Thanks Kino. Nice looking theatre but I see no color lights. Like so many owners they just put in white bulbs that at one time had blue,red, greeen and many other effect color lights. The Merced Theatre needs blue up on the side top and red around the tile ect. Bring in a showmanship lighting person please. I am blinded by all the white walls and lights.
Thanks for the ad DB. Its hard to find any photos of the Hollywood Chinese Theatre with the huge curved screen when they showed ‘Windjammer'in 1958. Must have looked great. My THS friend Ted Gooding from LA was there to see the movie. He told me about how great the curved screen looked and the sound of the water on the multi surround speakers. The nice dragon neon marquee was put in around this time and now they took It off.
Thanks for the nice DI ad. This is why todays movie theatres are dieing off. The movie theatres no longer run display ads in the local newspaper or mags just list the times and what is playing on the interenet. All the great movie ads started to disapear many years ago. Papers like the LA Times and the NY Times on Fridays had many pages of huge new movie listing ads some big and some small. A full list of all the neighborhood movie theatres got a listings also. Do the studios even still keep artist type people to make a ad on a new movie If you did want to advertise It in print. The new movie posters If you can find any outside a cinema are so not that interesting to draw you into the movie theatre. I collect old posters from the best years the 50’s 60’s for movie advertising.
Thanks ‘film’ for the photo info. You can see in this photo they put this giant curved Cinerama screen in front of the old screen tower. One bad advantage was the stereo 7 ch Cinerama sound system. Was just mono sound at this drive In. They did make a Eprad 3 ch stereo portable stereo in car speaker but I don’t think they used them at the Century Cinerama here. Must have looked great. I think they kept the screen up many years after all the 3 projector movies played and just ran 35mm scope, I wonder if they put in a 70mm projector in the middle booth?
‘SCREEN X’ is no Cinerama, Looks bad when installed in a older theatre and the surround speakers are still on the side walls with white paint. A beter install is where they put the surround wall speakers up on the top ceiling aiming down. Mostly effect just used at times in about 30% of a full movie. Does not look good on a scope film If the main front screen is not that wide, you get white screen at the top and bottom. Would look better If the'SCREEN X' main screen was curved and the side wall white areas had better projectors and blended in better with the front curve, They need to improve It someday. You pay extra for not much. Thanks David for the image.
SF downtown Market ST had so many large and small movie theatres at one time. Most are all gone now. The Fox Warfield, RKO Golden Gate, Orpheum Cinerama and the Strand are the only ones left. Used now for stage events. No more B ‘Grindhouse’ open all night movie cinemas left on Market ST in San Francisco. The small cinema next to the Warfield is now a adult dance theatre. Time to bring back the old Pix Theatre on Market ST. Now a storefront but hidden inside the bottom of a office building near the Powel BART station. Open It 24/7 show old retro movies get the people off the street.
Great photo must have been a 35mm slide at one time?. The Moonlite DI was near the curved screen UA D-150 Theatre before It was built. Now both have been torn down in Santa Clara CA. Thanks Rives for the image.
The sound is all screwed up in the small theatre at 418 Project. Twice I have gone in the last week to the 2025 Santa Cruz Film Festival. The stereo sound is not correct for when they run a DCP movie. They have all the voice stage speaker sound coming out of the side wall surround speakers. I complained to over 5 people and still no luck in getting this corrected. Must be a simple plug fix. You have three things that need to work. The DCP projector, the source of the movie and the stereo surround amp. Something is plugged in wrong. Must be frustrated for a producer/director who is showing their moivie and then the sound is coming from the wrong speaker source.
Nice former RKO movie theatre palace but the old seats in the upstairs loge area are way to close. You can have leg cramp problems, It’s rough If you have to get up and use the restroom in the dark. Aisles way to narrow and small. Seats at this event theatre are way expensive. Too bad the ‘Shuberts’ out of NY need to purchase the large long closed Pacific Warner Cinerama Theatre up the block on Hollywood Blvd and knock out the back wall and expand the stage for travelling shows.
Check out what is left soon! The Skyview DI is not demolished just yet. You can still see the old and new projection rooms plus refreshment building and boxofice areas. All the screens are gone and neon marquee out on Soquel Ave. The theatre lot will be razed in a few weeks. The old neon ‘Entrance’ sign over the boxoofice has been restored and is now lit at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz. See my new photos taken last week. By the time you read this (Oct 7 2025) the bulldozers/wrecking ball may have removed what was left of this classic Santa Cruz outdoor theatre. The next door hospital bought the land a few years ago and a new cancer center is going in where movies under the stars once played. No more drive In movies for a young new movie generation to enjoy in the beach city of Santa Cruz CA. You have to drive 40 minutes North to San Jose CA and go to the Syufy/Westwind DI.
No Landmark Theatres does not own the DelMar Theatre in Santa Cruz. The city of Santa Cruz owns the deco theatre building and store rentals. They spent most of the money along with the Ow family doing the renovation work. Landmark has the lease at this time. The Landmark movie chain is bankrupt and for sale. They do not maintain much of the DelMar they have no money. The city won’t fix all the neon outside and Landmark won’t bring back the stage curtains. I hear they still work but they will not use them. Landmark runs most of the same movies that play at the Syufy/Westwind Santa Cruz 9 Cinema a block away,a bad move. Many art/regular films never play the Santa Cruz area. The Delmar just sits mostly empty. When the lease is up We hope some new entertainment venture will take over this hot entertainment palace in downtown Santa Cruz CA. Another Planet Entertainment has just taken over the Castro Theatre lease in SF and now doing renovation work with live stage shows and movies coming, they plan to open Feb 2026. So many new condos and apartments going up every few months just a few blocks away. New people coming into Santa Cruz want to be entertained and they have the $$$. Santa Cruz has many tourists and students but they do not seem to want to make a visit to the lonely DelMar these days because of bad movie programing. Time to take out the twin cinemas in the former upstairs loge area and make the theatre one large event space for traveling shows and movies. The Rio Theatre in town does very well. I have asked the city many times to trim the trees outside the neon marquee so you can read what they are showing and nothing ever gets done. The DelMar has a place in Santa Cruz let’s get someone envolved in bringing this classic deco cinema back from the dead. Start with the neon blade marquee first! If the wrong people take over the lease It could be turned into a nightclub, gym health club, rock climbing space,bowling alley, antique stores,arcade games, restauarant food courts ,comedy club or some other crazy way to destroy the movie experience that the DelMar has given us in Santa Cruz.
Too bad they did not advertise in this newspaper ad that It was showing in 70mm & 6 Track Stereophonic Sound. This happend so many times in the roadshow era. Some 70mm theatres never bothered to let the public know of the 70mm film presentation showing in their ads.
Thanks Steven for the photo. Yes It is so sad that Sony Drafthouse Cinemas does not want to advertise what is playing inside the New Mission Theatre. A few months ago they left something up on the neon marquee for many months after a event had played. Free advertising not being used. If they don’t use a tall safe ladder then get them a marquee letter rod pole please. They are speneding money in installing new seats but won’t fix the dimmer blinking lights on the ceiling in the large theatre #1 space. The lights on the steps going up to the upper theatres are so dark someone is going to fall. The main large theatre needs multi color lights on the curtain and side organ grill space. Complain when you go write Drafthouse Alamo Sony!!!!!
Nice photo Joe. I had hoped they would have put in a larger more curved screen. Do the curtains work and is there masking sets ups top and sides? Do they have 70mm projectors in the booth?
Thanks Kino. Nice looking theatre but I see no color lights. Like so many owners they just put in white bulbs that at one time had blue,red, greeen and many other effect color lights. The Merced Theatre needs blue up on the side top and red around the tile ect. Bring in a showmanship lighting person please. I am blinded by all the white walls and lights.
Thanks for the ad DB. Its hard to find any photos of the Hollywood Chinese Theatre with the huge curved screen when they showed ‘Windjammer'in 1958. Must have looked great. My THS friend Ted Gooding from LA was there to see the movie. He told me about how great the curved screen looked and the sound of the water on the multi surround speakers. The nice dragon neon marquee was put in around this time and now they took It off.
Thanks for the nice DI ad. This is why todays movie theatres are dieing off. The movie theatres no longer run display ads in the local newspaper or mags just list the times and what is playing on the interenet. All the great movie ads started to disapear many years ago. Papers like the LA Times and the NY Times on Fridays had many pages of huge new movie listing ads some big and some small. A full list of all the neighborhood movie theatres got a listings also. Do the studios even still keep artist type people to make a ad on a new movie If you did want to advertise It in print. The new movie posters If you can find any outside a cinema are so not that interesting to draw you into the movie theatre. I collect old posters from the best years the 50’s 60’s for movie advertising.
Thanks ‘film’ for the photo info. You can see in this photo they put this giant curved Cinerama screen in front of the old screen tower. One bad advantage was the stereo 7 ch Cinerama sound system. Was just mono sound at this drive In. They did make a Eprad 3 ch stereo portable stereo in car speaker but I don’t think they used them at the Century Cinerama here. Must have looked great. I think they kept the screen up many years after all the 3 projector movies played and just ran 35mm scope, I wonder if they put in a 70mm projector in the middle booth?
I wonder If these are real two projector 35mm 3D films? They need to be on Blu Ray 3D someday. Thanks Cineast for the ad images.
Thanks for the great TODD-AO curved screen story. Must have looked great.
‘SCREEN X’ is no Cinerama, Looks bad when installed in a older theatre and the surround speakers are still on the side walls with white paint. A beter install is where they put the surround wall speakers up on the top ceiling aiming down. Mostly effect just used at times in about 30% of a full movie. Does not look good on a scope film If the main front screen is not that wide, you get white screen at the top and bottom. Would look better If the'SCREEN X' main screen was curved and the side wall white areas had better projectors and blended in better with the front curve, They need to improve It someday. You pay extra for not much. Thanks David for the image.
Thanks for the 3D info film. Someone needs to do a story on MR Farros, I think the theatre was once known at the Farros Theatre
SF downtown Market ST had so many large and small movie theatres at one time. Most are all gone now. The Fox Warfield, RKO Golden Gate, Orpheum Cinerama and the Strand are the only ones left. Used now for stage events. No more B ‘Grindhouse’ open all night movie cinemas left on Market ST in San Francisco. The small cinema next to the Warfield is now a adult dance theatre. Time to bring back the old Pix Theatre on Market ST. Now a storefront but hidden inside the bottom of a office building near the Powel BART station. Open It 24/7 show old retro movies get the people off the street.
Thanks Rives for the image. You can see they put in a CinemaScope addition on the sides in the early 50’s.
Thanks ‘Kino’ for the nice image of color lights used inside this cinema.
Great photo must have been a 35mm slide at one time?. The Moonlite DI was near the curved screen UA D-150 Theatre before It was built. Now both have been torn down in Santa Clara CA. Thanks Rives for the image.
The sound is all screwed up in the small theatre at 418 Project. Twice I have gone in the last week to the 2025 Santa Cruz Film Festival. The stereo sound is not correct for when they run a DCP movie. They have all the voice stage speaker sound coming out of the side wall surround speakers. I complained to over 5 people and still no luck in getting this corrected. Must be a simple plug fix. You have three things that need to work. The DCP projector, the source of the movie and the stereo surround amp. Something is plugged in wrong. Must be frustrated for a producer/director who is showing their moivie and then the sound is coming from the wrong speaker source.
Thanks Riv nice old neon marquee. Must have looked great at night. I wonder If they saved the sign when they torn down the movie lot.
Nice former RKO movie theatre palace but the old seats in the upstairs loge area are way to close. You can have leg cramp problems, It’s rough If you have to get up and use the restroom in the dark. Aisles way to narrow and small. Seats at this event theatre are way expensive. Too bad the ‘Shuberts’ out of NY need to purchase the large long closed Pacific Warner Cinerama Theatre up the block on Hollywood Blvd and knock out the back wall and expand the stage for travelling shows.
Nice color lights. I wonder If that is blue neon on he ceiling or LED lights?T Thanks film for the images.
Check out what is left soon! The Skyview DI is not demolished just yet. You can still see the old and new projection rooms plus refreshment building and boxofice areas. All the screens are gone and neon marquee out on Soquel Ave. The theatre lot will be razed in a few weeks. The old neon ‘Entrance’ sign over the boxoofice has been restored and is now lit at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz. See my new photos taken last week. By the time you read this (Oct 7 2025) the bulldozers/wrecking ball may have removed what was left of this classic Santa Cruz outdoor theatre. The next door hospital bought the land a few years ago and a new cancer center is going in where movies under the stars once played. No more drive In movies for a young new movie generation to enjoy in the beach city of Santa Cruz CA. You have to drive 40 minutes North to San Jose CA and go to the Syufy/Westwind DI.
No Landmark Theatres does not own the DelMar Theatre in Santa Cruz. The city of Santa Cruz owns the deco theatre building and store rentals. They spent most of the money along with the Ow family doing the renovation work. Landmark has the lease at this time. The Landmark movie chain is bankrupt and for sale. They do not maintain much of the DelMar they have no money. The city won’t fix all the neon outside and Landmark won’t bring back the stage curtains. I hear they still work but they will not use them. Landmark runs most of the same movies that play at the Syufy/Westwind Santa Cruz 9 Cinema a block away,a bad move. Many art/regular films never play the Santa Cruz area. The Delmar just sits mostly empty. When the lease is up We hope some new entertainment venture will take over this hot entertainment palace in downtown Santa Cruz CA. Another Planet Entertainment has just taken over the Castro Theatre lease in SF and now doing renovation work with live stage shows and movies coming, they plan to open Feb 2026. So many new condos and apartments going up every few months just a few blocks away. New people coming into Santa Cruz want to be entertained and they have the $$$. Santa Cruz has many tourists and students but they do not seem to want to make a visit to the lonely DelMar these days because of bad movie programing. Time to take out the twin cinemas in the former upstairs loge area and make the theatre one large event space for traveling shows and movies. The Rio Theatre in town does very well. I have asked the city many times to trim the trees outside the neon marquee so you can read what they are showing and nothing ever gets done. The DelMar has a place in Santa Cruz let’s get someone envolved in bringing this classic deco cinema back from the dead. Start with the neon blade marquee first! If the wrong people take over the lease It could be turned into a nightclub, gym health club, rock climbing space,bowling alley, antique stores,arcade games, restauarant food courts ,comedy club or some other crazy way to destroy the movie experience that the DelMar has given us in Santa Cruz.
I can’t tell this my be the projection booth rear auditorium back part of the Towne Cinema buliding with that brocken window above.?
Sorry I put this photo on twice. The Castro movie palace will look great when they re open in 2026. Try to visit them and check the place out.
Looks like the old scren tower in the midde with the 1954 CinemaScope addition on the sides.Thanks Rives for the cool circus image.
Looks like the Todd-AO curved screen. Looks like It chould have been higher and wider?
Too bad they did not advertise in this newspaper ad that It was showing in 70mm & 6 Track Stereophonic Sound. This happend so many times in the roadshow era. Some 70mm theatres never bothered to let the public know of the 70mm film presentation showing in their ads.
Thanks Steven for the photo. Yes It is so sad that Sony Drafthouse Cinemas does not want to advertise what is playing inside the New Mission Theatre. A few months ago they left something up on the neon marquee for many months after a event had played. Free advertising not being used. If they don’t use a tall safe ladder then get them a marquee letter rod pole please. They are speneding money in installing new seats but won’t fix the dimmer blinking lights on the ceiling in the large theatre #1 space. The lights on the steps going up to the upper theatres are so dark someone is going to fall. The main large theatre needs multi color lights on the curtain and side organ grill space. Complain when you go write Drafthouse Alamo Sony!!!!!
Nice photo Joe. I had hoped they would have put in a larger more curved screen. Do the curtains work and is there masking sets ups top and sides? Do they have 70mm projectors in the booth?