which says The Screen will close on April 30th (but the place will remain intact for now in case it gets rescued again and reopened).
The article also says:
“The Screen, originally called the Screen at Studio 2, opened in December 1998 on the campus of what was then the College of Santa Fe. It was financed by New York City-based philanthropists Armand and Celeste Bartos. While The Screen showcased contemporary foreign and American-made art-house and independent films — as well as classic and cult films — for film lovers throughout the community, it also served as an educational venue for College of Santa Fe students.”
The Screen’s official website currently has a goodbye statement:
“Dear Patrons of The Screen:
The Screen will cease operations effective April 30, 2018. The Screen was operated by and founded at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, which is closing in May 2018. We are proud that The Screen has showcased world, art and independent films since its founding in 1999. In addition to showing films, The Screen also hosted lectures by film makers, cinematographers, actors, and directors. The Screen thanks all of the many patrons, guests and filmmakers for their support throughout our nearly 20-year run."
I visited North Beach yesterday. The Normandy is now Sola Salon Studios (as stated on the former cinema’s marquee), apparently a place where beauty salon practitioners can rent space to provide services to their clients.
The business on the corner next to what had been the Normandy’s entrance is now an active restaurant called Burgers & Shakes.
Funny, while walking down the sidewalk towards the building I thought of the footage taken from the angle at which I was approaching of people lining up to see “Star Wars” decades before in the Youtube video mentioned in aeterna’s August 1, 2017 comment. …. I crossed the street to look at the former Surf Theatre, then walked south again. As I reached the corner across from the Normandy a couple appeared from my right and the man was wearing a shirt with a depiction of Darth Vader’s mask.
Yes the former Surf Theatre is currently a souvenir, t-shirt and beach accessories store called Surf 7420.
Last night I sat in the Subway restaurant across the street like I did two years ago as mentioned in my previous comment and enjoyed what they’ve done to the front of the building: red neon lights around the perimeter of the marquee with the name “Surf” in the middle, small white lights that look like neon from afar underneath the marquee illuminating the entrance, and twinkling lights around the edges of the poster boxes.
The spirit of all this felt to me like they had made some effort to honor the building’s former life as a cinema.
Inside the fully renovated interior I did not notice any trace of the theatre but there’s a ton of items to look at in there and the environment was pleasant. (Look up the address on Google Maps for interior/daytime exterior photos.)
It now includes a movie memorabilia museum which the museum’s webpage says opened on May 15th, 2013. The newspaper article says historic tours of the theater are planned for later this month.
The article does not mention anything about it having had a grill and only calls it the Plaza Cinema. The museum may have replaced the grill as a photo in the article shows a “memorabilia museum” sign where a photo here on CT shows the “grill & cinema” sign to have been.
The article also claims it was called the Yale between being called the Bijou and the Crystal.
The ad in the photos section which is more legible in the link that Al Alvarez provides in his April 3, 2009 comment says the address is actually 24 SE First Avenue, not Street.
(I clicked on Al’s link, then zoomed in by pressing the CTRL and + keys on my laptop at the same time until I could read it.)
To me the Street View image for 25 SE First Avenue looks like it might have been a movie theater. (Look at earlier Street View images if the first one you see is blocked by a truck.) In 2017 it’s an empty store front but in April of 2014 and before it’s part of Miami International Sporting Goods, Inc. with sneaker company logos above the red awning.
Thank you to Cinema Treasures for merging the Fotosho page into this one for the State after I posted that I figured out the Fotosho became the State by comparing photos.
Thank you Joe Vogel. In my enthusiasm I had forgotten that Isidor Cohen mentions in his book that the Fotosho had originally been the Marco (as did a comment by Al Alvarez on the Fotosho’s former page).
Here is a link to the full text of the “Development of Miami’s Theaters” chapter on a page by itself.
The Miami-Dade Public Library also has physical copies of the book.
The address is correct but the Street View image is not.
In Street View look for a storefront that says “205 Digital Marketplace” under a blue awning.
In my opinion the building is not demolished.
To me the storefront and building look like they could be the same ones in this photo on the photos page with some cosmetic physical alterations, and the Street View image can be rotated to match the tall building that still exists behind the Florida Theatre in the photo.
Perhaps the building will then be altered and become unrecognizable compared to the historic photo, or it could be demolished with a new structure expanding into the empty lot where the Air Dome had once stood.
The archival photo called “Looking North on Federal Highway, Dania, Florida” on the back cover of the book “Broward County” by Seth H. Bramson seems to match the Google Street View image looking north from the intersection of Dania Beach Blvd and US-1 (Federal Hwy). In the far corner of the archival photo down the street is the vertical “State” sign for the State Theater, which seems to match the building with the green awning and painted over vertical sign in Google Street View at 25 North Federal Highway.
Setting the address for the State’s Cinema Treasures page to 25 North Federal Highway should give us a view of the State.
The Cinema Treasures page for the University Theater in the University District says it was originally the location of the New Home Theatre during the time when this place was the Home Theatre. Perhaps the two were related?
There is a Cinema Treasures page for the Home Theatre which existed in the Central District neighborhood before and during the time this location was the New Home Theatre. Perhaps the two were related?
I appreciate that at least a few people have remembered the University Theater, because I grew up in and loved the movie business. My father ran a successful a twin art theater near the University of CA, Berkeley in the 1950’s and 60’s.He sold and we moved to Seattle in 1968 and I was a teenager in the family that started the University Theater, so let me add a bit of history for the theater buffs that still remember those good old days. The University Theater opened in April of 1971, which was the time of a very bad recession in Seattle. Who remembers the billboard; “Will the last one out of Seattle please turn out the lights?” During the renovation of the building, it was discovered that there was a sloped concrete floor under the flat floor, so we knew it was originally built as a theater. A bit of research revealed that it was originally built in 1914 and operated until 1924 as the New Home Theatre which showed silent movies. I was told that the New Home Theater was the first theater built north of the ship canal.
The University Theater always struggled financially and so the themes were shifted from art films to Hollywood heyday movies to sub-run of recent releases or cult films and off beat movies. The University Theater was finally closed in 1986 because there was simply an insufficient audience to keep the doors open. The issue of a diminishing audience started and became increasingly apparent as movies became available on VHS tapes in the 2nd half of the 1970’s, which mostly limited customers to those without children. Parents were more likely to rent the VHS video and watch it at home to save the cost of hiring a babysitter.
I have many fond memories of walking from Roosevelt High school to the University Theater to prep things for the evening, then run the projectors while trying to keep old beat up celluloid movies running without interruption. I have even better memories of an enthusiastic movie audience that shared a wonderful collective experience. For the younger readers of this article, you need to understand that movies and theaters were more unique and personal back in the old days, not like the more sterile boxy impersonal experiences offered today.
When I could get a break from a job that required two working shifts a day, seven days a week, I was thrilled to use my courtesy pass to see movies at the many of the other great old theaters mentioned in this article, most of which do not exist today. A lot has changed from those good old days, but I am proud to say that I was part of the grand days of Cinema Paradiso.
Yes, a number or years after opening University Theater, a not so tiny 2nd theater was constructed behind the projection booth upstairs. Ironically it was not so tiny as it had nearly 100 seats, so it was about the same size as the Grand Illusion / Movie house, but it had a much higher ceiling, so the screen was not so easily blocked by late arrivals finding their seats. As the projectionist, my life became more challenging because I now had to run the projectors for two theaters. To make this possible, a platter system was added to the projection booth for the main theater and the old carbon arc lamps were changed to xenon lamps. That old building had beautiful barn truss solid wood beams, so the 2nd theater had high ceilings with pretty wood beams , which created a very nice space. Also, you might be interested to hear that the seats for the main theater were salvaged in 1970 from a failed theater in White Rock, BC. I was only 15 when that removal work was done, but I remember the hard work to remove and haul them to Seattle. There are a lot of good stories from those old days, so long ago.
During our discussion mentioned in my previous comment the owner of Cinema Books and I wondered to each other, “Does working in a cinema feel like getting to be somewhat of a showman most days, or is it just making sure the equipment is working, picking up spilled popcorn, and cleaning the restrooms?”
In a storefront that is part of the same building but around the corner at 4753 Roosevelt Way NE, Cinema Books existed for decades.
I bought some books and magazines regarding movie theaters when I visited in 2012, and had an intelligent discussion with the lady who owned the store about what it might be like to run a cinema, being that we were feet from the Seven Gables.
She said there used to be more bookstores like hers around the country that specialized exclusively in movie related materials, but the only ones left she knew of might be in Los Angeles.
Wow, nice article from the front page of the November 26th, 2017 Seattle Times about several of Seattle’s historic movie houses starting with the Grand Illusion, including why we go to the movies!:
The Brahman looked to be open when I visited Okeechobee this past weekend. Films listed on the roadside marquee were in current release. The cinema has a page listing current show times on the Movie Clock site. And a man who told me he has lived in Okeechobee for thirty years said it is open.
Click here for a video segment from local NBC “6 in the Mix” show about what the Nite Owl is like, Nayib Estefan and his mission to keep 35mm alive, and their Halloween programming.
The Main Library in downtown Miami has a videocassette (VHS) copy of a collection of short documentary films made locally in the mid-1980’s called “A Few Things I Know About Miami”.
The first, about 6 minutes long, is called “On Flagler Street” featuring a man named Jimmy Barnett, a former manager of the Olympia across the street from the Miami, describing the heyday of the movie going experience along Flagler Street which he feels lasted from the 1930’s to about 1955. Behind him you can almost make out the then drab grey façade of the Miami Theatre in its yet-to-be restored state.
The film includes archival Movietone newsreel footage of the grand opening of the Miami Theatre (with the film “Carnival in Costa Rica” and mentioning that the manager was Sonny Shepard), the premier at the Miami of “Slattery’s Hurricane” which was partially filmed in the area, and actor Jimmy Stewart arriving at the premier of “The Glenn Miller Story” at what might be the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables (it simultaneously premiered at the Miami and the Carib). There are also historic still photo shots of various theaters in downtown Miami when they were open.
A b&w image of the Miami Theatre marquee is on the cover of the box that the videocassette comes in.
The Main Library in downtown Miami has a videocassette (VHS) copy of a collection of short documentary films made locally in the mid-1980’s called “A Few Things I Know About Miami” (which I just noticed was first mentioned here by Al Alvarez in his comment dated May 24, 2005).
The first, about 6 minutes long, is called “On Flagler Street” featuring a former manager of the Olympia named Jimmy Barnett describing the heyday of the movie going experience along Flagler street which he feels lasted from the 1930’s to about 1955.
The film includes archival Movietone newsreel footage of the grand opening of the Miami Theater across the street and actor Jimmy Stewart arriving at the premier of “The Glenn Miller Story” at what might be the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables (it simultaneously premiered at the Miami and Carib), as well as historic still photo shots of various theaters in downtown Miami when they were open.
The film ends with Mr. Barnett inviting you to follow him on to the stage of the Olympia where he explains he had worked for 18 years, at one point as “captain of the balcony”, and becoming manager in December of 1950, while we see shots of the auditorium. He says the Olympia also hosted many shows and famous people during his tenure.
Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper article from April 19th, 2018:
“Finale Looms for Art-House Cinema The Screen”
which says The Screen will close on April 30th (but the place will remain intact for now in case it gets rescued again and reopened).
The article also says:
“The Screen, originally called the Screen at Studio 2, opened in December 1998 on the campus of what was then the College of Santa Fe. It was financed by New York City-based philanthropists Armand and Celeste Bartos. While The Screen showcased contemporary foreign and American-made art-house and independent films — as well as classic and cult films — for film lovers throughout the community, it also served as an educational venue for College of Santa Fe students.”
The Screen’s official website currently has a goodbye statement:
“Dear Patrons of The Screen:
The Screen will cease operations effective April 30, 2018. The Screen was operated by and founded at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, which is closing in May 2018. We are proud that The Screen has showcased world, art and independent films since its founding in 1999. In addition to showing films, The Screen also hosted lectures by film makers, cinematographers, actors, and directors. The Screen thanks all of the many patrons, guests and filmmakers for their support throughout our nearly 20-year run."
I visited North Beach yesterday. The Normandy is now Sola Salon Studios (as stated on the former cinema’s marquee), apparently a place where beauty salon practitioners can rent space to provide services to their clients.
The business on the corner next to what had been the Normandy’s entrance is now an active restaurant called Burgers & Shakes.
Funny, while walking down the sidewalk towards the building I thought of the footage taken from the angle at which I was approaching of people lining up to see “Star Wars” decades before in the Youtube video mentioned in aeterna’s August 1, 2017 comment. …. I crossed the street to look at the former Surf Theatre, then walked south again. As I reached the corner across from the Normandy a couple appeared from my right and the man was wearing a shirt with a depiction of Darth Vader’s mask.
Yes the former Surf Theatre is currently a souvenir, t-shirt and beach accessories store called Surf 7420.
Last night I sat in the Subway restaurant across the street like I did two years ago as mentioned in my previous comment and enjoyed what they’ve done to the front of the building: red neon lights around the perimeter of the marquee with the name “Surf” in the middle, small white lights that look like neon from afar underneath the marquee illuminating the entrance, and twinkling lights around the edges of the poster boxes.
The spirit of all this felt to me like they had made some effort to honor the building’s former life as a cinema.
Inside the fully renovated interior I did not notice any trace of the theatre but there’s a ton of items to look at in there and the environment was pleasant. (Look up the address on Google Maps for interior/daytime exterior photos.)
This article with interesting photos from the March 8th, 2018 print edition of the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper (posted on their website on March 6th) says this theater is now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Oldest purpose-built cinema in operation”:
“Ottawa movie theater, owned by Lawrence businesswoman, now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records”
It now includes a movie memorabilia museum which the museum’s webpage says opened on May 15th, 2013. The newspaper article says historic tours of the theater are planned for later this month.
The article does not mention anything about it having had a grill and only calls it the Plaza Cinema. The museum may have replaced the grill as a photo in the article shows a “memorabilia museum” sign where a photo here on CT shows the “grill & cinema” sign to have been.
The article also claims it was called the Yale between being called the Bijou and the Crystal.
More history and videos on the Plaza’s news page.
Click here for a quick Youtube video of the Mayfair in 1957 from the Wolfson Archives. Click on “Show More” below the video and read the text.
The “Chinese Town of Locke” episode of the Travel Channel show “Ghost Adventures” claims the Star is haunted by the spirit of a Chinese opera singer.
Still I would like to visit during the day or try a restaurant after sundown. The town and its history looks really interesting.
The ad in the photos section which is more legible in the link that Al Alvarez provides in his April 3, 2009 comment says the address is actually 24 SE First Avenue, not Street.
(I clicked on Al’s link, then zoomed in by pressing the CTRL and + keys on my laptop at the same time until I could read it.)
To me the Street View image for 25 SE First Avenue looks like it might have been a movie theater. (Look at earlier Street View images if the first one you see is blocked by a truck.) In 2017 it’s an empty store front but in April of 2014 and before it’s part of Miami International Sporting Goods, Inc. with sneaker company logos above the red awning.
Thank you to Cinema Treasures for merging the Fotosho page into this one for the State after I posted that I figured out the Fotosho became the State by comparing photos.
Thank you Joe Vogel. In my enthusiasm I had forgotten that Isidor Cohen mentions in his book that the Fotosho had originally been the Marco (as did a comment by Al Alvarez on the Fotosho’s former page).
Here is a link to the full text of the “Development of Miami’s Theaters” chapter on a page by itself.
The Miami-Dade Public Library also has physical copies of the book.
Click here for someone’s Amazon listing for an original postcard of the Hippodrome.
The address is correct but the Street View image is not.
In Street View look for a storefront that says “205 Digital Marketplace” under a blue awning.
In my opinion the building is not demolished.
To me the storefront and building look like they could be the same ones in this photo on the photos page with some cosmetic physical alterations, and the Street View image can be rotated to match the tall building that still exists behind the Florida Theatre in the photo.
Macy’s has announced that its location shown in the historic photo, that first opened as the Burdine’s department store in 1898, will close in 2018:
Local news report video with the historic photo in accompanying article.
Miami Herald article.
Perhaps the building will then be altered and become unrecognizable compared to the historic photo, or it could be demolished with a new structure expanding into the empty lot where the Air Dome had once stood.
The archival photo called “Looking North on Federal Highway, Dania, Florida” on the back cover of the book “Broward County” by Seth H. Bramson seems to match the Google Street View image looking north from the intersection of Dania Beach Blvd and US-1 (Federal Hwy). In the far corner of the archival photo down the street is the vertical “State” sign for the State Theater, which seems to match the building with the green awning and painted over vertical sign in Google Street View at 25 North Federal Highway.
Setting the address for the State’s Cinema Treasures page to 25 North Federal Highway should give us a view of the State.
The Cinema Treasures page for the University Theater in the University District says it was originally the location of the New Home Theatre during the time when this place was the Home Theatre. Perhaps the two were related?
There is a Cinema Treasures page for the Home Theatre which existed in the Central District neighborhood before and during the time this location was the New Home Theatre. Perhaps the two were related?
“Good_Citizen” posted the following in the comments section of the Seattle Times article “Explore Seattle’s Romantic – and Vanishing – Historic Moviehouses”:
I appreciate that at least a few people have remembered the University Theater, because I grew up in and loved the movie business. My father ran a successful a twin art theater near the University of CA, Berkeley in the 1950’s and 60’s.He sold and we moved to Seattle in 1968 and I was a teenager in the family that started the University Theater, so let me add a bit of history for the theater buffs that still remember those good old days. The University Theater opened in April of 1971, which was the time of a very bad recession in Seattle. Who remembers the billboard; “Will the last one out of Seattle please turn out the lights?” During the renovation of the building, it was discovered that there was a sloped concrete floor under the flat floor, so we knew it was originally built as a theater. A bit of research revealed that it was originally built in 1914 and operated until 1924 as the New Home Theatre which showed silent movies. I was told that the New Home Theater was the first theater built north of the ship canal.
The University Theater always struggled financially and so the themes were shifted from art films to Hollywood heyday movies to sub-run of recent releases or cult films and off beat movies. The University Theater was finally closed in 1986 because there was simply an insufficient audience to keep the doors open. The issue of a diminishing audience started and became increasingly apparent as movies became available on VHS tapes in the 2nd half of the 1970’s, which mostly limited customers to those without children. Parents were more likely to rent the VHS video and watch it at home to save the cost of hiring a babysitter.
I have many fond memories of walking from Roosevelt High school to the University Theater to prep things for the evening, then run the projectors while trying to keep old beat up celluloid movies running without interruption. I have even better memories of an enthusiastic movie audience that shared a wonderful collective experience. For the younger readers of this article, you need to understand that movies and theaters were more unique and personal back in the old days, not like the more sterile boxy impersonal experiences offered today.
When I could get a break from a job that required two working shifts a day, seven days a week, I was thrilled to use my courtesy pass to see movies at the many of the other great old theaters mentioned in this article, most of which do not exist today. A lot has changed from those good old days, but I am proud to say that I was part of the grand days of Cinema Paradiso.
Yes, a number or years after opening University Theater, a not so tiny 2nd theater was constructed behind the projection booth upstairs. Ironically it was not so tiny as it had nearly 100 seats, so it was about the same size as the Grand Illusion / Movie house, but it had a much higher ceiling, so the screen was not so easily blocked by late arrivals finding their seats. As the projectionist, my life became more challenging because I now had to run the projectors for two theaters. To make this possible, a platter system was added to the projection booth for the main theater and the old carbon arc lamps were changed to xenon lamps. That old building had beautiful barn truss solid wood beams, so the 2nd theater had high ceilings with pretty wood beams , which created a very nice space. Also, you might be interested to hear that the seats for the main theater were salvaged in 1970 from a failed theater in White Rock, BC. I was only 15 when that removal work was done, but I remember the hard work to remove and haul them to Seattle. There are a lot of good stories from those old days, so long ago.
Just north up the street at 5030 Roosevelt Way NE, Scarecrow Video and its huge selection is definitely worth checking out. They also show films in their screening room.
During our discussion mentioned in my previous comment the owner of Cinema Books and I wondered to each other, “Does working in a cinema feel like getting to be somewhat of a showman most days, or is it just making sure the equipment is working, picking up spilled popcorn, and cleaning the restrooms?”
In a storefront that is part of the same building but around the corner at 4753 Roosevelt Way NE, Cinema Books existed for decades.
I bought some books and magazines regarding movie theaters when I visited in 2012, and had an intelligent discussion with the lady who owned the store about what it might be like to run a cinema, being that we were feet from the Seven Gables.
She said there used to be more bookstores like hers around the country that specialized exclusively in movie related materials, but the only ones left she knew of might be in Los Angeles.
I was looking forward to visiting again but Cinema Books closed in 2015 due to nearby construction.
Google “Cinema Bookstore Seattle” for links to articles and photos.
Wow, nice article from the front page of the November 26th, 2017 Seattle Times, “Explore Seattle’s Romantic – and Vanishing – Historic Moviehouses”, including a description and detailed slideshow of the Admiral, and why we go to the movies!
Wow, nice article from the front page of the November 26th, 2017 Seattle Times about several of Seattle’s historic movie houses starting with the Grand Illusion, including why we go to the movies!:
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/seattles-historic-moviehouses/
The Brahman looked to be open when I visited Okeechobee this past weekend. Films listed on the roadside marquee were in current release. The cinema has a page listing current show times on the Movie Clock site. And a man who told me he has lived in Okeechobee for thirty years said it is open.
The Drexel and the effort to keep it alive starts at 17:14 in this Youtube video of the Bexley episode of WOSU’s series on Columbus neighborhoods.
Click here for a video segment from local NBC “6 in the Mix” show about what the Nite Owl is like, Nayib Estefan and his mission to keep 35mm alive, and their Halloween programming.
The Main Library in downtown Miami has a videocassette (VHS) copy of a collection of short documentary films made locally in the mid-1980’s called “A Few Things I Know About Miami”.
The first, about 6 minutes long, is called “On Flagler Street” featuring a man named Jimmy Barnett, a former manager of the Olympia across the street from the Miami, describing the heyday of the movie going experience along Flagler Street which he feels lasted from the 1930’s to about 1955. Behind him you can almost make out the then drab grey façade of the Miami Theatre in its yet-to-be restored state.
The film includes archival Movietone newsreel footage of the grand opening of the Miami Theatre (with the film “Carnival in Costa Rica” and mentioning that the manager was Sonny Shepard), the premier at the Miami of “Slattery’s Hurricane” which was partially filmed in the area, and actor Jimmy Stewart arriving at the premier of “The Glenn Miller Story” at what might be the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables (it simultaneously premiered at the Miami and the Carib). There are also historic still photo shots of various theaters in downtown Miami when they were open.
A b&w image of the Miami Theatre marquee is on the cover of the box that the videocassette comes in.
The Main Library in downtown Miami has a videocassette (VHS) copy of a collection of short documentary films made locally in the mid-1980’s called “A Few Things I Know About Miami” (which I just noticed was first mentioned here by Al Alvarez in his comment dated May 24, 2005).
The first, about 6 minutes long, is called “On Flagler Street” featuring a former manager of the Olympia named Jimmy Barnett describing the heyday of the movie going experience along Flagler street which he feels lasted from the 1930’s to about 1955.
The film includes archival Movietone newsreel footage of the grand opening of the Miami Theater across the street and actor Jimmy Stewart arriving at the premier of “The Glenn Miller Story” at what might be the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables (it simultaneously premiered at the Miami and Carib), as well as historic still photo shots of various theaters in downtown Miami when they were open.
The film ends with Mr. Barnett inviting you to follow him on to the stage of the Olympia where he explains he had worked for 18 years, at one point as “captain of the balcony”, and becoming manager in December of 1950, while we see shots of the auditorium. He says the Olympia also hosted many shows and famous people during his tenure.