Twin Bays 4
4250 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
4250 S. Dale Mabry Highway,
Tampa,
FL
33611
2 people
favorited this theater
Located in the Twin Bays Shopping Center, which was directly next to Britton Plaza. The Twin Bays 4 opened August 26, 1971. It was closed September 28, 1997.
The shopping center was demolished in late-2002, but the theater had been vacant for awhile. Last operated by AMC Theatres.
Contributed by
Andy
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Nick, I don’t believe you would ever sneak into another theatre.
You got that right…my sneaking-in days are history!
Sean and Kyle when they were 10 and 12 could sneak in the 20 plex all the time,just gotta look like you belong. Saved me some money.
I recall seeing quite a few movies here for $1 back when I was still new to the area (1995-1997). My fondest memory was a second date with my (now) wife, we went to see Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight, we wanted to go see a movie, but nothing of interest was playing in the first run theaters, so we hit the Twin Bays. I think we had our first kiss this same night, sealing our fates forever (yikes). We been married 14 years now!
As a youngster growing up in the Tampa Bay area, I have seen much of the growth and tragedy among Tampa’s cinema scene. I always thought it was a treat to go to the Twin Bays after my grandmother would take me shopping on MacDill Air Base. She would treat me out once a week as if I was good all day, and what a treat it was. I loved it because it was so small and cozy. You walked and you saw the entire building lol. And it was a great retreat for military families looking for affordable entertainment without breaking the bank. It was a sad day when AMC shuttered both locations. Its funny now when I drive by the old location..I can imagine all of the great memories I have attached to the old Twin.
I remember Twin Bays being the theater of choice for my mother. For some odd reason she did a lot of shopping at nearby Britton Plaza, we lived in West Tampa that’s quite a ride. A lot of my childhood movie memories happened at this theater. My mom would always say wait for the movie to come out on VHS or see it at the dollar theater, of course I waited to see it in the theater. Even when I had a choice of the first run theaters I usually chose this one, admission being $1.00 my mom didn’t mind splurging on candy, popcorn, and a soda. I always thought it was strange how far back this theater was positioned.
August 26th, 1971 grand opening ad in the photo section.
I went to work at Twin Bays in early 1977. I moved over from the Britton, where I had worked for a while, because Twin Bays paid 10 cents an hour more. I remember we ran SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT that summer for 27 weeks. Our assistant manager was a man named Bob Wiggins, who left to go become the guardian for his nephew in California who was appearing on the television show MAUDE. I learned a lot from him and emulated him as best I could in the 20 years that I managed movie theatres.
There’s no way SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT played at Twin Bays for 27 weeks (unless perhaps you’re combining the duration of first run and some return runs)! As the author of a retrospective article on that movie — Still East Bound and Down: Remembering Smokey and the Bandit On Its 40th Anniversary — I can relay my findings that the BANDIT run at Twin Bays was 8 weeks (May 27-July 21). Now, there were some six-month runs but not in Tampa. The longest Tampa run was the Eastlake Square’s run of 16 weeks (May 27-Sep 15).
Coate….my apologies. Our manager (Jim Folman) used to talk to customers in the lobby and he’d always talk about how we played the film for 27 Weeks, “just like STAR WARS!” Of course, now that I think about it, we went to a discount ($1.00) house Thanksgiving week of 1977 so no way we still had the film. Really enjoyed your article. I have an entertainment website – www.mediamikes.com Give it a look.