North Park Cinemas 10
500 W. New Circle Road,
Lexington,
KY
40505
500 W. New Circle Road,
Lexington,
KY
40505
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On October 4, 1987, the North Park Cinemas experienced a massive incident involving an angry truck driver from Kansas City, Missouri, and the North Park Cinemas staff. The entirety of the incident became national headlines, and I think it’s best to add information about it.
Shortly after 8:00 PM that evening, a dispute over a movie ticket ended in an attempt to “turn the theater into a drive-in theater” (as what the Courier-Journal said) after the angry truck driver crashed his truck into a big chunk of the theater lobby. At the time of the incident, none of the 200 people from inside the theater were hurt nor injured. Police replied that 46-year-old Kansas City resident Clarence M. Dees bought a ticket to see one of the movies, “Fatal Attraction”, but he snuck into two other auditoriums in the middle of the movie to watch parts of “The Curse” and “Like Father Like Son”. Managers refused to refund Dees' money after he saw parts of those three movies.
About 15 minutes later, Clarence got outside, got into his trailer-truck, and crashed his truck into the lobby. Audiences who were watching either “Fatal Attraction” or “Dirty Dancing” in the theater heard the big boom from the lobby. The truck that was used in the crash is a Freightliner Conventional WFC-120 owned by Bestline Incorporated of Hopkins, Minnesota. Police confirmed that he maneuvers his Freightliner through a narrow walkway and drove over curbs and signs before crashing into the theater. Lexington Police arrested Dees while standing in the lobby next to his truck and was charged with six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and two counts of criminal mischief.
I worked at Northpark in ‘78. I wanted to get experience running xenon and platter systems. I’d only ever ran carbon arc equipment until then. Unfortunately, both Northpark and Southpark Cinemas quickly developed poor reputations because of constant breakdowns due to inferior equipment and unskilled operators. Mid States bought the cheapest projection and sound equipment on the market: Ballantyne Pro-35 projectors and Eprad “Simple Platters.” Experienced projectionists will know this is not a stellar combination. They also had home made automations - no two of which were timed the same. 120 volts on the cue detectors, and most speakers wired out of phase. Houses 2 through 5 had their projectors on platforms located in the lobby… open to popcorn oil in the air, which wreaked havoc on the platters. No one could thread in-frame, so frequent use of the nylon-coupled framers caused the Pro-35s to visibly bounce up and down on the screen. It was horrid.
Last operated by Sony Theatres.
NorthPark and SouthPark both opened on July 2nd, 1976
That’s The Closest Picture I Have Got So Far. I Cannot Find Anymore Lexington Mall Cinemas 1 & 2 Anywhere. So I Guess That I Have No Choice But To Add This Snipe In Here. Also Look At The Address. See The Bolded Avenir Text Reading “New Circle,” It Is Location On New Circle As Well.
Why is there a picture here advertising Lexington Mall Cinemas? It’s a different theatre entirely than the Northpark Cinemas. Northpark opened the same day as the Southpark Cinemas, in 1976.
Lexington Mall Cinemas began life as the Royal Cinemas – King and Queen, in 1975. It’s name was changed to Lexington Mall Cinemas after Mid-States Theatres acquired it from Hallmark in 1976 or ‘77.