While I was waiting in the lobby at the Heights Theater recently, an old woman approached me and my girlfriend’s family, and started talking with us about old Twin Cities theaters. She said this one — the Terrace, in Robbinsdale — was the most opulent. My girlfriend’s dad was a young guy in the 50s and 60s, and he said he remembered it being a big event when he and his friends would go there. A few days later, I caught this archived MPR interview with a Twin Cities historian whose latest book is called “Twin Cities Picture Show: A Century of Moviegoing.” Apparently the Terrace was his favorite, too. Here’s part of the interview.
First, a caller said: “I grew up in North Minneapolis, and the movie theater we always went to was the Terrace. That was a very nice movie theater, and it even had a special TV room where you could go and watch and wait for the movie. I remember seeing some great movies there…”
The historian, Kenney, commented: “The Terrace, I have to say, is my favorite theater. It was this, what they called ‘ultra-modern’ — a wonderful place, sort of a cross between your living room and a country club and a movie theater. As he said, they had the TV screening room, these wonderful snack bars there, it was just a beautiful, beautiful place. People who were in the movie business came from all over the country to see this thing. It was one of the first post-War theaters that really showed how you could draw audiences in during what was actually a difficult time in the movie business…It’s sitting there, unused, right now. It has plywood over its old windows and doors — it’s just waiting for someone to come in and bring it back to life, and I hope it happens, because it was a wonderful place.”
While I was waiting in the lobby at the Heights Theater recently, an old woman approached me and my girlfriend’s family, and started talking with us about old Twin Cities theaters. She said this one — the Terrace, in Robbinsdale — was the most opulent. My girlfriend’s dad was a young guy in the 50s and 60s, and he said he remembered it being a big event when he and his friends would go there. A few days later, I caught this archived MPR interview with a Twin Cities historian whose latest book is called “Twin Cities Picture Show: A Century of Moviegoing.” Apparently the Terrace was his favorite, too. Here’s part of the interview.
First, a caller said: “I grew up in North Minneapolis, and the movie theater we always went to was the Terrace. That was a very nice movie theater, and it even had a special TV room where you could go and watch and wait for the movie. I remember seeing some great movies there…”
The historian, Kenney, commented: “The Terrace, I have to say, is my favorite theater. It was this, what they called ‘ultra-modern’ — a wonderful place, sort of a cross between your living room and a country club and a movie theater. As he said, they had the TV screening room, these wonderful snack bars there, it was just a beautiful, beautiful place. People who were in the movie business came from all over the country to see this thing. It was one of the first post-War theaters that really showed how you could draw audiences in during what was actually a difficult time in the movie business…It’s sitting there, unused, right now. It has plywood over its old windows and doors — it’s just waiting for someone to come in and bring it back to life, and I hope it happens, because it was a wonderful place.”