Westown I & II
7600 Kingston Pike,
Knoxville,
TN
37919
7600 Kingston Pike,
Knoxville,
TN
37919
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Fotomac, The movie playing on July 15, 1977 was “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo”
Can anyone remember what the feature was for the week of 15 July, when Star Wars came to town?
This opened on December 20th, 1972. Grand opening ad posted.
Here’s an article about it: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/09/24/Car-strikes-five-at-Temptation-protest/8960591076800/
Thanks tntim. I always wondered who did that, do you remember the name of the councilman?
There was never a major fire at the Westown Theater. There was a fire that gutted one of the auditoriums at the Kingston Four Theatre on December 21, 1979. The only news that appeared in the newspapers after the showing of “The Last Temptation of Christ” was the trial of the former City Councilman who had run his car (while intoxicated) through several protesters in front of the theatre. The theater continued to operate until Cineplex Odeon closed the theater on June 28,1990, along with several others around the country. Link I also posted the final add in the photo section.
Am I the only one who remembers that this theater burned rather than be demolished? I recall fairly clearly that a few months after the Last Temptation of Christ showed at this theater that it burned (so no later than early 1989) and many people in Knoxville thought there was some connection between the two things. My memory is also that the fire was officially blamed on bad wiring or a faulty plug on one of the popcorn machines. It was torn down and never rebuilt. The new theater inside the mall didn’t come along until the original Westown Theater had been gone for quite a while.
I worked at this theater in the late eighties during college, it was a fun time. I was there when someone drove a car into a crowd of Last Temptation of Christ protesters and was surprised it barely made the news.
Westown Theater opened on December 20, 1972. The theatre closed as a single screen theatre on October 16, 1983. After the theatre was twined, it reopened as Westown I & II on October 28, 1983. The last day of operation was on June 28, 1990, and it was demolished shortly after.
When Westown opened, it replaced the historic Tennessee Theatre downtown as the flagship theatre for ABC Southeastern Theatres in Knoxville. When Bill Courey, the city manager, was asked what the future for the Tennessee was, his response was; “We will continue to operate it, but it is hard to keep a large theatre that is located in the downtown area, and my guess is we will have to close it. After that, I am afraid it will become a parking lot.” Today the Tennessee is alive and enjoying the best years of its life, and the theatre that was built to replace it is now the parking lot.
An aerial photo of the theatre can be found here: link It is the oval building in the lower left hand corner of the mall parking lot.
For those keeping track of former Ultra-Vision venues, there were also two in South Florida: The Ultra-Vision Twin in Deerfield Beach (now demolished after 25 years as a church)
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15990
and the Dolphin in Palm Springs (near West Palm Beach)
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/31804
Lifespans for both: 1971 to 1985.
The photo of the Westown is very similar to a Deerfield Ultra-Vision auditorium.
thanks again for the updates.
If I’m not mistaken, the very first film to show in the new theater was The Getaway with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. I also vividly remember watching The Hobbit at a midnight showing there, probably 1978 or 79.
Anyone that worked here please check out REMEMBERING PLITT THEATRES on Facebook.
This was a nice theater. I remember seeing E.T., and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? there. I can also recall, in 1987, riding in the car on Kingston Pike, and seeing a bunch of Jesus-freaks standing outside the theater with picket signs, protesting Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
tntim, that’s it exactly. That design could be built as two theatres, with the box office and concession stand in between the two auditoriums.
The Westown was originally a very nice theatre – large screen, good sound system, and comfy seats. I imagine the twinning process spoiled most of that.
If you look at the photos of this theatre in Charleston,http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27447/photos , you are looking at the Westown Theatre. Both were Identical in appearance.
Westown got it Price increase from the nearby Knoxville home office of Plitt Theatres. If they get “JEDI” prices will be $4.50 for adults and $2.50 for kids.
Wow, I had forgotten all about the Fox! I remember now I actually went there once, to see THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE. I lived in East Knoxville, and rarely went very far out Kingston Pike. As I remember the Fox was west of the Westown Mall. The Capri complex always seemed kind of strange, theaters built next to each other more than what is thought of as a multiplex nowdays.
Thanks tntim,I have family about 40 miles outside K-Town,so sorta grew up around that area in the Summers.
bbrown, To add to the list of indoor theatres in 1972 is the Fox Theatre. Also instead of listing just the Capri, it should be the Capri Cinema, Capri-70, and the Capri Terrace. So there was a total of 10 indoor screens.
Mike, You are correct, it was one of the Ultra-Vision theatres that ABC was building in the 70’s. And it’s correct name was Westown Ultra-Vision. It was a single screen seating 800.
Thanks bbrown1,great writing on those East Tennessee Screens.At one time {1956} Augusta,Ga had 13 Drive-ins,but with the Bomb plant on the other side of the Savannah river once that place got going alot of outdoor screens were gone that like Oak Ridge and of course TV. I am still trying to find the name of that third Drive-in In Newport,Tn.
Interesting now when I think back to when I moved to Knoxville in August of 1972, there were only 7 open indoor movie theaters (Westown, Capri, Park, Tennessee, Riviera, Bijou, and Gay Street Cinema), but 9 open drive-ins (Twin Aire, Chapman Highway, Cinema, Dixie Lee, Family, Knoxville, Skyway, River Breeze, and Lakemont). All were single screens except for the Capri and Twin Aire. All of the indoor theaters excet for the Park were downtown on Gay Street or on Kingston Pike. At that time, the Bijou, Gay Street Cinema, and Dixie Lee Drive-In were showing “Hard X” movies, and the Chapman Highway Drive-In was showing “Soft X” movies. Technically the Lakemont was in Alcoa, but it advertised in the Knoxville papers, and I remember the first night after I moved to Knoxville, we went to the Lakemont to see FRITZ THE CAT. The only ones I never got to were the Dixie Lee and Skyway, which I’m pretty sure were both closed by 1973. The Community Drive-In in Mascot was intact, but already closed by 1972.
Yes, it was Abc Southeastern/Plitt theatre.April 27 1983 Prices for “JEDI” were set at 2,50 for kids and 4.50 for adults.Cedar Bluff was Fifty cents cheaper across the board.Your Knoxville District manager was George Deavours.For “JEDI” and “SUPERMAN” there were no Bargin matinee price.No senior citizen price,no passes, no rats {reduced tickets sold to industry and schools}.Bruce Torbett managed Westown in the late 70’s.Westown was a twin playing “D.C.CAB” and “TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. On these two films Attendance was 3573.Concession Sells were $3142.00. per cap 87.9 [NOT BAD].Payroll that week at Westown was 405.00 {which tells me the Assistant was selling concession or either working Box,we did that in Augusta to the point I was sick of it}.Jan 4. 1984 Ron McHone was Manager of Westown.
Yes,it was a single screen.I wonder if it was an Ultra-Vision Theatre that Abc Theatres opened in the 70’s.
I moved to Knoxville in 1972, and I believe the Westown only had one screen when it opened. As I recall, the only other(non-X rated) walk-in theaters open in Knoxville at the time were the Capri on Kingston Pike, the Park on Magnolia, and the Tennessee and Riviera downtown on Gay Street. I only remember going there once, and I think it was THE WILD ROVERS with William Holden and Ryan O'Neal. I remeber the circular shape, but I don’t think it was ever Cinerama. It was definitely the newest, nicest indoor theater in Knoxville at the time.