Lobby of the Hammond Square Cinema aka Cinema 285

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Uploaded on: December 22, 2022

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View from the front doors into the former lobby space. The lobby was not quite this wide as there was a wall on the left that formed a secure hallway from the box office to the stairs that led upstairs to the office. Those could very well be the same stairs. That green paint was the color of all of the non public spaces. The landing was enclosed with the tiny projection booth on the right and an even smaller office on the left. The opening at the foot of the stairs was not there during the theater days.

Directly ahead were restrooms that followed the theater theme of being as small as code would allow. On the left beyond those stairs were four solid exit doors that led to the back parking lot. There was no entry through these doors. On the right where the block wall is missing was the location of the concession stand. Entrance to the auditorium was on either side.

As opposed to everything else here, the auditorium was not only good sized but nicely shaped and appointed with 500 rocking chair seats. I only saw the place full a couple of times, both on Walt Disney pictures, and overall this location was not a success lasting only five years. The fact that most first run theaters were located nearby and later the practice of opening first run theaters in multiple theaters made this second run neighborhood house obsolete. .