Edwards Park Place 10
3031 Michelson Drive,
Irvine,
CA
92612
3031 Michelson Drive,
Irvine,
CA
92612
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When it opened on April 3, 1996 the Park Place was the third Edwards theatre to open in Irvine in about four months. The other two were the Irvine Spectrum 21 on the day before Thanksgiving 1995 and the Westpark 8 on December 21, 1995. This was one of Edwards better-designed theaters, which looked like no other Edwards Theater. It had very clean, straight and modern lines, which in no way had the massive look of the Irvine Spectrum.
Unfortunately it disappointed and puzzled many when it closed in January of 2006, just about three months shy of its 10th anniversary. One reason given was that the property was going to be redeveloped for a high rise. The Orange County Register quoted a Regal spokesman as saying “The landlord made us an offer which we decided was more economically beneficial than continuing operation.” The fact that AMC was building a 14-screen cinema about two miles away and the Park Place was non-stadium may have had something to do with its closing. The landlord Maguire properties said the departure was by mutual agreement. “Regal had no intention of making the capital improvements needed to be competitive, and the antiquated theater was not going to be an asset for our long-term goals for the center as an ideal place to live, work and play. The bottom line is that they wanted out, so we bought them out.”
The 10-year-old “antiquated building” was later demolished with no explanation and perhaps in the process coined a new phrase called “suburban renewal". Even more oddly, the two attached restaurants that book-ended the theatre were not torn down. As of 2011 the site remained a parking lot.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Saw several movies here including Deep Blue Sea and Minority Report. But my best memory of this theater was when I saw The Incredibles…it was the second date with the woman who is now my wife!!
I think the only movie I saw here was City of Angels…
April 3rd, 1996 grand opening ad in photo section
The Park Place was a nice 10-screen theater in a rather odd little pop-up shopping center. Located off busy Jamboree Road at the 405, you had to take cross street Michelson down a ways to access the center from behind. There was a new B. Dalton bookstore (odd since small mall bookstores were closing as B&Ns were opening everywhere), a sporting goods store (Big 5 or Sports Chalet) and a few restaurants, most notably the city’s first California Pizza Kitchen. It was basically that CPK that drew me to the theater a handful of times after dinner in 1996/‘97. I can distinctly remember seeing “Primal Fear” and “Grosse Pointe Blank” there but nothing else.
Picture posted.