Gila Twin Theatres
5th Avenue and 7th Street,
Safford,
AZ
85546
5th Avenue and 7th Street,
Safford,
AZ
85546
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The Gila Theater was originally located on the southwest corner of 5th Ave and 7th St. It was shut down around 1991 or 1992. It was demolished 10 to 15 years ago and now a warehouse for Ace Hardware sits on the site.
I’ve found a reference to the Gila Theatre in Boxoffice Magazine as early as August 14, 1948, but don’t find it mentioned later than 1952. The area around 1914 W. Thatcher looks to be of fairly recent development, so it seems unlikely that the Gila would have been built out there so long ago, unless it was a drive-in (which I don’t think it was.) Nevertheless, CinemaTour places the Gila Theatre at that address. I think that’s probably wrong.
There’s currently a Walgreen’s on the south side of the street and an older-looking shopping center on the north side. Google Street View doesn’t get close enough to see if anything in the shopping center looks like it might have been a theater, and Bing Maps has no bird’s eye view of the location, but Google search brings up an address of 1970 W. Thatcher for the Mount Graham Shopping Center, and the October 16, 1972, issue of Boxoffice said that a single-screen Jerry Lewis Theatre had recently opened in that center, with 350 seats. This might have become the Cinema 1, but there’s a hitch with the location.
I find Cinema 1 popping up at the address 1914 Thatcher on a number of web sites, but there’s also a theater at the east end of town, at 555 Entertainment Avenue, currently operating as the Victory Discount Cinema, and its sign is visible at the side of Thatcher Boulevard in Google Street View. I’m pretty sure that sign says Cinema 1. The picture is probably a couple of years old. Could there have been two Cinema 1 operations in Safford?
There’s still a movie theater open in the Mount Graham Shopping Center, too. Boxoffice Mojo brings up a 5-screen, called the Sapphire Cineplex, at 1998-B W. Thatcher. From the address it doesn’t sound as though it would be the Jerry Lewis Theatre (possible Cinema 1) expanded.
Historically, Safford also had a Ramona Theatre, operated by Long’s Theatres, as late as 1949. There might also have been a Pima Theatre around 1960 (the Boxoffice reference is vague) and there is another vague Boxoffice reference to a new theater being operated by Long’s in 1974, with no name given. There was also at least one drive-in.
Anyway, Safford is one of those confusing places about which information is, if not scanty, often vague. For now, the address of the Gila Theatre remains one of the town’s many mysteries.