AMC Lakes Mall Six Theatres
3345 N. State Road 7,
Lauderdale Lakes,
FL
33319
3345 N. State Road 7,
Lauderdale Lakes,
FL
33319
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Opened June 29, 1973, this was a six screen multiplex theatre, on Fort Lauderdale’s west side. Originally had dual projectors (Cinemeccanica V-4’s) in all six houses, later reduced to duals in only two houses, as Simplex Aero-Matic platters were installed. Later, all six houses received Christie platters. Closed on May 13, 1989. It was demolished in 1996.
Contributed by
Bruce Hannover
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Lakes 6 was among three AMC venues in Broward/Palm Beach to be enclosed in malls with two major department store anchors, Britts (defunct late 1970s) and Jefferson (defunct mid 1980s). The others were Boca (Raton) Mall and Cross County Mall (West Palm Beach).
Some prime Broward county premieres/exclusives landed at the Lakes 6 in the 1970s, from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” to “Julia.”
As with its local competitors — the Reef Cinema across the street, Lauderhill Cinema, 16th Street Cinema, and Plantation Theater moments south, and the Inverrary a few miles west — the Lakes 6 was gone by the mid 1990s, and the mostly vacant mall demolished and replaced by several big box retailers. A Magic Johnson Cinema was briefly considered for the Lakes Mall property.
Great info, S Porridge.
I need help with some other Broward sites.
Do you know anything about:
The DANIA DRIVE-IN
The STATE theatre in Dania
The GOLD COAST DRIVE-IN
MOVIE CITY 10 (it was an 8-plex)
and the SOUTHPORT THEATRE and drafthouse?
I want to list them but I know so little about them.
Al, be glad to give details about the three I spent time at (17th Street Causeway was once the edge of the universe, hence no time in Dania back then):
Gold Coast Drive-In (U.S. 1 near 10th St., Deerfield Beach)
Opened in the 1950s, reportedly accommodated 400 cars. Roadside marquee topped with an amusing cartoon gnome, pointing a star-topped wand toward the entrance. Many families (including mine) gave it frequent business in the 1960s (especially recall the double bill of “Yellow Submarine” for my Beatle-fan sister, followed by “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” for dad). Two indoor “mini theaters” were carved out in the base of the drive-in screen by the early 1970s (when the Ultra-Vision Twin opened nearby), told they had 16MM setups with folding chairs. Flea markets on weekends to benefit Deerfield Beach High School. Closed Thanksgiving weekend 1978 to make way for the Rivertowne Square shopping center.
Movie City 10 (Oakland Park Blvd. at Powerline Rd., Ft. Lauderdale)
Eight screens opened in the late 1970s, carved out of a short-lived department store (Grant City, an enlarged W.T. Grants, closed along with the rest of the company in the early 1970s). Presumed reason for the “10”: when first opened, 10 movies would be booked (piggybacked bookings on two screens). Each auditorium on the smallish side with no center aisles, but they did bring the likes of “The Marriage of Maria Braun” and other subtitled fare when no one else did so in Broward. Eventually leased out by then-fledgling Muvico Theatres. Closed by the mid 1990s, now replaced by a Lowe’s Home Improvement warehouse.
Southport Theatre (aka Southport Cinema & Drafthouse, 17th Street Causeway, Ft. Lauderdale)
Opened with a single screen late 1960s, adopted the Drafthouse format by the late 1970s/early 1980s. Broward’s longtime home for “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Twinned in its final years, briefly reopened as a stage theater. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll check on its current fate.
Thanks S. Porridge.
You know more about them than I do. I only have dates of operation. Will you submit them to CT?
It may take a couple weeks, but I’m aiming to burrow at the main library’s newspaper microfilm section a while to gather specifics. I’ll then submit those three to CT. Thanks for your comprehensive work too, Al!
Gold Coast, Movie City 10, and Southport now have their own pages here at CT. We now return you to recollections of the Lakes Mall 6.
Yes indeed, Lost Memory, that’s the AMC Lakes 6 (in what looks like a shared ad with General Cinema; for ads printed in the Ft. Lauderdale newspapers, GCC would just give a tiny inset box to the Hollywood Cinema at Young Circle).
The AMC Lakes Mall closed in 1989.
This opened on June 29th, 1973. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Lakes Mall opened November 30, 1972 and AMC had signed on to be in the center in 1972. The architect was Lloyd Frank Vann of Miami and the AMC was opened June 29, 1973. But the Lakes Mall ran into severe rouble in the 1980s during an economic downturn and retailers fleeing the center at 15-year opt outs on their leases.
The Lakes had already reached “greyscale status” 15 years after its launch - a term akin to a “dead mall.” AMC downgraded the venue to a sub-run discount house. The AMC Lakes Mall 6 went down offering all times and all shows for a buck. It closed with “I’m Gonna Get You, Sucka,” “Major League,” “Lean on Me,” “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege,” “Rainman,” and “Disorganized Crime” on May 13, 1989. The Mall, itself, drifted badly being declared unsafe as of April 1990 operating more as a strip center. It was mercifully torn down in 1996 taking the former AMC theatre with it.