UA Arden Fair 6
1739 Arden Way,
Sacramento,
CA
95815
1739 Arden Way,
Sacramento,
CA
95815
3 people
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Opened on Friday, November 13th 1992 with Dracula, Under Siege, Passenger 57 and maybe 1 or 2 others, Dracula at least was on two screens. The two largest auditoriums had curtains, but those were taken out when UA joined the awful trend of showing pre-movie ads.
Theater was always poorly run- I saw Dracula the night it opened, it was the last showing of the night but there was an out of frame splice in the middle that not only had not been fixed but they didn’t even bother having someone go to the projector to fix the framing; someone had to go out and tell them to fix it. Never saw a perfect presentation there, you could almost depend on the film to be scratched or shown out of focus or misframed. Could have been a decent theater if it had been run properly, though the two smallest auditoriums were rather pathetic with center aisles where the best seats would have been. At least all screens were proper 2.35 with side masking.
In the end, this theater put itself out of business. A gym is rumored to be taking over the space, for now the two sliding gates seen in the picture are down.
Note about the older theater in the mall; when the two new auditoriums were added which had curtains, 70mm projection and Dolby Stereo, the original 4 auditoriums remained untouched with awful mono sound and fixed-ratio screens so movies were cropped either on the top and bottom or on the sides. The listings never even indicated which movie was playing in which auditorium, so I just stayed away altogether. The new theater was state of the art though it lacked 70mm; too bad they didn’t hire anyone competent to run it. (I had applied to work there before it opened but was not hired, their loss as I worked elsewhere as a film projectionist for many years.)
CLOSING TONIGHT, October 27, 2019. Farewell to #Sacramento’s United Artists Arden Fair 6, operated by Regal Cinemas. Regal will remove its assets and likely the space will be converted for retail. With big screen media moving to home streaming services, more and more multiplex theatres will be closing in the coming years. Regal will be migrating the staff and employees that care to stay on to other regional theatres, including the Natomas and Delta Shores locations. The building’s signage was the last vestige remaining of the once powerful and pioneering movie industry company United Artists, which made movies and ran theatres, founded by Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and David Wark Griffith. United Artists also owned and operated the beloved Sacramento movie place, thr Alhambra, from 1947-1972.
To clarify other entries…the original Arden Fair 4 (which I attended several times, by the way) was approximately in the spot where J.C. Penney is today. When UA took over the theatre, they expanded it with 2 large auditoriums, with 70MM capability (saw “Return of the Jedi” and “Batman” in 70MM during its initial runs there). When it was expanded you had to enter through a new main entrance in the rear of the mall while a long hallway would take you to the original 4 screens. When the current UA theatre opened several years later, the original was closed for the expansion to what Arden Fair Mall is today, a two-story shopping complex.
At least it looks like a new building in that 1982 ad. BTY I have over 100 ads for the Sacramento area and 1,400 for the State of California.
Scott, you are right, the new building with six screens opened on March 10th, 1982. Both 1969 and 1982 ads have pictures.
https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01110225224715029151557174969
The 1969 theatre was actually in an entirely different part of the mall. I haven’t been able to find concrete evidence of exactly where so I’ve never created a second entry for it, but the Arden Fair 4 reportedly an entirely different theatre than the current UA/Regal 6 Plex.
This opened by Transcontinental theatres on December 19th, 1969 as the area’s first multiplex cinema complex with 4 screens. Grand opening ad posted.
https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01110225224715029151556994847