Crown Aspen Hill Theatres
13729 Connecticut Avenue,
Wheaton,
MD
20906
13729 Connecticut Avenue,
Wheaton,
MD
20906
4 people
favorited this theater
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According to this article dated April 19, 2000, the Crown Theatre at Aspen Hill Shopping Center was set to close on April 30. Crown Theatres, which had taken over the 30-year lease on the house in 1996, was unable to negotiate terms for a renewal that were satisfactory to both the company and the landlord.
April 22nd, 1970 grand opening ad in photo section
mind you I heard horror stories how crappy the Olney 9 Cinemas were but where’s that listing too (here in Cinema Treasures)?? I was out there at the Olney Theater Center and was thinking that that part of Maryland or even the closed Aspen Hill theater doesn’t have a movie theater (well, it used to, but no longer).
What was the name of that magic/novelty store?
Thanks
The theatre had a seating capacity of around 1200. The two auditoriums were split in half in 1986 to make it a four screen complex. The architect was Victor Smolen.
The theater was not a Roth theater on it’s opening.The theater was very big on promotional items, thus the neat Caveman Dictionary from “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth”, the vomit bags from “Mark of the Devil” and the end-of-the-world newspapers for “The Omega Man”. A very eclectic mix of films with a good amount of reissues such as “7th Voyage of Sinbad” and the restored “King Kong” as well as more contemporary offerings like “Patton”, “The Cowboys”, “What’s Up Doc?” and even odd cultish items such as the sexploitation favorite “The Cheerleaders” and “Vault of Horror”. They would also show the occasional cartoon and short including a newsreel from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse which seemed to be a recurring favorite.
I am pretty sure this was a Roth’s in the 80’s – and I kind of think it was up to 4 theaters… maybe only 2… I remember seeing Blue Thunder here in 1983 and I think one of the Star Trek Movies. I lived in silver spring, so this was kind of a haul but a good joint – with a record store (Kemp Mill’s) just a few doors down.
Movies I saw ZEPPLIN with Michael York. WHEN DINOS RULED THE EARTH [sexy cavegirls] but rated G and the final movie i ever saw before going back to Georgia was THE OMEGA MAN with Charlton Heston. I still have the flyer they gave away at the Concession. THANKS FOR A GREAT THEATRE.Flyer from THE OMEGA MAN WAS like a newspaper,
I spent a few weeks in Wheaton with my cousins.They were a bit older so i found the Aspen Hill twin Cinema.Being from Augusta We had not gotten our first Twin theatre so i was excited to go to the theatre. I remember a record store nearby.
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The Aspen Hill opened on 4/22/70. Theater #1 showed BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE, Theater #2 showed TRUE GRIT.
I do remember this theater fondly. I saw my first X-rated movie there. I think I was 15. ;)
I seem to recall that originally it was indeed a Roth Theater. Roth had theaters all over the place in Montgomery County, in practically every little shopping center. The upkeep was pretty good as was the film quality, I’m not entirely sure why they sold out or went out of business.
The Aspen Hill Theater used to show all kinds of stuff that you might not see elsewhere. For instance, before Bruce Lee was ever really popular, they showed his movies there, as well as a variety of other chop-suey westerns, as we used to call them. They also had a lot of exceptionally bad films from Hammer Studios, including titles such as “Revenge of the Wolfman’s Orthodontist” or things fairly close to that. Of course, they had things like “Billy Jack”, “Fearless Vampire Killers” (Sharon Tate’s last film), and they always showed “Pink Panther” cartoons instead of Warner Brothers cartoons.
Yes, the CVS is now occupying the space… See also
http://www.aspenhillnet.net
and click around.
When I lived in the area, I could have sworn that this theater was a twin operated by the Roth group in the early 80s. I don’t think as a twin, either had stereo, which was probably why I never went back.
This CVS Pharmacy currently resides in the space where the Aspen Hill Theatres once resided. Some of the records I have come across appear to indicate that the number of screens was expanded from two to four before its closure.