Just a side comment about unchaperoned kids:
We all grew up in a time when our moms threw us out of the house and told us not to come back till the streetlights came on!
The times were not simpler, or safer back then. Just the fear mongering kid-snatcher-on-every-corner reporting of the 24 hour news channels today. It saddens me to see such a societal regression where an ederly man in a park dare not help a child who’s fallen down for fear of being accused of attempted molestation .
Wow. Great photo of such an obscure place. The balcony had been sealed up, I think, by the time I frequented this theatre (1978-1982), but I remember the curved walls with the exit doors down front well.
Thanks for the update, Jack. Wow, I remember the old Rodman’s Drug Store in the back of the shopping center. I am amazed it is still there! The theatre now…just a ghost. Life goes on.
It is the same theatre, same building. They did add another section to the right of the theatre. Don’t know when. Was a hardware store when I was living there circa 1980.
The metal gate is new. There was none when I attended shows there. Fancy embellishment, or high crime area?
Went to this passion pit a few times in my senior year. Saw Phantasm there. Look in the rear view mirror, and I could watch Inframan! What a gonzo time!
I so remember the Fremont (grindhouse) theatres. Saw many a sleaze flick there in the late 70’s, early 80’s.
I also really loved to go to the Red Rock 11. That was THE show place to hang for us young dating kids. Was hard to jack into extra shows though, an usher at every door. Damn them. I was an usher at the Cinedome Six theatres for a while…what a cool place too! Nothing yet on this site about it. Does it still exist?
I barely recall attending of of those matinee shows like you described. I was born in 1962, so I was on the latter end of that time. I vividly remember being annoyed by the other loud, raucious kids around me. I wanted to see the show, dammit!
Needless to say I grew up to be a serious film buff. Cannot stand cell phones in theatres today.
Hey Joe S.
Paul here. I grew up in the Rockville/Wheaton area but maybe a decade ahead of you. Attended St Jude as a student. Oooh, those scary nuns! Give me a hey back at :
If either of you in need of help once you find a theatre, lemme know. I have past experience in show and promotions, on top of being a movie theatre fanatic like you.
Always wanted to own and run my own theatre. Hust never had the seed money.
Good luck!
Paul in Lawrenceville.
I have a real love/hate relationship with this Mayberry of a theatre.
I lived in Boulder City, Nv thru my final 3 yrs of high school (Boulder High, natch!). Now, you gotta realize, downtown Boulder consisted of maybe 4 blocks. Main St (and it really was called Main Street) was 2 of those blocks. The Boulder theatre was set dead center facing the lone town drugstore across the street. The bowling alley (8 lanes!) was THE hot hangout for the teen crowd. Woo hoo.
Needless to say, Saturday nights were fairly busy at this singular flicker palace. Didn’t matter that the Boulder Theatre ran, not 2nd run movies, but 3RD RUN titles. Movies that had played in nearby Las Vegas (24 miles away) 8,9, 10 MONTHS ago!
I moved there from the D.C. area in 1977. Close Encounters of the Third Kind had its Boulder premiere in the fall of 1978! (FYI: CEOT3K was released Dec of 77.)
Anyway, beggars can’t be choosy. My first high school girlfriend worked there. The owners were an old, grumpy couple. Didn’t see them much. But, she would get me in free. Slip me some popcorn. Sneak in to join me in the back row when the concession stand was slow. Hickeys and cop feels galore.
Even better, she was a film junkies' dealer for original movie posters! Damn, I loved her. Started a huge collection of one sheets:
Star Trek the Motion Picture, Superman, Scanners, The Wall….on and on.
Well, to the hate part:
Part of the joy I get out of films is sharing good movies I know with friends and watching their reaction. One Saturday night at the Boulder, they were showing Sliver Streak. Now, Silver Streak came out in 1976. I had seen it about 6 times. Loved the train crash thru Central Station at the end. So, I took 3 of my buds who hadn’t seen it. The theatre was nearly full. The print being shown was baaaaad. Scratchy, dirty, several breaks/splices in the much passed around print. Oh, well…no cable, pre-Blockbuster era. Whatcha gonna do?
Well……..
things settle down, movie gets to it’s big climax, train barreling toward the end… music pumping…tension…wait for it…
“Click, scatch, blip, splice!"
End credits roll.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
The whole climax had been long ago spliced out of the print.
Worst yet, the theatre owner knew it, but ran the week long engagement anyway. You think a woman’s scorn is hell? You should have seen me! Oh, I was pissssssssssssed!
I imagined a lobby riot; torch weilding villagers demanding their $3 refunded. Lori, my girlfriend, said the manager (owner) left early.
No shit. I refused to speak to her for a week after that.
Well, that particular memory will torment my movieloving soul till I die.
I lived in Henderson, then N Las Vegas circa 1980 to 84.
At the time, the Red Rock 11 was a primo showplace. There were not yet the 20+ megaplexes that were to come. Two, four and six-plexes were the norm. So, 11 first run choices was an embarrassment of riches to we film fans.
It was a cool layout as well. Built like a Disneyesque mini town of the early 1900s. All red brick and black wrought iron, you literally strolled through a replica of small town mainstreet, the various auditoriums entrances serpentined thru out. The ceiling was a faux sky with painted whisps of clouds. Great date place. You would want to get there early just to hang around.
I also saw many of my fave movies there:
Omen II, The Fury, Scanners…too many to recall them all.
I DO remember going to some midnight show there and coming out to find someone had smashed my car windshield with a coke bottle. Bastard.
The parking lot was a real bitch to navigate, though. Due to the multiple expansions of screens, the parking lot snaked all this way and that. Pain to get out of there quickly.
But, still, was a cool environment for families and dates. Real sad end being so vandalized, then shuttered. Like many great places, the neighborhood goes to hell and dooms them.
Wow!
I lived in North Las Vegas in the early 80’s. Just about a mile from Fremont St. Being a broke, 19-20 yr old punk, I, like many, cruised Fremont St on any given night looking for cheap thrills. Remember, Fremont Street is the OLD Vegas strip (the one you always see in old movies and the tv series Vegas). Like 42nd St in NY… wonderfully sleazy and slimey.
This theatre was a true grindhouse by the time I discovered it.
I first stepped in it when I had my eldest sister drop me and a friend off there for my 17th birthday to see Dawn of the Dead. Holy Hell! What a baptism by fire in the sleazehouse world!
I attended many a (cheap) matinee there, catching any low rent,z-grade shit that had a cool poster to sell it.
The Fremont Theatre was my $10 whore with a heart of gold.
One curious architectural feature I noticed:
As you entered from the street, you stepped down 5 or 6 steps into the nondescript, narrow lobby. Seems you were already entering the bowels of hoped for depravity. Nice.
I never bought popcorn or other from the singular concession stand. I was too broke for that. Always smuggled in my own candy, Who hasn’t, eh?
Another thing; I recall the Fremont as being a 2 screener. They must have dualed it by the time I found it. They would certainly have to.
But…my fondest, sad, excited, frustrated memory has to be this:
I bought my ticket to a typical midweek matinee (alone, as always) of some bad B flick. I sat in my habitual seat (about a 3rd from front, always center seat). Maybe 6 people in the whole auditorium.
About 15 minutes in, a 30 something woman, attractive, but working it hard, came and sat directly behind me. As the movie progressed, she leaned forward and asked me what she missed. Dorky, polite me..I told her. She asked more questions. I answered. She then came around and sat next to me, claiming to not being able to hear my answers.
My teen heart pounded! Wow! A porn fantasy coming true? Yeah, she was old(er), but the cleavage. Oooh…the cleavage.
As the movie (don’t even ask me what it was about at this point) progressed, she kept leaning into me. We ended up my arm around her, she nuzzling my neck.
The movie ended (How? Who knows.), the lights came up. The lone, bored usher came in, boredly sweeping. We got up and left. She asked, “what are we gonna do now?"
Long story short… she was a Fremont St hooker looking for a date. Seeing as I did not have any money (at ALL!), she ditched me in the next door casino faster than the old lady near me was losing her quarters in the slots.
Sigh.
At least she gave me a few weeks of jack off fantasies.
Guess she really was a cheap date.
God bless you brother! man after my own heart.
Screw owning a restaurant. I too always wanted my own art house theatre. I know i could make it rock. Midnight shows of Rocky Horror a must! Good luck!
I grew up in Rockville (just down the road), 60’s-70’s kid.
Early memory of this simple but BIG single screen theatre in a rather nondescript shopping center. Mom and Grandma took me to see the rerelease of the Ten Commandments. Being a catholic tot at the time, THAT was damn impressive!
I also saw the 7 year cycle rerelease of Fantasia there. The screen was looong (2:35 to 1), but not concave, I don’t think. Could be wrong. I know the seats were the typical low-back, flip-up seat, no cup holder (didnt exist then), type. And the grey painted cement floor was always, always sticky. Ahhh…. bliss.
It closed in 1975. Could not compete with the new multiplex and mall theatres popping up. Then, it reopened for a brief while as a porn palace. Funny driving by the V shaped jutting marquee with my Mom trying NOT to let her see me read the sordid titles listed there upon.
Needless to say, whitebread, conservative lil' Rockville area did not support this local pussycat theatre. You had to go downtown D.C. for that red light district. It shuttered. Nothing for years. Then totally gutted, leveled (God, I hate when theatre floors get leveled) and turned into a drug store.
But… The Aspen Hill Theatre a few miles away was my favorite, anyway. More on that later.
Toodles.
Just a side comment about unchaperoned kids:
We all grew up in a time when our moms threw us out of the house and told us not to come back till the streetlights came on!
The times were not simpler, or safer back then. Just the fear mongering kid-snatcher-on-every-corner reporting of the 24 hour news channels today. It saddens me to see such a societal regression where an ederly man in a park dare not help a child who’s fallen down for fear of being accused of attempted molestation .
Wow. Great photo of such an obscure place. The balcony had been sealed up, I think, by the time I frequented this theatre (1978-1982), but I remember the curved walls with the exit doors down front well.
Thanks for the update, Jack. Wow, I remember the old Rodman’s Drug Store in the back of the shopping center. I am amazed it is still there! The theatre now…just a ghost. Life goes on.
It is the same theatre, same building. They did add another section to the right of the theatre. Don’t know when. Was a hardware store when I was living there circa 1980.
The metal gate is new. There was none when I attended shows there. Fancy embellishment, or high crime area?
Went to this passion pit a few times in my senior year. Saw Phantasm there. Look in the rear view mirror, and I could watch Inframan! What a gonzo time!
I so remember the Fremont (grindhouse) theatres. Saw many a sleaze flick there in the late 70’s, early 80’s.
I also really loved to go to the Red Rock 11. That was THE show place to hang for us young dating kids. Was hard to jack into extra shows though, an usher at every door. Damn them. I was an usher at the Cinedome Six theatres for a while…what a cool place too! Nothing yet on this site about it. Does it still exist?
…
I barely recall attending of of those matinee shows like you described. I was born in 1962, so I was on the latter end of that time. I vividly remember being annoyed by the other loud, raucious kids around me. I wanted to see the show, dammit!
Needless to say I grew up to be a serious film buff. Cannot stand cell phones in theatres today.
Ok, so how much and where the heck can I buy it?
Input, please.
Hey Joe S.
Paul here. I grew up in the Rockville/Wheaton area but maybe a decade ahead of you. Attended St Jude as a student. Oooh, those scary nuns! Give me a hey back at :
If either of you in need of help once you find a theatre, lemme know. I have past experience in show and promotions, on top of being a movie theatre fanatic like you.
Always wanted to own and run my own theatre. Hust never had the seed money.
Good luck!
Paul in Lawrenceville.
I have a real love/hate relationship with this Mayberry of a theatre.
I lived in Boulder City, Nv thru my final 3 yrs of high school (Boulder High, natch!). Now, you gotta realize, downtown Boulder consisted of maybe 4 blocks. Main St (and it really was called Main Street) was 2 of those blocks. The Boulder theatre was set dead center facing the lone town drugstore across the street. The bowling alley (8 lanes!) was THE hot hangout for the teen crowd. Woo hoo.
Needless to say, Saturday nights were fairly busy at this singular flicker palace. Didn’t matter that the Boulder Theatre ran, not 2nd run movies, but 3RD RUN titles. Movies that had played in nearby Las Vegas (24 miles away) 8,9, 10 MONTHS ago!
I moved there from the D.C. area in 1977. Close Encounters of the Third Kind had its Boulder premiere in the fall of 1978! (FYI: CEOT3K was released Dec of 77.)
Anyway, beggars can’t be choosy. My first high school girlfriend worked there. The owners were an old, grumpy couple. Didn’t see them much. But, she would get me in free. Slip me some popcorn. Sneak in to join me in the back row when the concession stand was slow. Hickeys and cop feels galore.
Even better, she was a film junkies' dealer for original movie posters! Damn, I loved her. Started a huge collection of one sheets:
Star Trek the Motion Picture, Superman, Scanners, The Wall….on and on.
Well, to the hate part:
Part of the joy I get out of films is sharing good movies I know with friends and watching their reaction. One Saturday night at the Boulder, they were showing Sliver Streak. Now, Silver Streak came out in 1976. I had seen it about 6 times. Loved the train crash thru Central Station at the end. So, I took 3 of my buds who hadn’t seen it. The theatre was nearly full. The print being shown was baaaaad. Scratchy, dirty, several breaks/splices in the much passed around print. Oh, well…no cable, pre-Blockbuster era. Whatcha gonna do?
Well……..
things settle down, movie gets to it’s big climax, train barreling toward the end… music pumping…tension…wait for it…
“Click, scatch, blip, splice!"
End credits roll.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
The whole climax had been long ago spliced out of the print.
Worst yet, the theatre owner knew it, but ran the week long engagement anyway. You think a woman’s scorn is hell? You should have seen me! Oh, I was pissssssssssssed!
I imagined a lobby riot; torch weilding villagers demanding their $3 refunded. Lori, my girlfriend, said the manager (owner) left early.
No shit. I refused to speak to her for a week after that.
Well, that particular memory will torment my movieloving soul till I die.
I lived in Henderson, then N Las Vegas circa 1980 to 84.
At the time, the Red Rock 11 was a primo showplace. There were not yet the 20+ megaplexes that were to come. Two, four and six-plexes were the norm. So, 11 first run choices was an embarrassment of riches to we film fans.
It was a cool layout as well. Built like a Disneyesque mini town of the early 1900s. All red brick and black wrought iron, you literally strolled through a replica of small town mainstreet, the various auditoriums entrances serpentined thru out. The ceiling was a faux sky with painted whisps of clouds. Great date place. You would want to get there early just to hang around.
I also saw many of my fave movies there:
Omen II, The Fury, Scanners…too many to recall them all.
I DO remember going to some midnight show there and coming out to find someone had smashed my car windshield with a coke bottle. Bastard.
The parking lot was a real bitch to navigate, though. Due to the multiple expansions of screens, the parking lot snaked all this way and that. Pain to get out of there quickly.
But, still, was a cool environment for families and dates. Real sad end being so vandalized, then shuttered. Like many great places, the neighborhood goes to hell and dooms them.
Wow!
I lived in North Las Vegas in the early 80’s. Just about a mile from Fremont St. Being a broke, 19-20 yr old punk, I, like many, cruised Fremont St on any given night looking for cheap thrills. Remember, Fremont Street is the OLD Vegas strip (the one you always see in old movies and the tv series Vegas). Like 42nd St in NY… wonderfully sleazy and slimey.
This theatre was a true grindhouse by the time I discovered it.
I first stepped in it when I had my eldest sister drop me and a friend off there for my 17th birthday to see Dawn of the Dead. Holy Hell! What a baptism by fire in the sleazehouse world!
I attended many a (cheap) matinee there, catching any low rent,z-grade shit that had a cool poster to sell it.
The Fremont Theatre was my $10 whore with a heart of gold.
One curious architectural feature I noticed:
As you entered from the street, you stepped down 5 or 6 steps into the nondescript, narrow lobby. Seems you were already entering the bowels of hoped for depravity. Nice.
I never bought popcorn or other from the singular concession stand. I was too broke for that. Always smuggled in my own candy, Who hasn’t, eh?
Another thing; I recall the Fremont as being a 2 screener. They must have dualed it by the time I found it. They would certainly have to.
But…my fondest, sad, excited, frustrated memory has to be this:
I bought my ticket to a typical midweek matinee (alone, as always) of some bad B flick. I sat in my habitual seat (about a 3rd from front, always center seat). Maybe 6 people in the whole auditorium.
About 15 minutes in, a 30 something woman, attractive, but working it hard, came and sat directly behind me. As the movie progressed, she leaned forward and asked me what she missed. Dorky, polite me..I told her. She asked more questions. I answered. She then came around and sat next to me, claiming to not being able to hear my answers.
My teen heart pounded! Wow! A porn fantasy coming true? Yeah, she was old(er), but the cleavage. Oooh…the cleavage.
As the movie (don’t even ask me what it was about at this point) progressed, she kept leaning into me. We ended up my arm around her, she nuzzling my neck.
The movie ended (How? Who knows.), the lights came up. The lone, bored usher came in, boredly sweeping. We got up and left. She asked, “what are we gonna do now?"
Long story short… she was a Fremont St hooker looking for a date. Seeing as I did not have any money (at ALL!), she ditched me in the next door casino faster than the old lady near me was losing her quarters in the slots.
Sigh.
At least she gave me a few weeks of jack off fantasies.
Guess she really was a cheap date.
God bless you brother! man after my own heart.
Screw owning a restaurant. I too always wanted my own art house theatre. I know i could make it rock. Midnight shows of Rocky Horror a must! Good luck!
I grew up in Rockville (just down the road), 60’s-70’s kid.
Early memory of this simple but BIG single screen theatre in a rather nondescript shopping center. Mom and Grandma took me to see the rerelease of the Ten Commandments. Being a catholic tot at the time, THAT was damn impressive!
I also saw the 7 year cycle rerelease of Fantasia there. The screen was looong (2:35 to 1), but not concave, I don’t think. Could be wrong. I know the seats were the typical low-back, flip-up seat, no cup holder (didnt exist then), type. And the grey painted cement floor was always, always sticky. Ahhh…. bliss.
It closed in 1975. Could not compete with the new multiplex and mall theatres popping up. Then, it reopened for a brief while as a porn palace. Funny driving by the V shaped jutting marquee with my Mom trying NOT to let her see me read the sordid titles listed there upon.
Needless to say, whitebread, conservative lil' Rockville area did not support this local pussycat theatre. You had to go downtown D.C. for that red light district. It shuttered. Nothing for years. Then totally gutted, leveled (God, I hate when theatre floors get leveled) and turned into a drug store.
But… The Aspen Hill Theatre a few miles away was my favorite, anyway. More on that later.
Toodles.