Century 21 Theatre

More information and photos can be found here:

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Thanks Papibear for the nice compliment. Mike Coate, who is also co-owner of www.fromscripttodvd.com, is the other half of the research done on “70mm In….” He deserves a round of applause for his in-depth knowledge and editing expertise. :)

The “70mm In Orange County” project is really a labor of love, as you mentioned. It was an offshoot of the research we’d done on New York and Los Angeles 70mm engagements and theatres. I grew up in Orange County (before it was a catch phrase) and experienced going to most of these theatres. Mike and I thought it would be a good idea, while our memories were somewhat fresh, to catalog the them in print and with photos (if they were available). We’ll be adding some more new surprises to the OC section soon.

As a native of Anaheim and growing up a couple blocks away from the old Century 21 Theater all through the ‘60s, I know for sure that Knowlwood’s occupied what is now the burger restaurant in between IHOP and Taco Bell, not where McDonald’s is. That’s too far south. I remember seeing “Lost Horizon” in the early '70s.

Taco Bell is just north of the T intersection, so I think the theater was just a bit south, sort of half way between Taco Bell and McDonald’s.

At any rate, it was a nice theater and it’s sad to think it’s gone.

Although this theatre bore the name Century 21, it was not a Syufy house and was not designed by Syufy’s architect of that era, Vincent G. Raney. Raney’s Century 21, 22, etc. designs for the Syufy/Century chain were domed. Statewide’s Anaheim Century 21 was not domed. The Century 21 Theater in Anaheim was designed by the San Diego firm of Tucker, Sadler & Bennett. It was one of four similar houses designed by that firm for Statewide Theatres. One of them, Cinema 21 in San Diego, has only recently been listed on Cinema Treasures. The other two (the Inland Theatre in San Bernardino and a theatre in Bakersfield) are apparently not yet listed here.

There was a Raney-designed Syufy domed theatre in Orange County, the Orange Cinedome, opened in 1969 as a twin screen (each in its own dome) house called the Cinedome 20 & 21. I guess they used that name because they found their “Century 21” name had already been taken locally by Statewide’s earlier theatre.

Despite its name, this house was never operated by the Syufy family’s Century Theatres chain. Note that RonP’s comment of June 18, 2006, names the companies that operated this theater: Statewide, Loew’s, and General Cinema, and then the house was independently operated during its last year.