Lakewood Theatre

2027 Stewart Avenue SW,
Atlanta, GA 30310

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Showing 1 - 25 of 35 comments

Rstewart
Rstewart on April 25, 2023 at 5:42 pm

I don’t recall anyone ever even giving this location a shot as an independent after Storey closed it. This has to be some kind of record for active years vs. continued idleness before demo.

JFB
JFB on April 24, 2023 at 4:38 pm

I rode by this theater this afternoon and it has been demolished.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 14, 2018 at 1:16 pm

This opened on October 12th, 1966 and twinned opening on August 16th, 1974 and closed in 1987. Ads in the photo section.

1kdcartee
1kdcartee on August 28, 2011 at 6:22 pm

I hear Ciff Case is still alive in Atl. he owns a few rooming house I’m told – My name is dale cartee and my brother was danny we both worked there for many years i still work there from 1972 – 1980-81 – i’m living in england now my brother is still in Ga. i work at OLD NATIONAL when Ciff went there for a while then back to Lakewood – the good old days…

bethune1
bethune1 on August 28, 2011 at 4:10 pm

FORGIVE MY SPELLING…UPDATE ITS SAMMY BROOKS AND ROY..JOE HOOKS.AND MANY MORE

bethune1
bethune1 on August 28, 2011 at 4:06 pm

I WORKED AT THE LAKEWOOD TWIN THEATRE IT WAS LOCATED AT 2027 STEWART AVE..S W ATLANTA GA 30315 AT THE OLD LAKEWOOD SHOPPING CENTER.CLIFFORD CASE AND PEARL BROOKS WERE THE MANAGERS THERE..STORY’S SOLD THE LEASE TO A ONE OWNER OPPERATION.AROUND 1987.THEY CLOSED ABOUT A YEAR WHEN STORY'GAVE IT UP.I WAS VERY YOUNG AT THE TIME.CLIFF WOULD PAY ME TO POP POPCORN BECAUSE I WAS TO YOUNG FOR PAYROL.ROY AND HIS BROTHER JOE WORKED WITH ME THERE ALSO SAMMY BROOKS PEARL BROOKS SON..I WORKED THERE FROM 1979 UNTIL 1987.I LOVED WORKING THERE IT WAS ALOT OF FUN.I CAN REMEMBER MIKE WILSON WOULD NEED EXTRA HELP AT OLD NATIONAL.SO I WOULD GO THERE TO HELP HIM..ALSO JIM HARVEY AT NORTH 85 DRIVE INN.I WOULD WORK THERE FOR MORE HOURS.I COULD WRITE A BOOK ABOUT MY TEEN YEARS AT THESE THEATRES.GOD BLESS PEARL BROOKS,SHE WAS A VERY GOOD FRIEND.AND MY THEARE MOTHER.SHE HAS PASSED ON..BUT SHE STILL LIVES IN MY MEMORIES AND HEART..TO ALL THE MY FRIENDS I WORKED WITH THERE I STILL KEEP YOU IN MY HEART AND PRYERS..I WOULD LOVE TH SEEM THEM AGAIN.THE HOOKS…AMMY BROOKS.I DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPEN TO CLIFF.BUT I TALK WITH BOB..OUR TALL SECURITY OFFICER FROM THE SHERRIFFS DEPARTMENT.ANY WAY…HOPE THIS BRINGS GOOD TOUGHTS TO YOU..JAMES BETHUNE 678 906-9598

cmb004
cmb004 on May 31, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Isn’t this 1723 address the old Lakewood neighborhood theatre in Lakewood Heights…not the theatre at the Stewart Lakewood Shopping Center, which is being remembered in these comments?

Tonyboy
Tonyboy on May 1, 2011 at 2:51 am

I grew up in the Lakewood Area. I remember my parents taking me to the Lakewood Theatre to see The Beatles Yellow Submarine and Dr. Zhivago. I believe i saw 2001 – A Space Odyssey as well. I remember getting the Marathon Candy Bar and the Chunky Candy Bar. There was also a small drive in theatre across the street from the Lakewood Shopping Center & Zayre’s on Stewart Ave (where a car wash sits now). The stores I remember visiting were Woolworth’s, Woolco, Otasco and the Dipper Dan. I believe the grocery store in the shopping center was a Colonial Store. Back then the stores has huge glass windows. We often went to the 72 Lanes Bowling Alley anadjoinngs

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on April 5, 2011 at 6:41 pm

thanks Stan and Jb,“MINSKEYS” was rated M,bet you guys thought you were going to see something!LOL.

JBrantley
JBrantley on April 5, 2011 at 6:17 pm

During the 1960s, Lakewood, Greenbriar, Westgate and the Eastpoint were the only places in this area to see a movie. Unfortunately, they would probably be playing the same thing. Many times, the Eastpoint and Greenbriar would play the same thing even though they were owned by the Georgia Theater Company.

Thanks Dennis for your comments on The Sound of Music. I was only about 9 or 10 when it played at Lakewood so my memory is not as developed as it would have been if I were older at the time.

Another memory of Lakewood is going with a friend when in the fifth grade to see The Night They Raided Minskeys. Would you let a 10 year kid go unsupervised to see that. Those were the days.

Looking at the Lakewood building today, and the surrounding shopping center, no one would believe that that whole area was a thriving shopping center in the 1960s and early 1970s. 72 Lanes as well as the Funtown amusement complex was right down the street.

How things have changed.

StanMalone
StanMalone on March 4, 2011 at 3:39 pm

Thanks for the list Michael. I am pleased to see that you got your Birmingham and Atlanta information for your Sound of Music article before you decided to restrict it to reserved seat engagements. Three things about that list stand out for me.

First, I see that the engagements at Lakewood and North DeKalb started the same day as the one I described attending at the Ritz Theatre in Birmingham on its page. I wonder if this was some type of regional or nationwide Christmas (unofficial) reissue to take advantage of the holiday business. It might have been what amounted to a moveover in Atlanta, but in Birmingham it had been over a year since the end of the roadshow engagement.

Second, I attended the June 1968 engagement at the North 85 Drive In. I recall the field being crowded and it must have done well to stay for two weeks, a very rare event at a drive in.

Third, I recall the ad in the Storey ladder for the August 1969 Emory engagement. They had block lettering over the title reading “Going Out of Release Until 1973.” I thought that was just some angle to try to get people to attend, but turns out it was true.

I guess that about wraps the SOM discussion here, but there was one other thing I thought of while looking at the microfilm the other day. In those days when newspaper movie ads had some character instead of looking like the phone book, it was the norm to see the artwork in the ads updated with new scenes and a fresh look as the run lengthened. In all of the SOM ads then and later I do not recall anything other than the classic Julie Andrews “dancing” pose. Just like with the Scarlett and Rhett picture on the GWTW ads, it was all you needed to see to know what was playing.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 3, 2011 at 2:02 pm

Thanks Mike,In the Fall we could always count on “the Sound Of Music” being booked in the early to mid 70’s. At National Hills in Augusta,The old ladies drove this 17 year old doorman crazy.

Mike Durrett
Mike Durrett on March 3, 2011 at 1:57 pm

The above dates are enlightening and fascinating, suggesting to me that after nearly two continuous years in Atlanta, THE SOUND OF MUSIC was essentially played out. There never was a saturation neighborhood indoors/drive-ins break on the film, only a few locations at a time. By comparison, Don Knotts' 1966 THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN opened simultaneously in two dozen Atlanta area theatres. They craved product.

It is amazing that the movie took 3.5 years to play in Atlanta drive-ins and only a smattering of those. The bookings after the drive-ins in the summer of 1968 appear to be of no rhyme or reason, so that means filler time. As was/is true of GONE WITH THE WIND, if your theatre has an open week, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is a safe bet to turn a few bucks.

I do recall the two bookings at the Emory when I worked there and they were fillers.

Coate
Coate on March 3, 2011 at 12:09 pm

Stan, et al…

Here is what I have been able to put together in reference to a chronological breakdown for the Atlanta area’s bookings of “The Sound of Music” during the 1965-69 period when Fox had the film in circulation. As you can tell, it kept coming back…and back…and back, which may explain why so many people recall it playing for so long. Finally, in summer 1969, Fox said enough is enough and pulled it from release. Of course, they re-issued it in 1973 and again in 1978, but that’s another story.

03.24.1965 … Atlanta â€" Martin Cinerama (90 weeks)

12.23.1966 … Atlanta â€" Lakewood (10 weeks)
12.23.1966 … Decatur â€" North Dekalb (10 weeks)

08.17.1967 … Smyrna â€" Miracle (5 weeks)

10.18.1967 … Atlanta â€" Hilan (2 weeks)
10.18.1967 … Atlanta â€" Westgate II (3 weeks)
10.18.1967 … Decatur â€" Belvedere (2 weeks)
10.18.1967 … Tucker â€" Village (3 weeks)

06.12.1968 … Atlanta â€" Bolton Drive-In (1 week)
06.12.1968 … Cartersville â€" North Starlite Drive-In (1 week)
06.12.1968 … Chamblee â€" North 85 Drive-In (2 weeks)
06.12.1968 … Decatur â€" Glenwood Drive-In (2 weeks)

08.28.1968 … Marietta â€" Martin Drive-In (1 week)
08.28.1968 … Smyrna â€" Smyrna Drive-In (1 week)

09.04.1968 … Atlanta â€" Rhodes (1 week)

10.16.1968 … Marietta â€" Georgia Drive-In (1 week)

11.06.1968 … Avondale Estates â€" Towne (4 weeks)

11.27.1968 … Atlanta â€" Westgate II (1 week)

12.18.1968 … Smyrna â€" Belmont (1 week)

02.05.1969 … Atlanta â€" Emory (1 week)
02.05.1969 … Atlanta â€" North Springs (1 week)

08.13.1969 … Atlanta â€" Emory (1 week)

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 2, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Pictures were okay,wish there were more.

Mike Durrett
Mike Durrett on March 2, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Nice, Stan — and Michael for your referenced research article. My lonely goatherd thanks you.

I can more or less confirm the North DeKalb and Lakewood playdates were exclusive, unless the movie was in the Marietta/Cobb County area at the same time. In those days, that area of metro Atlanta was considered a separate market. That said, I’m sure you would have noticed and reported such, Stan.

This two theatre intermediate run was an example of a then recent trend in the Atlanta market. Some major films would get an exclusive suburban window between the first-run engagements, usually downtown, and the mass neighborhood hardtops/drive-ins blast. For examples, earlier BORN FREE and THE GREAT RACE runs at the North DeKalb (and, I believe, Lakewood) followed their Fox and Rialto first-runs and then on to the remainders.

My fuzzy memory is THE SOUND OF MUSIC rested for a few months, after the Lakewood-North DeKalb showcase, before hitting the neighborhoods in the summer of 1967.

StanMalone
StanMalone on March 2, 2011 at 10:47 am

Thanks to JB, Mike, and Michael for starting this thread on the Sound Of Music booking at the Lakewood. The question of the length of the run gave me an excuse to engage in one of my guilty pleasures, namely going to the library and looking through microfilm newspapers ads of theatres from ages past. The ads from those days indicate the following: Sound Of Music opened 12/23/66 and ran 10 weeks, leaving on 3/2/67. On 3/3/67, both theatres (North DeKalb and Lakewood) opened a movie called Quiller Memorandum. It must have been a bomb because on 3/10 the Lakewood opened a return of Born Free although Quiller did continue at the North DeKalb. I did not go much further, but it does not appear that Sound Of Music was brought back as a filler which might have been the cause of some confusion.

Two items of interest here. The quality of the microfilm is not good enough to read the text lineup, but looking through the ads I could not find any other theatres playing Sound Of Music during the 10 week run, so it looks as if these two might have had an exclusive booking for this intermediate break. Also, starting on 3/3/67 no other theatres picked it up. Michael, do any of your notes shed any light on this? Maybe Fox decided that after 100 weeks of constant availability it was time to give it a rest.

JB: Do not start to doubt yourself because of this. As I have said before on other pages on this site, I have posted several theatre stories that I remember participating in just as clearly as if they happened yesterday only to have Michael post a correction. Only once among these events have I even been close to being right, and that was only because of a matter of talking about Atlanta bookings in terms of the city limits as opposed to Atlanta as a regional booking zone. Once I was even foolish enough to dispute a correction he made on a comment of mine regarding Star Wars. I was wrong of course.

On the general subject of Sound Of Music itself, Michael has written a very nice article on this site. http://cinematreasures.org/news/23149_0_1_0_C/

Mike Durrett
Mike Durrett on February 23, 2011 at 12:54 am

In those mid-‘60s days in the suburban theatres, even two or three-week runs would seem long. It was a newish phenomenon in the Atlanta market, still largely single screen operations.

I was surprised to learn THE SOUND OF MUSIC ran as long as 10 weeks at the Lakewood, but Michael Coate is a fine researcher of theatrical information and that cements it for me. That extended length of the run was probably contractual before the picture opened and not necessarily based on the ticket revenues.

Working for Storey Theatres in those early years of the Lakewood, I remember quite well the in-house scuttlebutt was that the Lakewood was considered an underachiever and disappointment financially and seldom matched their North DeKalb location, although the pair would often be playing the same product on any given date.

JBrantley
JBrantley on February 22, 2011 at 7:54 pm

It was longer than ten weeks. My family would always ride by there on the way home from church. It was a very long run. Another interesting tidbit was when Rosmary’s Baby played there, they had a black baby carriage over the entrance.

Mike Durrett
Mike Durrett on January 29, 2011 at 9:49 am

Ten weeks was a very long run in those days, but no way it went a year, second run, even at this new theatre. This was the same suburban break with sister theatre, North DeKalb. I was borrowed from the Emory to work the concession stand and usher at the North DeKalb during THE SOUND OF MUSIC throughout the Christmas holidays. Phenomenal, sold-out business, show after show (850 seats), but no year-long run there either.

Coate
Coate on January 29, 2011 at 1:51 am

<<< “Hard to believe that ‘The Sound of Music’ played here for almost a year during the 1960’s.” >>>

It’s hard to believe because it’s not true! The Lakewood engagement of “The Sound of Music” played ten weeks during late-1966/early-‘67 following the close of the original 90-week, reserved-seat run at the Martin Cinerama.

1kdcartee
1kdcartee on August 7, 2010 at 5:35 am

i ued to work there for many years – Cliff Case was the manager for years – I’m Dale Cartee and my brothers work there too – i live in wiltshire england now – i enjoy the years of my youth working there and di til i was about 19 – its sad about the place now it was once a great icon of Atlanta when i started working there in the early 70’s …

JFBrantley
JFBrantley on July 1, 2010 at 3:31 pm

Hard to believe that “The Sound of Music” played here for almost a year during the 1960’s. “Rosemary’s Baby” played here with the requisite black baby carriage over the marque.

Here are 2 pictures of how the Lakewood Theater looks now.
www.flickr.com/photos/jfb57/4752295513/
www.flickr.com/photos/jfb57/4752293373/