Vineyard Twin Theater
1509 E. Valley Parkway,
Escondido,
CA
92027
1509 E. Valley Parkway,
Escondido,
CA
92027
2 people
favorited this theater
Was part of the Vineyard Mall, the Vineyard Twin Theater was opened by United General Theatres on July 3, 1974 with Oliver Reed in “The Three Musketeers” & Barbra Streisand in “What’s Up Doc?”. Each auditorium had 250-seats. It was soon taken over by Edwards Cinemas. It was closed on April 12, 1999 with Julia Roberts in “Stepmom” & Ron Livingston in “Office Space” and the animated feature “The Prince of Egypt” & James Van Der Beek in “Varsity Blues”. The mall was demolished and there is now an Albertsons roughly where it was.
Contributed by
Chris Flora
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Also, as of this posting it should be noted that a small portion of the mall still exists, which is the Acapulco Restaurant. It was part of a MUCH larger structure, but they left that part of the building alone and made it look like a stand-alone building.
Here’s an article with a mention of the Vineyard Twin Theater.
http://retailtrafficmag.com/development/trends/retail_screen_gems/
“Edwards, a Newport Beach, Calif., company that merged into Regal Entertainment Group following bankruptcy, closed the Vineyard Twin Cinemas and six-screen Nordahl Road Cinema in Escondido, Calif., in 1998 after opening an 18-screener in nearby San Marcos. The San Marcos opening also prompted closure of the 15-year-old, independently run Del Norte Plaza Movies 8 cinema; when Del Norte management failed to find a new operator for the theater, it rented the gutted space to LA Fitness Clubs.”
Here’s a cool newspaper clipping showing all the movies playing in the general area back in 1975.
Newspaper Clipping
From this site: Valley Drive-In Blogspot
I worked at this theater when I went to Orange Glen High School. It was a great place to work, with fun audiences and enjoyable films. I also loved the design of the Vineyard Shopping Center complex, which I wish had more businesses to keep it going. Great theater, great mall.
The Vineyard Twin Cinema was built by two “lucky” United General Theatres franchisees Herb Bilton and Al Cooper. But during that build-out, United General Theatres was uncovered as using fraudulent business practices leading it into bankruptcy in April of 1973. The competing Network General Cinema, the parent of Jerry Lewis Cinemas -a similar scheme, had filed bankruptcy just one month earlier.
The two identical, automated auditoriums seated 250 patrons each opened on July 3, 1974 launch of the Vineyard Twin with “The Three Musketeers” and “What’s Up, Doc?” That ad is in photos. The jail terms for United General’s executives including Joseph Kosseff were handed out the next year.
Edwards Theatres acquired the venue downgrading it to discount, sub-run status. It closed on April 12, 1999 at the end of a 25-year leasing agreement with “Stepmom” and “Office Space” splitting one screen and “Prince of Egypt” and “Varsity Blues” splitting the other.