Edwards Saddleback Cinema 6
23684 El Toro Road,
Lake Forest,
CA
92630
23684 El Toro Road,
Lake Forest,
CA
92630
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Edwards Cinemas, General Cinema Corp.
Previous Names: Saddleback 1-2-3
Nearby Theaters
This theater was located in a now-demolished shopping center on El Toro Road in Lake Forest.
It was notable in that three theatres were located at one end of the shopping center ("1-2-3") and the other three ("4-5-6") were at the other end.
It was opened by General Cinema Theatres on July 12, 1974. In 1977 it was taken over by Edwards Cinemas. It closed in the late-1990’s or early-2000’s, and was demolished around 2005. A new shopping center stands here now.
Interestingly, another Edwards, Edwards El Toro Cinema, was located right across the street.
Contributed by
Evan Wohrman
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
General Cinema opened this theatre on 7/12/74, as the Saddleback 1-2-3. Edwards added the site to their chain in the late 70’s and opened the second triplex on 2/8/80. Located in El Toro for most of it’s run as a cinema (El Toro became Lake Forest in 1991), the theatre was joined by both the Edwards El Toro 5 and Edwards/Sanborn Laguna Hills Mall 3 in the 1980’s; resulting in three Edwards sites being located roughly a mile away from one another and a, then surprising, fourteen screens serving the area.
The 1-2-3 had 3D anaglyph 35mm projection. I remember seeing Jaws 3D, Spacehunter 3D, and Metal Storm 3D. Once the 4-5-6 was built, the 1-2-3 started to play movies like Friday the 13th and Avenging Angel type films while the 4-5-6 played the bigger films like Ghostbusters. Then the El Toro 5 across the street started to be the theatre that opened all of the blockbuster titles in 1984. The 1-2-3 had this weird landscape and waterfall displays behind the building. When you exited the auditoriums it led to this path where the waterfalls were. It was neat and weird at the same time.
I can remember frequenting 1-2-3 as a kid in the ‘70s, but for the life of me I can only recall one title: Cloak and Dagger in 1984.
I remember movies at 4-5-6 more vividly: National Lampoon’s Vacation, The Lost Boys, Robocop and Coming to America to name a few.
I do have a faint recollection of the waterfall path that filmgeek73if speaks of. It was both neat and weird.
There was also a great stand-alone B.Dalton bookstore in the middle of the parking lot. Anybody remember that?
I remember going to theaters 123 and 456 as a kid. There was a Play company toy store and Pet store on the 456 theater side. The book store was in the middle of the parking lot and had a hexagon shape.I also remember walking through the back side of theaters 123 where the waterfall path was and going to a Arvac Electronic supply store on the other end of the shopping center where Kentucky fried chicken use to be.
Grand opening ad posted.
Opened by General Cinemas and taken over by Edwards in 1977
Michael Mann’s 1981 crime-noir debut “Thief” starring James Caan opened at the Saddleback 6 40 years ago this weekend.
The third theatrical re-release of “Star Wars” opened at the Saddleback 6 40 years ago this weekend (April 10, 1981). It marked the first time the texts “Episode IV” & “A New Hope” appeared at the beginning of the opening crawl.
Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi classic “RoboCop” opened at the Saddleback 6 35 years ago today (July 17, 1987).
I saw it here opening weekend with a full crowd as a teenager and loved it.
1987’s “The Lost Boys” opened at the Saddleback 6 35 years ago today (July 31, 1987).