Nickelodeon Theater
937 Main Street,
Columbia,
SC
29201
937 Main Street,
Columbia,
SC
29201
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12 year late reply, but I believe that The Nick was always associated with the Columbia Film Society johnathan and has been more of an arthouse than grindhouse throughout its existence. That being said, they did for a time have an After Dark series of some sort that ran some grindhouse adjacent films (and other “bad” movies), but I am not certain if that started before or after the move from this location to the current location.
This location was definitely not an exciting venue with chairs that felt more like you’d see in a church than a movie theater to my recollection on a mostly (possibly completely?) flat floor. The two advantages that it held though were being very close to the USC campus and playing films that you’d not get a chance to see anywhere else in town. It had a bit of a charm about it as well with old posters hung and such though.
I moved to South Carolina in the fall of ‘79 to attend USC as an undergrad. I saw my first Fellini film, Satyricon, there at the Nickelodeon, then, it changed my life and perspective. It was an amazing place, with nice coffees and pastries, and they had nutritional yeast in a shaker for the popcorn, which I never heard of, but found delicious and still continue today to crave nutritional yeast on popcorn, though its hard to find in Thailand where I have lived for many years. Happy memories of the Nick when I was young.
“The Nick” as it is known opened in 1979, and this location is currently closed as the Nickelodeon Theatre has moved to the site of the former Fox/State Theatre at 1607 Main St.
www.nickelodeon.org
Could this be considered a “grindhouse” theater? What films did they show in the late 70’s early 80’s? I see a small ad for “Das Boot” in the window!
What a great place this sounds like bringing art films to a community that would not see them at the awful plexes.