Cross County 8
4356 Okeechobee Boulevard,
West Palm Beach,
FL
33409
4356 Okeechobee Boulevard,
West Palm Beach,
FL
33409
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Edited from my June 20, 2021 (12:54 PM) post:
Closed on September 25, 1997.
This theatre opened on my birthday
Grand opening ad in photo section.
This opened on February 16th, 1979.
UA really took a bath on Okee Square 8, on Okeechobee nearer to I-95, replacement for the Village Green and Mall Cinemas. Think they just had a few years before Muvico Parisian opened nearby in the late 90s, just in time for UA to hit the skids. Local startup BMC took Okee Square over but they couldn’t turn it around. Last I heard, it’s still vacant.
It was the UA four-plex that opened within months of the Cross County. The much newer UA Village Green really hurt the dog-eared older AMC Cross County when it opened as it attracted the younger suburban westward neighborhoods.
As usual, arrogant egocentric AMC blamed the managers for the drop in business.
A 1979 Palm Beach Post article just happens to contemplate the area’s “overscreening.” I didn’t know the Village Green (typical interchangeable UA 70s sixplex) and Cross County opened within months of each other.
View link
I swear, the Palm Beach Post archives are more addictive than Facebook…
Century Village once had a closer, smallish neighborhood theater, the Century (later the Century Twin) near Okeechobee Blvd. and the Turnpike. Think that one was gone by the mid 80s. Nowadays, local movie fans have to rack up extra miles to either State Road 7 (Regal Royal Palm Beach) or U.S. 1 (Muvico Parisian) to get their fix. Century Twin, Cross County, Plaza, Mall Cinema, Movies at Village Green, Okee Square — all wiped out.
I managed this theatre for a few months around 1987-1988. It was haven for the Century Village crowd in a tacky mall. We did have fun when “School Daze” opened and a hip black crowd showed up and danced to “Doin' the Bump” at every performance.