. Having seen a Super Panavision presentation of 2001 in the 1970’s, does anyone know what the actual presentation size of the movie was? It was a single projector presentation, ? Todd-AO projector. Just wondering if it was larger than anything the Mann Southtown presented when it was single screen; which at about the same time advertised itself as the largest screen in the upper midwest. maybe taller. thanks

To everyone who has posted a comment on this page:
I’m currently making a documentary about historic movie theatres and the people who save them from demolition (or in some cases, like the Cooper don’t succeed). Part of my documentary includes an interview with Richard Crowther, archetect of the Cooper design. I’m coming to Minneapolis to film for a weekend in June and would love to interview people who have fond memories of the Cooper. If you would like to be interviewed or need more information, please email me at:
I’d also love to see some pics of the construction of the Cooper theatre too.
Thanks!
Jim Fields
Writer/Director/Producer, “Preserve Me a Seat”

If ANYONE has pictures of the inside of the Cooper (or the outside, for that matter) that do not look like the ones above, PLEASE let me know at I am DAMN interested in anything Cooper related.

I was in high school when my friend and I went to the Cooper Theatre. I remember seeing “Metropolis” and most of Woody Allen’s movies there. My favorite was “Radio Days.” I then moved to NYC to go to grad school and work from 1988-1997.

The Cooper Theatre like the Minnesota Twins/North Stars, The Heights/Apache Theatres, my family and friends holds a special place in my heart. I have nothing but great memories of that place. Sorry to see it go and that future generations are not able to enjoy it. In Greece they still have the Acropolis and we demolish buidlings that are younger than our grandparents.

If anyone has any postcards or photos, memorabilia of the Cooper Theatre, I would love to have anything from there. Thanks for taking the time to read this and to anyone who responds.

I saw the restored version of Lawrence of Arabia here right before it closed. I also saw many other films. I was sorry to see it go. It was supposed to be haunted by a workman who died while they were building it.

I was here at the very last screening – DANCES WITH WOLVES. I was very sad to see it go. This theater is partially responsible for my love of movies that eventually got me into the business.