Fifth Avenue Cinema I & II

General Cinema was the last operator of this theatre. They acquired it from Loews in 1972 and operated it until 3/30/1989. Was last known as the Fifth Avenue Cinema I-II.

I posted the grand opening ad in the photo section for this cinema.

Nick see Mustang Drive-in.

The Loew’s St. Pete was bought out by GCC at about the same time they bought the Loew’s in Tampa. I think this was about 1972. Shortly afterwards both theatres were twinned and renamed. The Loew’s in Tampa became the Austin Cinema I & II and the Loew’s St. Pete became the 5th Avenue Cinema I & II.

Grand opening with “THUNDERBALL” Great opening Flick. Much better than when Loew’s in Tampa opening a major theatre with the soft-core"CANDY".

King of Peace MCC’s history page fills in some blanks:

http://www.kingofpeacemcc.com/pages/history.html

Based on the font of the sign, looks like General Cinema took over at some point.

Thanks, Mike. I need St. Paul, MN, Milwaukee, WI, San Diego, CA, Buffalo, NY, Kansas City, MO, Indianapolis, IN, Tampa, FL, Columbus, OH, Phoenix, AZ, Portland, OR, Providence, RI, Charlotte, NC, and Toronto, ONT – various years for each from 1957-1975. I’m trying to document what played each week in the first-run theaters or the date and theater(s) that other b-type films opened. I’ve been having my library borrow microfilms through Inter-Library Loan, but can only get 6 reels at a time (roughly 2 or 3 months) and it takes forever for stuff to come. The one market for which I have no research is Tampa, FL. I’ll consider St. Pete as part of that metro area, but does the St. Petersburg paper also have listings for Tampa? And how do you get to where you can type in the various dates you want – the link above just has December 25, 1965. Thanks!

Mike Rivest – what newspapers can you find like the links you posted for http://news.google.co/newspapers above – it could save me years of newspaper research if I knew how to work google’s newspaper archives – can you get most big city papers in the microfilm-type versions you put here?

Actually Loews was sold to TriStar Pictures, who later merged with their parent Columbia Pictures when Sony bought them. Just wanted to mention that.

Grand opening ad at View link

I am the person who added this theatre page to CinemaTreasures. Unfortunately I do not know anything more about the theatre, besides what I posted above from the Loew’s 1965 corporate annual report. Here is a link to page 7 of that report. You will need to rotate it 90 degrees in order to read it. I do not know whether the printed annual report was in color; this copy is in black-and-white.

The page has an artist’s drawing (not a photo) of the new theatre, which appears to me to be a non-descript modernist building with blank sidewalls but a lot of glass windows in the entry lobby. There is no marquee, but instead a free-standing sign outside the entrance. The drawing’s caption reads:

“Loew’s new Theatre in the heart of St. Petersburg, Florida, adjoins one of Florida’s largest and most successful shopping center complexes. Opens Dec. 25, 1965.”

Also on the same page is this text:

“Loew’s Theatres growth program is proceeding according to plan, with a minimum of twenty new theatres projected during the next two years. Before leasing arrangements are consummated, each theatre location is carefully researched as to immediate and future potential. The majority of these acquisitions will be located in important shopping centers situated in fast-growing suburban communities. Each theatre will provide extremely large parking facilities, be equipped to project all modern screen sizes, including 70 millimeter films, be seated with rocking-chair seats and be colorful in decor. Capacities will range from 1,200 to 1,400.”

This theatre is not torn down. I just attended church services there last week. The building is intact and meticulously maintained. Though it is a church, the exterior is restored and perfectly maintained.