The school bus garage located at 450 Wilmington Highway was apparently built on the site of a drive-in theater, the name and dates of operation for which I do not know. The shape of the lot in aerial views strongly suggest that the site was once a drive-in. Judging from the garage buildings presently on the site (one at the entrance and the main garage in the center of the lot), the drive-in theater at 450 Wilmington Highway was demolished circa 1968-1970. The South 17 Twin may have run the 450 Wilmington Hwy. drive-in out of business and forced the Starlite to run porn movies; the South 17 ran mostly standard drive-in fare (B movies, horror films, second-run features).
The Starlite Drive-In operated until either 1979 or 1980; it closed about the same time as the South 17 Twin Drive-In but was demolished a few years after the South 17 became a mobile home park.
Theater name should be Chalet Triple with AKAs of Chalet Twin and Chalet Theater. Schneider-Merl sold out to Martin Theatres in 1976, so the Chalet Theater most likely opened in the early 1970s. The Chalet Triple was most likely closed in the mid-to-late 1990s as a result of competition from Litchfield’s New Market 7 (now Regal Boone Cinema 7) which opened in 1990. The Appalachian Twin was Carmike’s last theater in Boone; it survived because it was a discount cinema in a college town.
Approximate address of the Starlite Drive-In was 1690 Wilmington Highway. After demolition the property was used as a mobile home sales lot and is currently a sales lot for tool sheds.
The Center Theatre looks like it was built mid-to-late 1950s, a few years after the Iwo Jima; from aerial views it resembles a backwards version of Fayetteville’s Bragg Theatre. The Center was Jacksonville’s first suburban indoor cinema, followed by both the Cardinal and Northwoods theaters in 1969.
The town of Fuquay (Springs?) merged with the adjoining town of Varina over fifty years ago and is now Fuquay-Varina. Fuquay-Varina and its predecessor towns were/are in the southern tip of Wake County where US 401 South (Main Street in F-V) intersects with NC Highway 42. The closest operating cinemas to Fuquay-Varina are two Regal multiplexes: the White Oak Stadium 14 in Garner and the Beaver Creek Cinemas in Apex. The Fuquay-Varina area is rapidly growing and may eventually get its own multiplex, possibly before the eastern Wake County towns of Wendell, Zebulon (which aren’t growing fast enough to warrant a multiplex) or Knightdale (which was promised a multiplex years ago but it never materialized).
This theater is only open to members of the military (and possibly their families). The Carmike multiplexes in Jacksonville (Carmike 16 and Patriot 12) are the only area cinemas open to the general public.
Another nightclub, the Platinum Club, has been operating in the former Paramount Theatre since the start of 2014; may have taken over the previous club (Paramount City Lounge) before then.
Under Martin Theatres the balcony of the Park Theatre was closed and padlocked. The only reason to go upstairs was to access the theater’s only restrooms, which had windows overlooking the marquee.
The former Carolina East 4 Cinema may not be around much longer. The owners of Carolina East Center have given notice of eviction to all remaining tenants of the center, as the entire property will be demolished. Presently only a tattoo parlor and a laundromat, the last remaining tenants in the Carolina East Center, have not found new locations; all other tenants have made arrangements to relocate. The Carolina East 4 Cinema has been vacant since 2001 and no attempt was ever made to fill it since closing. The site is reportedly being cleared for a Hobby Lobby store.
This theater looks like it was built in the early-to-mid 1970s as either a twin or triple cinema; a 1998-built mainstream cinema would have at least six screens and stadium seating in some of the auditoriums.
Regal Cinemas ran this theater as the Regal Cinema 7; they dropped this theater around 2001. This theater was reopened by an independent as the Sedgefield Crossing $2 Cinemas in 2002 as mentioned above in the introduction.
Was this theater intended to be a Consolidated theater, but opened after Regal’s buyout of Consolidated? It has the two-tower entrance design typical of Consolidated’s most recent theatres.
The road running between Burger King and Pitt Community College was named Tice Road after the drive-in theater formerly located on the Burger King/shopping center site.
This theater was gone by 1990. Carmike’s operating theaters in Winston-Salem in September 1990 were as follows: Marketplace 6, Thruway Twin, Reynolda Triple, University Twin (discount), and Parkview Twin (discount). The Parkway did not appear in the newspaper listings at that time; it was probably closed long before Carmike took over the Cineplex Odeon houses (Marketplace and Thruway).
The fifth and sixth screens of this cinema were added sometime after “Showgirls” played here in 1995; at the time “Showgirls” ran here it was known as the UA Cinema 4. The final name of this cinema was UA Cinema 6, as Regal did/does not use its own name simultaneously with the United Artists brand on any of its cinemas (unlike AMC and its former Loews locations – now AMC Loews).
Not very likely that Vernon Park Mall will go high-end; all of Kinston’s upscale retail is downtown on the west side of Queen Street (the Paramount Theatre is apparently on the wrong [east] side of Queen Street). A reuse of the Mall Cinema is even more unlikely; there are plenty of empty cinemas laying around Eastern North Carolina and three vacant cinemas in Kinston alone (Mall Cinema, Park Theatre and Paramount Theatre). None of them will likely ever be used as theaters (live or film) again; the Mall Cinema seems to be too far gone for conversion to retail/office space. Redevelopment would most likely push retail space closer to Vernon Avenue with the cinema and plaza being demolished and replaced with office buildings (or sold separately from the main mall).
The school bus garage located at 450 Wilmington Highway was apparently built on the site of a drive-in theater, the name and dates of operation for which I do not know. The shape of the lot in aerial views strongly suggest that the site was once a drive-in. Judging from the garage buildings presently on the site (one at the entrance and the main garage in the center of the lot), the drive-in theater at 450 Wilmington Highway was demolished circa 1968-1970. The South 17 Twin may have run the 450 Wilmington Hwy. drive-in out of business and forced the Starlite to run porn movies; the South 17 ran mostly standard drive-in fare (B movies, horror films, second-run features).
The Starlite Drive-In operated until either 1979 or 1980; it closed about the same time as the South 17 Twin Drive-In but was demolished a few years after the South 17 became a mobile home park.
Theater name should be Chalet Triple with AKAs of Chalet Twin and Chalet Theater. Schneider-Merl sold out to Martin Theatres in 1976, so the Chalet Theater most likely opened in the early 1970s. The Chalet Triple was most likely closed in the mid-to-late 1990s as a result of competition from Litchfield’s New Market 7 (now Regal Boone Cinema 7) which opened in 1990. The Appalachian Twin was Carmike’s last theater in Boone; it survived because it was a discount cinema in a college town.
Approximate address of the Starlite Drive-In was 1690 Wilmington Highway. After demolition the property was used as a mobile home sales lot and is currently a sales lot for tool sheds.
This is another dead Carmike, gone for over a year now. Status should be Closed.
The Center Theatre looks like it was built mid-to-late 1950s, a few years after the Iwo Jima; from aerial views it resembles a backwards version of Fayetteville’s Bragg Theatre. The Center was Jacksonville’s first suburban indoor cinema, followed by both the Cardinal and Northwoods theaters in 1969.
A Dollar General now stands on the site of the Morehead Plaza Cinema/Carmike Cinema 3.
This theater is now known as Regal Beaver Creek Stadium 12 according to the Regal website.
The town of Fuquay (Springs?) merged with the adjoining town of Varina over fifty years ago and is now Fuquay-Varina. Fuquay-Varina and its predecessor towns were/are in the southern tip of Wake County where US 401 South (Main Street in F-V) intersects with NC Highway 42. The closest operating cinemas to Fuquay-Varina are two Regal multiplexes: the White Oak Stadium 14 in Garner and the Beaver Creek Cinemas in Apex. The Fuquay-Varina area is rapidly growing and may eventually get its own multiplex, possibly before the eastern Wake County towns of Wendell, Zebulon (which aren’t growing fast enough to warrant a multiplex) or Knightdale (which was promised a multiplex years ago but it never materialized).
This theater is only open to members of the military (and possibly their families). The Carmike multiplexes in Jacksonville (Carmike 16 and Patriot 12) are the only area cinemas open to the general public.
The former Highway 264 Playhouse/Silver Bullet/South 13 Saloon has reverted to operating as a gentlemen’s club, the South 13 Gentlemen’s Club.
Another nightclub, the Platinum Club, has been operating in the former Paramount Theatre since the start of 2014; may have taken over the previous club (Paramount City Lounge) before then.
Under Martin Theatres the balcony of the Park Theatre was closed and padlocked. The only reason to go upstairs was to access the theater’s only restrooms, which had windows overlooking the marquee.
The former Carolina East 4 Cinema may not be around much longer. The owners of Carolina East Center have given notice of eviction to all remaining tenants of the center, as the entire property will be demolished. Presently only a tattoo parlor and a laundromat, the last remaining tenants in the Carolina East Center, have not found new locations; all other tenants have made arrangements to relocate. The Carolina East 4 Cinema has been vacant since 2001 and no attempt was ever made to fill it since closing. The site is reportedly being cleared for a Hobby Lobby store.
This theater looks like it was built in the early-to-mid 1970s as either a twin or triple cinema; a 1998-built mainstream cinema would have at least six screens and stadium seating in some of the auditoriums.
Regal Cinemas ran this theater as the Regal Cinema 7; they dropped this theater around 2001. This theater was reopened by an independent as the Sedgefield Crossing $2 Cinemas in 2002 as mentioned above in the introduction.
The name of this theater in the 1989-90 ads was “High Point Road Cinema”, which was most likely the final name of this theater.
Was this theater intended to be a Consolidated theater, but opened after Regal’s buyout of Consolidated? It has the two-tower entrance design typical of Consolidated’s most recent theatres.
The road running between Burger King and Pitt Community College was named Tice Road after the drive-in theater formerly located on the Burger King/shopping center site.
This theater was gone by 1990. Carmike’s operating theaters in Winston-Salem in September 1990 were as follows: Marketplace 6, Thruway Twin, Reynolda Triple, University Twin (discount), and Parkview Twin (discount). The Parkway did not appear in the newspaper listings at that time; it was probably closed long before Carmike took over the Cineplex Odeon houses (Marketplace and Thruway).
This is now the Ahoskie Cinema 4.
The fifth and sixth screens of this cinema were added sometime after “Showgirls” played here in 1995; at the time “Showgirls” ran here it was known as the UA Cinema 4. The final name of this cinema was UA Cinema 6, as Regal did/does not use its own name simultaneously with the United Artists brand on any of its cinemas (unlike AMC and its former Loews locations – now AMC Loews).
Goldsboro now has only one cinema open to civilians, the UEC Premiere Theatres 12. There may be a military cinema on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
This theater was also known as the Paramount Twin (after Martin Theatres twinned it), reverting to Paramount Theatre when it reopened as a live venue.
Not very likely that Vernon Park Mall will go high-end; all of Kinston’s upscale retail is downtown on the west side of Queen Street (the Paramount Theatre is apparently on the wrong [east] side of Queen Street). A reuse of the Mall Cinema is even more unlikely; there are plenty of empty cinemas laying around Eastern North Carolina and three vacant cinemas in Kinston alone (Mall Cinema, Park Theatre and Paramount Theatre). None of them will likely ever be used as theaters (live or film) again; the Mall Cinema seems to be too far gone for conversion to retail/office space. Redevelopment would most likely push retail space closer to Vernon Avenue with the cinema and plaza being demolished and replaced with office buildings (or sold separately from the main mall).