I was five when “Star Wars” was released-I lived in Middletown, N.Y.,about fifty miles from Manhattan. The closest place showing “Star Wars” to us was The Monticello Twin Cinema in the catskills, about thirty minutes away. This was around July of 1977. A few Drive-Ins showed it later on, and it never really got a wide release in the Middletown area till July of 1978! I remember the Monticello theater showing it every hour on their two screens. Not unusual now, but it was back then. I more remember seeing “The Empire Strikes Back” because I was eight. We went to the Dtive-In-the second feature was that Dom Deluise film-“Fatso”– my Aunt got grossed out and we bolted! I wish I was living in California and older when it first opened at the Chinese Theatre. Must have been awesome!
Were they affiliated with Waldbaums? I have a White department Store Circular- they are on the back page. There was one at the Monticello N.Y. shopping center which housed a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema.
goldthorpe- your talking about White Department Stores-didn’t last long. Opened around 1970 and went under in 1974. They were affiliated with Waldbaums.
A great book has been published on all of Baltimores theaters, called “Motion Picture Exhibition In Baltimore” by Robert K. Headley. Borders has it. There is a great shot of the Cluster here. It’s unbelievable how many theaters Baltimore had at one time-and look at it now. The Apex must be one of the last porn theaters in the country.It doesn’t advertise in City Paper any longer-wonder if it’s closed.
I spent the night at this theater as an extra during the filming of “The Replacement Killers” back in 1997. I took a stroll and got to check out all the old theaters downtown while nobody was on the streets. A great night.
Yeah, it’s an oldie-chopped in half than chopped again- once part of a theater chain called “Cinecom” in the late sixties/early seventies. They also ran the Chester Quickway and the Squire in New Windsor. They used to show alot of foreign and independent films in the late seventies/early eighties-guess to attract the college crowd. Used to drive up from Middletown-they’d get alot of Woody Allen films and indies like “Smoke”, “Damage” and “Erotique” In the early eighties they played “Repo Man”, “Metropolis” and alot of other cool stuff.
This theater did open as a Music Makers Theater- in spring of 1976. It always had four screens. I don’t know how well it did, but from ads I have of the theater in the early eighties, they were showing half first run and half second run films. Loews did take it over.I hope the new venture is a success.
Wow, how lazy is America getting? I can see people leaving work, stopping for their bag of grease and plopping down on the couch for a movie. How many couples have met at Movie Theaters? So much for destiny.
Yes, I heard rumors for years that they wanted to put a theater somewhere in Matamoras near Wal-Mart and KMart-in one of those shopping centers. Then something about the strip mall in P.J. that housed Great American and KMart. It really sucks now with the Tri-States theater gone, you have to drive to the Galleria in Middletown to see a movie. I don’t know if the Milford theater is still open or not-usually opens in the summer. I heard from friends that the best theater in this area was Cinema 23 in Montague.
This is a great theater. I visited it several times while on business in the area. I remember seeing “Strictly Ballroom” here in ‘93. The place was packed and everyone was dressed really nice.Then again, People in Missouri seem to be more friendly and respectable anyway. One of the nicer states I’ve visited. I remember everyone applauding at the end of the film and the staff was very nice and proffessional. There was another theater nearby-The Kirkwood Cinema-had a good experience here also but it was a bit cramped.
The State theater closed in 1984. They showed mostly porn movies from the late seventies on. If anyone who lived in Port Jervis in the early eighties-they will remember the occasional rock concert here. They world-premired a Beatles film here-can’t remember which one.
The Liberty Tri-Cinema was never a “Twin” it went from a single screen to three in November of 1975 with “Hearts Of The West”, “Benji” and “Earthquake.” It is closed.
One of many theaters killed by the Poughkeepsie Galleria complex including the Imperial, and Juliet. There’s a multiplex at this mall now, in another location. The original four-plex opened with the mall in summer of ‘74.
The Imperial closed around 1987 when the Poughkeepsie Galleria opened an 8 screen theater and of course South Hills Mall had 8 as well. The Imperial was showing first run movies in ‘87. I have an old copy of the Newburgh Evening News from 2/6/87- they had “From The Hip” and “Crimes Of The Heart”.
To Robert R. from 10/17/05: The Mid-Valley Twin was a seperate theater located in the Mid-Valley Mall accross town. It opened in 1967, twined in 1979 and closed in 1986, when United Artists built a multiplex, now known as “Showtime Cinemas”.
The last film shown here was “Semi-Tough” with Burt Reynolds in April of ‘78. I believe the theater was in really bad shape. A portion of the balcony had fallen one night? It did everything to survive in the 70’s-showed Blaxploitation, X-Rated films, karate flicks and mainstream movies. ABC Theaters operated this along with the Orange Plaza Mall Theater.The opening of this theater and the Orange Plaza Mall had a horrible effect on the downtown area.Think the Paramount lost their parking area to a bank at one time. Glad to see it’s still going strong.
This is the rare cinema treasure. In addition to showing old films, they show original trailers for upcoming films. Loved going here in “95-‘97 when I was in College. My favorites were "Shaft”/“Shaft’s Big Score” and “The Exorcist” and “The Shining.” love their bi- monthly scedule advertisements.
Great pics hollywood 90038. Brought back memories. I lived off of La Brea near the theater in ‘95-'97 while attending Columbia College Film School, which used to be at 926 La Brea. Saw many great films here. Continued to attend when I moved to Burbank in “98, but left California in "01. The audience applauded several times during "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and it was fun seeing it there. They always had such a great variety of films-lot’s of indies inc. a great run of “Trainspotting” in '96.
This was a cool little multiplex. The staff was really friendly. I wrote to United Artists about this once and they sent me free passes. Couldn’t believe (being where it’s located) it closed. Did they close the AMC 8 Old Pasadena? I lived in Burbank, CA back in the 90’s and loved going to all the different theaters on Colorado-UA, AMC 8, The State, Colorado…now all people have is the same crappy multiplex every week…Yuck!
The State was a great little theater. I went in ‘99 before it closed along with the Colorado and Esquire. I went to see the Oscar winning German Film, “Character”. It’s sad it coulden’t be a theater again.
I saw “Yi Yi” here in November 2000, right before they were going to show “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”. It was a nice big theater, but awful run down and quite a few seats were broken. I guess they knew for some time it was on it’s way out. What really broke my heart during this time was the closing of the State theater, located up further towards old town. They also showed art house fare.
The Esquire and Colorado did close due to the Laemmle 7-let’s not forget the closing of the wonderful State Theatre as well. I saw one of the last movies shown at the Colorado in November of 2000- “Yi Yi”, then they were showing “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” through christmas, and that was it. The theater was in awful bad shape when I went, they must have known for some time it was going. A good amount of seats were broken. Never went to the Esquire.
I was five when “Star Wars” was released-I lived in Middletown, N.Y.,about fifty miles from Manhattan. The closest place showing “Star Wars” to us was The Monticello Twin Cinema in the catskills, about thirty minutes away. This was around July of 1977. A few Drive-Ins showed it later on, and it never really got a wide release in the Middletown area till July of 1978! I remember the Monticello theater showing it every hour on their two screens. Not unusual now, but it was back then. I more remember seeing “The Empire Strikes Back” because I was eight. We went to the Dtive-In-the second feature was that Dom Deluise film-“Fatso”– my Aunt got grossed out and we bolted! I wish I was living in California and older when it first opened at the Chinese Theatre. Must have been awesome!
Roger-you have an awesome web sight. I’ve visited and taken many pictures of theaters in the Rockland County Area, sorry I missed this one.
Were they affiliated with Waldbaums? I have a White department Store Circular- they are on the back page. There was one at the Monticello N.Y. shopping center which housed a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema.
goldthorpe- your talking about White Department Stores-didn’t last long. Opened around 1970 and went under in 1974. They were affiliated with Waldbaums.
A great book has been published on all of Baltimores theaters, called “Motion Picture Exhibition In Baltimore” by Robert K. Headley. Borders has it. There is a great shot of the Cluster here. It’s unbelievable how many theaters Baltimore had at one time-and look at it now. The Apex must be one of the last porn theaters in the country.It doesn’t advertise in City Paper any longer-wonder if it’s closed.
I spent the night at this theater as an extra during the filming of “The Replacement Killers” back in 1997. I took a stroll and got to check out all the old theaters downtown while nobody was on the streets. A great night.
Yeah, it’s an oldie-chopped in half than chopped again- once part of a theater chain called “Cinecom” in the late sixties/early seventies. They also ran the Chester Quickway and the Squire in New Windsor. They used to show alot of foreign and independent films in the late seventies/early eighties-guess to attract the college crowd. Used to drive up from Middletown-they’d get alot of Woody Allen films and indies like “Smoke”, “Damage” and “Erotique” In the early eighties they played “Repo Man”, “Metropolis” and alot of other cool stuff.
This theater did open as a Music Makers Theater- in spring of 1976. It always had four screens. I don’t know how well it did, but from ads I have of the theater in the early eighties, they were showing half first run and half second run films. Loews did take it over.I hope the new venture is a success.
Wow, how lazy is America getting? I can see people leaving work, stopping for their bag of grease and plopping down on the couch for a movie. How many couples have met at Movie Theaters? So much for destiny.
Yes, I heard rumors for years that they wanted to put a theater somewhere in Matamoras near Wal-Mart and KMart-in one of those shopping centers. Then something about the strip mall in P.J. that housed Great American and KMart. It really sucks now with the Tri-States theater gone, you have to drive to the Galleria in Middletown to see a movie. I don’t know if the Milford theater is still open or not-usually opens in the summer. I heard from friends that the best theater in this area was Cinema 23 in Montague.
This is a great theater. I visited it several times while on business in the area. I remember seeing “Strictly Ballroom” here in ‘93. The place was packed and everyone was dressed really nice.Then again, People in Missouri seem to be more friendly and respectable anyway. One of the nicer states I’ve visited. I remember everyone applauding at the end of the film and the staff was very nice and proffessional. There was another theater nearby-The Kirkwood Cinema-had a good experience here also but it was a bit cramped.
The State theater closed in 1984. They showed mostly porn movies from the late seventies on. If anyone who lived in Port Jervis in the early eighties-they will remember the occasional rock concert here. They world-premired a Beatles film here-can’t remember which one.
The Liberty Tri-Cinema was never a “Twin” it went from a single screen to three in November of 1975 with “Hearts Of The West”, “Benji” and “Earthquake.” It is closed.
One of many theaters killed by the Poughkeepsie Galleria complex including the Imperial, and Juliet. There’s a multiplex at this mall now, in another location. The original four-plex opened with the mall in summer of ‘74.
The Imperial closed around 1987 when the Poughkeepsie Galleria opened an 8 screen theater and of course South Hills Mall had 8 as well. The Imperial was showing first run movies in ‘87. I have an old copy of the Newburgh Evening News from 2/6/87- they had “From The Hip” and “Crimes Of The Heart”.
To Robert R. from 10/17/05: The Mid-Valley Twin was a seperate theater located in the Mid-Valley Mall accross town. It opened in 1967, twined in 1979 and closed in 1986, when United Artists built a multiplex, now known as “Showtime Cinemas”.
The last film shown here was “Semi-Tough” with Burt Reynolds in April of ‘78. I believe the theater was in really bad shape. A portion of the balcony had fallen one night? It did everything to survive in the 70’s-showed Blaxploitation, X-Rated films, karate flicks and mainstream movies. ABC Theaters operated this along with the Orange Plaza Mall Theater.The opening of this theater and the Orange Plaza Mall had a horrible effect on the downtown area.Think the Paramount lost their parking area to a bank at one time. Glad to see it’s still going strong.
Great theater- Stood in line with a bunch of friends in ‘98 or '99 for the re-release of “Gimmie Shelter”-awesome!
This is the rare cinema treasure. In addition to showing old films, they show original trailers for upcoming films. Loved going here in “95-‘97 when I was in College. My favorites were "Shaft”/“Shaft’s Big Score” and “The Exorcist” and “The Shining.” love their bi- monthly scedule advertisements.
Great pics hollywood 90038. Brought back memories. I lived off of La Brea near the theater in ‘95-'97 while attending Columbia College Film School, which used to be at 926 La Brea. Saw many great films here. Continued to attend when I moved to Burbank in “98, but left California in "01. The audience applauded several times during "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and it was fun seeing it there. They always had such a great variety of films-lot’s of indies inc. a great run of “Trainspotting” in '96.
This was a cool little multiplex. The staff was really friendly. I wrote to United Artists about this once and they sent me free passes. Couldn’t believe (being where it’s located) it closed. Did they close the AMC 8 Old Pasadena? I lived in Burbank, CA back in the 90’s and loved going to all the different theaters on Colorado-UA, AMC 8, The State, Colorado…now all people have is the same crappy multiplex every week…Yuck!
Glad to hear G.M.-good luck to you. Keep it alive-we’ve lost too much already-The State, Colorado, Esquire…
The State was a great little theater. I went in ‘99 before it closed along with the Colorado and Esquire. I went to see the Oscar winning German Film, “Character”. It’s sad it coulden’t be a theater again.
I saw “Yi Yi” here in November 2000, right before they were going to show “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”. It was a nice big theater, but awful run down and quite a few seats were broken. I guess they knew for some time it was on it’s way out. What really broke my heart during this time was the closing of the State theater, located up further towards old town. They also showed art house fare.
The Esquire and Colorado did close due to the Laemmle 7-let’s not forget the closing of the wonderful State Theatre as well. I saw one of the last movies shown at the Colorado in November of 2000- “Yi Yi”, then they were showing “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” through christmas, and that was it. The theater was in awful bad shape when I went, they must have known for some time it was going. A good amount of seats were broken. Never went to the Esquire.