Here are some Dispatch summaries that would be worth looking up in full text:
December 16, 1985: Can Movie Fans Find Happiness With New Screens?
“Columbus will soon offer avid moviegoers almost 90 screens at 30 theaters.”
July 27, 1987: Sugarman Remembered As a Man of Wit, Style
“Charlie Sugarman once played a bit part in Hollywood, but he assumed a leading role on the Columbus movie scene.”
July 16, 1989: Neighborhood Theaters: There’s No Place Like Home
“Add the Mom and Pop theater to the Endangered Species list.
The privately owned, single-screen neighborhood theater is quietly going the way of rotary-dial telephones, manual typewriters and heavy beer. Some will call it progress, but you wonder which way they’re heading. ”
November 19, 1989: Audience Silence Golden
“I spend so much time watching mediocre movies with rude audiences in cheese-box auditoriums that I sometimes forget why I fell in love with movies in the first place. Last Sunday, a friend and I went to the Cinema East theater to see the reconstructed Lawrence of Arabia, and the experience was everything moviegoing ought to be.”
January 9, 1990: Cinema East Closes
January 14, 1990: Cinema East Closing Saddens Moviegoer
“The closing last week of the Cinema East theater was an unfortunate milestone in the history of moviegoing in Columbus.”
February 2, 1990: Cinema East Theater Was Its Own Worst Enemy to Patrons
“Being an avid movie fan, I attend movies often, avoiding Cinema East if at all possible. No matter how inclement the weather was, the staff there would hold patrons outside, not letting them into the large lobby until ticket time, a few minutes before shows.”
I would, except that he doesn’t have an e-mail address listed so I have no way to reach him. If he does see this, he doesn’t need to use microfilm, because the Dispatch online archives are free in at least some Columbus-area libraries (Bexley is one of them).
This page, listing DP70 projectors in the eastern US, is where I got the information about Cinema East’s seat count and its opening-day film. (It actually says “a 900+ seat theatre”).
If I search the dispatch.com archive for
“Cinema East” AND 1965
I get the two January 1990 articles about the theatre closing, so 1965 is probably the correct opening year. I’m too cheap to pay for the archive right now, and I’m no longer in Columbus so I can’t read it for free at the library.
Loew’s Westerville was at 60 Schrock Road. It was a twin by 1980, as were Loew’s Morse Road and Loew’s Arlington.
Loew’s Southland 1-2-3 was at 3700 South High Street.
I never visited either Loew’s Westerville or Southland and know nothing more about them, so I won’t add either one to CinemaTreasures. I don’t even know if the buildings are still standing. Perhaps someone who has lived in Columbus more recently than me can add them. (Although I visit Columbus several times each year, I haven’t lived there since the summer of 1977.)
Columbus used to have a Northland Mall, and still has Eastland and Westland Malls, but it has never had a Southland Mall. Did Loew’s build their Southland cinema with the expectation that a mall would soon arise next to it?
Here’s a link to Loew’s 1966 annual report, which contained a picture of the theatre exterior and the text that I quoted above. Loew’s Arlington and Loew’s Morse Road are also mentioned in the company’s 1967 annual report.
I don’t think the Sack 57 had been built yet by 1968. However, Sack presented first runs at the nearby Gary and Saxon, as well as the (first) Beacon Hill and Music Hall.
I was in Columbus last week for a high school reunion. While there, I stopped into the Bexley library and did some searching in the Dispatch archives, but didn’t think to look up Cinema East. If you have the time to do so and find anything interesting in the Dispatch articles, please post more comments here.
turns up many references to a song titled “Cinema East”, performed by a Columbus band whose name is either Earwig or Lizard McGee. I assume the song is somehow inspired by this theatre, but I’ve never heard it nor read the lyrics.
I listed the chain as “Chakeres Theatres” because of a Columbus Dispatch article from January 9, 1990, which stated: “A spokesman for the owner, Chakeres Theatres of Springfield, said the lease on the property had expired.”
Was Sugarman the owner of Chakeres, or did he lease the theatre from Chakeres?
The author of another Dispatch article, published on November 19, 1989, talks about seeing “Lawrence of Arabia” at Cinema East the previous Sunday. That’s just a few weeks before the theatre closed.
Searching the Dispatch.com archives is free, but reading the full text of articles normally costs money. If you go to the Bexley Public Library, you can read the Dispatch archives for free. This is probably also true at the Whitehall and Columbus libraries.
The 1968 Crimson article mentions that there were ten movie theatres on downtown Washington Street between the Old South Meeting House and “Michael Breen Square” (which I’ve never heard of). Besides the three sex-film houses, the others were, from north to south:
Loew’s Orpheum, a first-run house Savoy, a Sack first-run house Paramount, a General Cinema first-run house Boston Cinerama, which needs no further explanation Publix, probably showing second- or third-run double features Center, probably showing second- or third-run double features Stuart, probably showing second- or third-run double-features
By the way, the Mayflower was always outside the city’s official boundary for the Combat Zone.
In the absence of High Street movie theatres, OSU students are probably patronizing the 24-screen AMC Lennox Town Center megaplex, just across the Olentangy River from campus. This strip mall has other attractions for students, too: an Old Navy, a large Barnes & Noble, a Target, and a Staples. The local transit authority runs a frequent late-night bus from OSU to Lennox.
While in the Ohio Union this week, I also saw advertisements from the Arena Grand theatre downtown, offering tickets to OSU students for $3.
Neither the AMC Lennox Town Center nor the Arena Grand are listed here at CinemaTreasures.
The incident you refer to occurred on November 16, 1976. Andrew Puopolo, a Harvard football player, was stabbed by a pimp in the Combat Zone. A second Harvard student was injured in the same fight. After a month-long coma, Puopolo died on December 17, 1976.
This was the beginning of the end for the Combat Zone.
The article mentions that there were ten movie theatres on downtown Washington Street between the Old South Meeting House and “Michael Breen Square” (which I’ve never heard of). Besides the three sex-film houses, the others were, from north to south:
Loew’s Orpheum, a first-run house Savoy, a Sack first-run house Paramount, a General Cinema first-run house Boston Cinerama, which needs no further explanation Publix, probably showing second- or third-run double features Center, whose booking policy I’m not sure of Stuart, probably showing second- or third-run double-features
Here are some Dispatch summaries that would be worth looking up in full text:
December 16, 1985: Can Movie Fans Find Happiness With New Screens?
“Columbus will soon offer avid moviegoers almost 90 screens at 30 theaters.”
July 27, 1987: Sugarman Remembered As a Man of Wit, Style
“Charlie Sugarman once played a bit part in Hollywood, but he assumed a leading role on the Columbus movie scene.”
July 16, 1989: Neighborhood Theaters: There’s No Place Like Home
“Add the Mom and Pop theater to the Endangered Species list.
The privately owned, single-screen neighborhood theater is quietly going the way of rotary-dial telephones, manual typewriters and heavy beer. Some will call it progress, but you wonder which way they’re heading. ”
November 19, 1989: Audience Silence Golden
“I spend so much time watching mediocre movies with rude audiences in cheese-box auditoriums that I sometimes forget why I fell in love with movies in the first place. Last Sunday, a friend and I went to the Cinema East theater to see the reconstructed Lawrence of Arabia, and the experience was everything moviegoing ought to be.”
January 9, 1990: Cinema East Closes
January 14, 1990: Cinema East Closing Saddens Moviegoer
“The closing last week of the Cinema East theater was an unfortunate milestone in the history of moviegoing in Columbus.”
February 2, 1990: Cinema East Theater Was Its Own Worst Enemy to Patrons
“Being an avid movie fan, I attend movies often, avoiding Cinema East if at all possible. No matter how inclement the weather was, the staff there would hold patrons outside, not letting them into the large lobby until ticket time, a few minutes before shows.”
I would, except that he doesn’t have an e-mail address listed so I have no way to reach him. If he does see this, he doesn’t need to use microfilm, because the Dispatch online archives are free in at least some Columbus-area libraries (Bexley is one of them).
This page, listing DP70 projectors in the eastern US, is where I got the information about Cinema East’s seat count and its opening-day film. (It actually says “a 900+ seat theatre”).
If I search the dispatch.com archive for
“Cinema East” AND 1965
I get the two January 1990 articles about the theatre closing, so 1965 is probably the correct opening year. I’m too cheap to pay for the archive right now, and I’m no longer in Columbus so I can’t read it for free at the library.
Loew’s Westerville was at 60 Schrock Road. It was a twin by 1980, as were Loew’s Morse Road and Loew’s Arlington.
Loew’s Southland 1-2-3 was at 3700 South High Street.
I never visited either Loew’s Westerville or Southland and know nothing more about them, so I won’t add either one to CinemaTreasures. I don’t even know if the buildings are still standing. Perhaps someone who has lived in Columbus more recently than me can add them. (Although I visit Columbus several times each year, I haven’t lived there since the summer of 1977.)
Columbus used to have a Northland Mall, and still has Eastland and Westland Malls, but it has never had a Southland Mall. Did Loew’s build their Southland cinema with the expectation that a mall would soon arise next to it?
I posted the Cinema East yesterday. You may have missed it because I put it in Whitehall rather than Columbus.
Here’s a link to Loew’s 1966 annual report, which contained a picture of the theatre exterior and the text that I quoted above. Loew’s Arlington and Loew’s Morse Road are also mentioned in the company’s 1967 annual report.
I’ve added a separate listing for Loew’s Arlington, which opened at the same time as Loew’s Morse Road.
I don’t think the Sack 57 had been built yet by 1968. However, Sack presented first runs at the nearby Gary and Saxon, as well as the (first) Beacon Hill and Music Hall.
Why was the old Embassy torn down? Was some development supposed to happen on its site, but never did?
I was in Columbus last week for a high school reunion. While there, I stopped into the Bexley library and did some searching in the Dispatch archives, but didn’t think to look up Cinema East. If you have the time to do so and find anything interesting in the Dispatch articles, please post more comments here.
By the way, a Google search for
“Cinema East” AND Columbus
turns up many references to a song titled “Cinema East”, performed by a Columbus band whose name is either Earwig or Lizard McGee. I assume the song is somehow inspired by this theatre, but I’ve never heard it nor read the lyrics.
I listed the chain as “Chakeres Theatres” because of a Columbus Dispatch article from January 9, 1990, which stated: “A spokesman for the owner, Chakeres Theatres of Springfield, said the lease on the property had expired.”
Was Sugarman the owner of Chakeres, or did he lease the theatre from Chakeres?
The author of another Dispatch article, published on November 19, 1989, talks about seeing “Lawrence of Arabia” at Cinema East the previous Sunday. That’s just a few weeks before the theatre closed.
Searching the Dispatch.com archives is free, but reading the full text of articles normally costs money. If you go to the Bexley Public Library, you can read the Dispatch archives for free. This is probably also true at the Whitehall and Columbus libraries.
I saw Star Wars here in the summer of 1977, but I don’t remember whether it was a 70mm presentation.
The address should be
http://web.infoave.net/~dennmac/review2.html
(it has a tilde, not a hyphen, before “dennmac”)
According to this Harvard Crimson article, the Galeria Cinema opened on Wednesday, October 15, 1975, with A Boy and His Dog.
Some photos of the Hollywood Hits Theatre
Some photos of the Chestnut Hill Cinema, mostly inside the projection booths.
Some photos of the Embassy Cinema, mostly inside the projection booths and film preparation areas.
Hmm, I was assuming that this was a video, not a book, for sale. The original poster may wish to describe it further if he wants to sell any here.
The 1968 Crimson article mentions that there were ten movie theatres on downtown Washington Street between the Old South Meeting House and “Michael Breen Square” (which I’ve never heard of). Besides the three sex-film houses, the others were, from north to south:
Loew’s Orpheum, a first-run house
Savoy, a Sack first-run house
Paramount, a General Cinema first-run house
Boston Cinerama, which needs no further explanation
Publix, probably showing second- or third-run double features
Center, probably showing second- or third-run double features
Stuart, probably showing second- or third-run double-features
By the way, the Mayflower was always outside the city’s official boundary for the Combat Zone.
In the absence of High Street movie theatres, OSU students are probably patronizing the 24-screen AMC Lennox Town Center megaplex, just across the Olentangy River from campus. This strip mall has other attractions for students, too: an Old Navy, a large Barnes & Noble, a Target, and a Staples. The local transit authority runs a frequent late-night bus from OSU to Lennox.
While in the Ohio Union this week, I also saw advertisements from the Arena Grand theatre downtown, offering tickets to OSU students for $3.
Neither the AMC Lennox Town Center nor the Arena Grand are listed here at CinemaTreasures.
The Harvard Crimson ran a short article about this “new movie place” on February 13, 1975.
The incident you refer to occurred on November 16, 1976. Andrew Puopolo, a Harvard football player, was stabbed by a pimp in the Combat Zone. A second Harvard student was injured in the same fight. After a month-long coma, Puopolo died on December 17, 1976.
This was the beginning of the end for the Combat Zone.
The Harvard Crimson archives have many articles about this.
The article mentions that there were ten movie theatres on downtown Washington Street between the Old South Meeting House and “Michael Breen Square” (which I’ve never heard of). Besides the three sex-film houses, the others were, from north to south:
Loew’s Orpheum, a first-run house
Savoy, a Sack first-run house
Paramount, a General Cinema first-run house
Boston Cinerama, which needs no further explanation
Publix, probably showing second- or third-run double features
Center, whose booking policy I’m not sure of
Stuart, probably showing second- or third-run double-features
The chain that owned this before General Cinema used a very distinctive hexagonal logo in its newspaper advertisements.