Redondo Beach Cinema 3

1509 Hawthorne Boulevard,
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp., Loews, Regency Theatres

Architects: George T. Kirkpatrick

Previous Names: South Bay Theater, South Bay 1-2-3

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Redondo Beach Cinema 3

At one time, this was actually three separate free standing buildings – each one a large, modern single screen theater.

The first, simply called the South Bay Theater when it opened on December 20, 1964, was built close to Hawthorne Boulevard. Next to it were storefronts and a bowling alley. On the other side of the alley, Cinema 2 was built, another large, modern single screen house. A little further down, #3 was built which was the nicest of all and may have been equipped for 70mm.

Eventually, Cinema 2 was twinned, and then the original theater was tri-plexed in the 1980’s.

General Cinema later built a large multiplex in the adjacent shopping center and the two newer houses were closed.

The original theater operated as an independent, second-run triplex as the Redondo Beach Cinema 3 until it was closed on March 11, 2010. It was demolished in summer of 2010

Contributed by Manwithnoname

Recent comments (view all 43 comments)

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on August 4, 2010 at 7:01 pm

R.I.P. Redondo Beach Cinema 3.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 5, 2010 at 4:58 pm

Where do we go now to watch movies for three bucks?

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on September 8, 2010 at 5:16 pm

Ray Milland story was good long with others.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 13, 2010 at 9:35 am

Looks like they are building something on the site.

ChasSmith
ChasSmith on August 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm

I hope I’ve positioned the street view accurately. Don’t have any photos yet. The theaters were just to the south of the (then) South Bay Galleria Mall, which is what I remember it being called in the 1980s.

LawMann
LawMann on June 29, 2013 at 3:31 pm

South Bay Cinema 3 which was next to Levitz furniture never ran 70mm. In fact it didn’t even have stereo sound. The booth has two Simplex XL projectors. When I worked there in the early to mid 1970’s General Cinema operated the three theatres.

jimtheactor
jimtheactor on January 25, 2015 at 9:40 pm

I saw SNOW WHITE there at a very young age, JAWS there when it first came out, and then upon my return to the area in the 1980s, I saw CHUCK BERRY: HAIL HAIL ROCK AND ROLL. Good memories.

plasticvengeance
plasticvengeance on February 9, 2018 at 12:08 pm

So so many amazing memories here. The screen nearest Hawthorne Blvd. most often, I saw Sixteen Candles, The Karate Kid and more in the 80’s. The twinned house in the middle also showed Rocky Horror and other midnight movies (Dawn of the Dead, Cheech & Chong flicks) on the weekends. And that bowling alley complex was AMAZING, complete with an ice cream parlor, a coffee shop, a bar and an arcade. You could live there. ;)

Scott Neff
Scott Neff on December 26, 2018 at 6:13 pm

So near as I can figure from LA Times ads, and if anybody knows differently please correct me:

12/29/1964 Statewide Theatres opens the South Bay Theatre

11/01/1967
Loews acquired Statewide Theatres

08/21/1969 Loews opens South Bay 2

12/24/1971 Loews opens South Bay 3

06/28/1972
General Cinema acquires Loews in Southern California

12/20/1974 GCC splits South Bay 2 causing a name shift to all three buildings. South Bay 1 > South Bay I South Bay 2 > South Bay II-III South Bay 3 > South Bay IV

11/14/1986 South Bay 1 is split into three, causing a name shift to the buildings. South Bay 1 > Cinema 4-5-6 South Bay 2-3 > Cinema 2-3 South bay 3 > Cinema 1

11/25/1997 Cinema 2-3 and Cinema 1 close as GCC Galleria at South Bay 16 opens the following day inside the mall.

03/11/2010
The original South Bay theatre, now the Redondo Cinema 3 closes.

rivest266
rivest266 on November 16, 2019 at 11:15 am

December 20th, 1974 grand opening ad posted.

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