Cinema 1 & 2

I’m having a hard time reconciling the description of this theater with the geographical facts of Fargo. For one thing, the Leshkowitz tower that was demolished in 2023 was on 2nd St S. near downtown Fargo, miles east of West Acres. West Acres Mall itself is a long way south of Main Avenue. The theater could not possibly have been on Main Avenue, behind the senior citizens housing tower, and at the mall.

As near as I can find, the Cinema 1 & 2 opened at West Hills Mall in the 1970s and might have closed in the 1980s when a six-screen theater was opened, though it’s possible that the twin was incorporated into the six-plex. One source says that the six screen was later augmented by a three screen house in an adjacent building with its own entrance, and in the late 1990s these two buildings were combined, remodeled and enlarged to create today’s Marcus West Acres 14 Cinemas.

The earliest aerial view of the mall (1976) doesn’t show any outbuildings that might have housed a theater, but the 1984 view shows a small building that could have housed a twin, on part of the site of the current Marcus 14. It looks too small for six screens. The next available view, from 1991, shows the building expanded enough to house six screens. The 1997 view is essentially unchanged, but the 2003 shows the place almost as it is now, though at that time it was a 12-screen operation.

I suppose there is a possibility that the twin was originally inside the mall, and later moved into its own freestanding building, but I haven’t been able to find any evidence of this. Aside from that, it seems likely that the twin is still there as part of the Marcus 14 building.