I remember watching a film there, going out to the lobby because a splice had caused the film to be out of frame, and there was the projectionist playing the video game.
Did this Camargo have anything to do with the Camargo Theatre in Madeira? Went to lots of kiddie matinees in the latter venue. It became a fancy restaurant around the same time.
Reopened as the Beacon Hill in ‘69 or '70, showing art films and revivals. A real zoo in the kiddie matinee days of the sixties, with a real crabby woman (the owner?) who worked the candy stand. When they showed Hard Day’s Night she ran into the theatre yelling when all the girls started screaming.
Thanks for checking in, Tim. I worked with Andre when I was at the Mt. Adams Cinema and he was with Parallax (right before he moved to L.A.) and am sorry to hear he passed away. He was the best projectionist I ever worked with. And, hey, the first time I went to the Alpha under your ownership was to see SCHLOCK! (Tina was working that night…)
Was there a balcony at the Ambassador? It was a block away from the 20th Century and by the early 70s it was my impression the “classier” films played there, the 20th Century got more of the “young crowd” films.
What a great stretch on Madison Road in Oakley: The 20th Century, the Ambassador, and the Oakley Drive-In!
I remember as a kid going there in the sixties and after the trailers came a notice that said, “Stop Pay TV – sign petition in the lobby.” It didn’t work.
My father lived on nearby Oaklawn Drive at one time and he says when it opened the gave or installed speaker to residents who could see the screen from their backyards…anyone know if this is true?
That place did have its charm…it was just off the corner of Belvedere and Hatch. Next to it on the corner was/is a corner store, and the guy who ran it at the time lived above it. He had a German shepherd whose bark you could hear on occasion inside the cinema. I miss the sandwiches at Pia’s…
Great memories from the dollar cinema days of the 70s. They had some good midnight films then too (like Bedazzled), but the legroom was barely existent!
I think there was an attempt to reopen it as the Eden in the early/mid-70s, some kind of joint attempt between the Alpha Fine Arts and one of the local theatre bookers/owners. It didn’t last long.
Great time in ‘73-'74 when they experimented with showing old Hollywood double bills for $1.25. Caught a double bill of Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight, Marx Bros., WC Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon, Giant, Busby Berkeley, it was wonderful. Then they stopped. It was nice in '78-'79 when they attempted a calendar theatre, too, but then they gave that up.
Is it true that when it was the Hiawatha there giant Indian head nickels on the wall that runs along 6th Ave.? I managed this place in the early 80s. One day a tech guy was there to install Dolby and re-do the sound system. He had to put a ladder along the screen. On the screen were hundreds of dried spitballs, no doubt from the days of kid matinees (maybe when it was Mann theater). How long those spitballs were on the screen I have no idea.
Parallax out of Los Angeles ran the place July – December ‘78 and then gave up on it. They attempted a calendar repertory theater that fell victim to lack of neighborhood support and not-great parking. Its previous incarnation had it run by Tim and Carlinn Holloway, who I think had it when it showed X films (they were busted showing Deep Throat – the staff was dressed in medical outfits I understand) then they had a pretty good life from '74 – '77 doing well with art films such as Cousin Cousine, the Lina Wertmuller films, etc. and they were the first theatre in Cincy to score with King of Hearts. They had some great midnight films in '74-'75 like Trash, Putney Swope, and others. They managed to show Pink Flamingos in the summer of '75 without getting busted but they cut out one scene (not the final scene, thank goodness). Also saw cult stuff like El Topo, 2001, Female Trouble. Good times. They fell on hard times around '77.
It’s fun to read these as I managed this place for Renaissance Rialto from summer 1983 to fall 1984. It had seen better days by then, I’m afraid. I remember its distinct smell (especially theatre 2), the leak from the bathroom in the apartment above theatre 1, the torn carpet in the lobby, the student louts in the beer garden at the La Val’s next door, but it was a fun audience anyway.
I managed the Cinema when Parallax (actually based in Los Angeles) ran it from July 1978 to April 1979. Ray Williams, who owned the building, opened it up. I worked for Ray off and on, too, and for Michael Bazarri, who attempted to run it for a while in ‘77 before it closed, and then Parallax (now Landmark) attempted to run it. (They also had the Alpha for a while, from July '78 to December '78 but gave up on it. Northside then didn’t really support it as a repertory house.) After Parallax closed it another person gave it a run but closed it, too. It wasn’t the neighborhood (not entirely affluent back then)..it was parking parking parking – the great lack thereof that kept it from being successful. There were no lots or parking garages to speak of as far as I remember. That print of Harold and Maude slowly turned to dust as screened every night at 7:00 for a couple of years or so…and to call it splicy is an understatement. Mt. Adams also was the first home in Cincy for regular midnight screenings of Rocky Horror. And showing Eraserhead was a very happy time in my life!
Rocky Horror originally attracted the Clifton arty punk hip types, but by the end of the show’s run it was drawing kids from Mt. Washington.
Saw Close Encounters when it opened there. And Barry Lyndon.
I remember watching a film there, going out to the lobby because a splice had caused the film to be out of frame, and there was the projectionist playing the video game.
Here’s to David Snow, Ogden projectionist during most of its Parallax/Landmark days and part of the fun during Rocky Horror shows.
Did this Camargo have anything to do with the Camargo Theatre in Madeira? Went to lots of kiddie matinees in the latter venue. It became a fancy restaurant around the same time.
Reopened as the Beacon Hill in ‘69 or '70, showing art films and revivals. A real zoo in the kiddie matinee days of the sixties, with a real crabby woman (the owner?) who worked the candy stand. When they showed Hard Day’s Night she ran into the theatre yelling when all the girls started screaming.
Thanks for checking in, Tim. I worked with Andre when I was at the Mt. Adams Cinema and he was with Parallax (right before he moved to L.A.) and am sorry to hear he passed away. He was the best projectionist I ever worked with. And, hey, the first time I went to the Alpha under your ownership was to see SCHLOCK! (Tina was working that night…)
Was there a balcony at the Ambassador? It was a block away from the 20th Century and by the early 70s it was my impression the “classier” films played there, the 20th Century got more of the “young crowd” films.
What a great stretch on Madison Road in Oakley: The 20th Century, the Ambassador, and the Oakley Drive-In!
I remember as a kid going there in the sixties and after the trailers came a notice that said, “Stop Pay TV – sign petition in the lobby.” It didn’t work.
My father lived on nearby Oaklawn Drive at one time and he says when it opened the gave or installed speaker to residents who could see the screen from their backyards…anyone know if this is true?
I remember the purple urinals…
That place did have its charm…it was just off the corner of Belvedere and Hatch. Next to it on the corner was/is a corner store, and the guy who ran it at the time lived above it. He had a German shepherd whose bark you could hear on occasion inside the cinema. I miss the sandwiches at Pia’s…
Great memories from the dollar cinema days of the 70s. They had some good midnight films then too (like Bedazzled), but the legroom was barely existent!
A friend of mine who used to go this place frequently during its last days said you’d have to go home and wash your hair after seeing a movie here…
I think there was an attempt to reopen it as the Eden in the early/mid-70s, some kind of joint attempt between the Alpha Fine Arts and one of the local theatre bookers/owners. It didn’t last long.
Great time in ‘73-'74 when they experimented with showing old Hollywood double bills for $1.25. Caught a double bill of Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight, Marx Bros., WC Fields, Laurel and Hardy, Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon, Giant, Busby Berkeley, it was wonderful. Then they stopped. It was nice in '78-'79 when they attempted a calendar theatre, too, but then they gave that up.
Where you could hear three movies for the price of one…but I loved it.
Is it true that when it was the Hiawatha there giant Indian head nickels on the wall that runs along 6th Ave.? I managed this place in the early 80s. One day a tech guy was there to install Dolby and re-do the sound system. He had to put a ladder along the screen. On the screen were hundreds of dried spitballs, no doubt from the days of kid matinees (maybe when it was Mann theater). How long those spitballs were on the screen I have no idea.
Oh, yeah, at one time it was called the Park as that name was engraved into the building in the front.
Parallax out of Los Angeles ran the place July – December ‘78 and then gave up on it. They attempted a calendar repertory theater that fell victim to lack of neighborhood support and not-great parking. Its previous incarnation had it run by Tim and Carlinn Holloway, who I think had it when it showed X films (they were busted showing Deep Throat – the staff was dressed in medical outfits I understand) then they had a pretty good life from '74 – '77 doing well with art films such as Cousin Cousine, the Lina Wertmuller films, etc. and they were the first theatre in Cincy to score with King of Hearts. They had some great midnight films in '74-'75 like Trash, Putney Swope, and others. They managed to show Pink Flamingos in the summer of '75 without getting busted but they cut out one scene (not the final scene, thank goodness). Also saw cult stuff like El Topo, 2001, Female Trouble. Good times. They fell on hard times around '77.
It’s fun to read these as I managed this place for Renaissance Rialto from summer 1983 to fall 1984. It had seen better days by then, I’m afraid. I remember its distinct smell (especially theatre 2), the leak from the bathroom in the apartment above theatre 1, the torn carpet in the lobby, the student louts in the beer garden at the La Val’s next door, but it was a fun audience anyway.
I managed the Cinema when Parallax (actually based in Los Angeles) ran it from July 1978 to April 1979. Ray Williams, who owned the building, opened it up. I worked for Ray off and on, too, and for Michael Bazarri, who attempted to run it for a while in ‘77 before it closed, and then Parallax (now Landmark) attempted to run it. (They also had the Alpha for a while, from July '78 to December '78 but gave up on it. Northside then didn’t really support it as a repertory house.) After Parallax closed it another person gave it a run but closed it, too. It wasn’t the neighborhood (not entirely affluent back then)..it was parking parking parking – the great lack thereof that kept it from being successful. There were no lots or parking garages to speak of as far as I remember. That print of Harold and Maude slowly turned to dust as screened every night at 7:00 for a couple of years or so…and to call it splicy is an understatement. Mt. Adams also was the first home in Cincy for regular midnight screenings of Rocky Horror. And showing Eraserhead was a very happy time in my life!