NightHawk1 your posting is wrong. Marquee and Box office still stands today. Not in great shape but still there. Also when the North 11 starting showing X Rated films it had to put up the lights so that the general public (kids) couldn’t see it from the road. It never showed x Rated films without the lights. Drive-In closed in 1985. My farther leased and ran the property from the Broadway family from 1972 until 1985.
In no way do I mean anything by the following comments. I was the Manager of the Carmike 7 when it was first opened and I was there for 2 years. I also kept in touch with the Mangers who ran the Carmike 7 when I left. Yes it may have not been in the best part of town, but I never and neither did anyone else who ran the theater after me have any trouble there. Not sure where Raysson is getting their information. In fact we did not show a lot of black films there. I also managed
the Willowdale Cinema in Durham and when I was there we always had trouble. Carmike 7 was a safe place to go.
I wanted to correct some of the information on here. After the Mall Cinema was twined each auditorium had a seating capacity of 225 not 265. Also it was twined in 1985 not 1981. I worked at the Mall Cinema from 1985 when I was in High School and when I graduated I was the Manager until 1990. Even when Stewart and Everett owned it, the name was always Mall Cinema Twin, after the one auditorium was split into two. The theater also closed in 95 or 96 not 99. Last week I was in Kinston and stopped by the theater. The side door was open and I went in. The roof has a bad leak, the lobby has multiple places. Auditorium 1 was still in decent shape, but auditorium 2 was in terrible shape. Not even one ceiling tile was still up. I took a lot of pictures if anyone would like to see.
Projection Room
This pic of the lobby is actually the Willodaile 8 lobby not Carmike 7.
I don’t remember. But I do know the biggest auditorium was 300.
NightHawk1 your posting is wrong. Marquee and Box office still stands today. Not in great shape but still there. Also when the North 11 starting showing X Rated films it had to put up the lights so that the general public (kids) couldn’t see it from the road. It never showed x Rated films without the lights. Drive-In closed in 1985. My farther leased and ran the property from the Broadway family from 1972 until 1985.
The Willowdaile didn’t have a auditorium that would seat 500. The biggest auditorium it had was 300. I managed the theatre for 1.5 years.
In no way do I mean anything by the following comments. I was the Manager of the Carmike 7 when it was first opened and I was there for 2 years. I also kept in touch with the Mangers who ran the Carmike 7 when I left. Yes it may have not been in the best part of town, but I never and neither did anyone else who ran the theater after me have any trouble there. Not sure where Raysson is getting their information. In fact we did not show a lot of black films there. I also managed the Willowdale Cinema in Durham and when I was there we always had trouble. Carmike 7 was a safe place to go.
The one auditorium had a seating capacity of 175 but the big auditorium could seat 300.
I wanted to correct some of the information on here. After the Mall Cinema was twined each auditorium had a seating capacity of 225 not 265. Also it was twined in 1985 not 1981. I worked at the Mall Cinema from 1985 when I was in High School and when I graduated I was the Manager until 1990. Even when Stewart and Everett owned it, the name was always Mall Cinema Twin, after the one auditorium was split into two. The theater also closed in 95 or 96 not 99. Last week I was in Kinston and stopped by the theater. The side door was open and I went in. The roof has a bad leak, the lobby has multiple places. Auditorium 1 was still in decent shape, but auditorium 2 was in terrible shape. Not even one ceiling tile was still up. I took a lot of pictures if anyone would like to see.