Great Lakes Stadium 16
7850 Mentor Avenue,
Mentor,
OH
44060
7850 Mentor Avenue,
Mentor,
OH
44060
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 27 comments
List of Owners:
1980-1985 National Drive-In Theatres
1985-1994 Armstrong Circuit
1994-2004 Regal Cinemas
2007 Atlas Cinemas
5 cinemas in 1978 and 9 screens on October 20th, 1989
Two screens on November 7th, 1973 with a Polaroid SX70 camera given to the closest set of twins to attend. Grand opening ads posted.
Even in the beginning, it was a plain forgettable theater.
Expansions-splitting * 1973 2 cinemas
1978 5 cinemas
1985 9 cinemas
2004-2007 closed
2007 16 cinemas
March 26th, 1969 grand opening ad is now in the photo section.
I remember when this was a single screen theatre. When the movie “Airport” first opened it played here for over 3 months. My cousins and I took to calling it the “Airport” Cinema.
It was a large theatre, but the quoted “Parking for 3,000 cars” referred to the entire parking capacity of the lots at the Great Lakes Mall.
I was actually at the Great Lakes Mall a couple of weeks ago for the first time in over 20 years. Things certainly have changed. But everything seemed smaller, less grand and glamorous. I just know that the present theatres can’t hold a candle to the original theatre!
The theater was around 1000 to 1200 seats when it was open. It was the only theatre in Lake County that had 70mm projection and 6 track stereo sound. The twining of it had its problems. But National theaters did remodeling and it was great to see movies there. Always very clean. And they did a great job when the new rooms where built.
Dave-Bronx I am going to try to find out the answer to your question.(900 -1000 seats?). I saw “Grease” there the summer it came out. At that time it already was twinned.(1977?)
This opened with one screen on March 26th, 1969.
Ad: View link
Associated didn’t operate the Shore.
This theater orginal owner was Associate Theater. They also owned the Fairview, Avon Lake, Lake (Euclid)Shore (Euclid) and the Midway Mall (Midway Mall). National Theater took over most of these theaters. The only one they didnot take over was the Lake and Shore. It is a nice theater now. But I find some of the screens are to small.
Chuck 1231: Do you know how many seats were in the original 1968 building – either as a single or a twin? I was never in there but from the size of the building it looked to be 900 to 1000 seats, yet their directory ads in the paper always said “Parking for 3000 cars”.
I was an usher at the GLM Cinema back in 1985. I look forward to returning to my home town and visiting the 16 screen plex with my kids. Thanks Tim
All 16 screens have digital projection equipment. At least 1 can show 3-D.
I went to the newly remodled Great Lakes Cinema today. It looked like the original 9 theaters stayed in tact, but half the auditorium I was in was a stadium and the other half was orchrestra seating. I was disappointed in the fact that they only showed two previews at the movie I saw, plus the lobby seemed too bland. The movie I went to see was so awful, I have to give thanks to the management who refunded my money. But overall, it will be a nice place to see a movie.
The theater has officially reopened. It is listed in the Plain Dealer as Great Lakes Stadium 16. I’ll have to plan on going out that way to see it.
The theatre will now be reopening its doors in the fall of 2007 due to the enourmes addition done by atlas. It will now have stadium seating, a restaurant inside and 16 screens. It is said to be a big hit with it being by the mall and such. The theatre closed Jan. of 2004 and now will soon be making its debut!
the cinema has been under remodal seens dec., the outer walls are up sofar.
I went by the mall enterance today. They have a sign up stating that all stadium seating cinema will be opening this fall. I will keep you updated
Drove by the cinema yesterday. Sure doesn’t look like anything has been done yet.
Dave nice images in your photobucket page of the huge movie houses in the early days of Cinema in Cleveland. I will find the prints and get them scanned and uploaded to you.
Thanks
Tim- I have a photobucket page with a number of theatres in Cleveland and elsewhere – http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b123/dave-bronx/ – If you want to send me the photos I could set up a ‘Great Lakes Mall Cinema’ page and post a link here.
Remodeling of the 5 plex upgrade. I was an usher at the time in the fall of 1984. Late that fall and early that Winter in 1985 I worked over time on the demolishion crew for the remodeling of the 5 plex. At that time National Theater Corporation upgraded screen #5 to play both 35mm and 70mm releases. “2010” was the our 1st 70mm print played on the new upgraded screen in the #5 auditorium. I know that for sure because Chuck our Manager asked me to assist the projectionist in the booth because the film continued to rip during the 1st few showings. I had to sit on the floor for the remainder of that opening show and hold a plastic roller in my fingers on a pencil to allow the film to twist at another angle to help releave the tension that was causing the film to tear. I have several frames from that print to this day. “Beverly Hills Cop” played for several weeks short of 6 months while I was an usher there. “Witness” that late fall played for over 4 months. “Ghost Busters” played for at least 5 months there. Unpresidented even for that time period. I have several of the original speakers from the single screen’s 1968 opening. Those dated 8ohm speakers play the sound tracks of todays trailers on my Super Simplex
35mm Projector in my basement. I was in Mentor several weeks ago to visit my parents and I drove past the cinema and couldn’t believe the place was closed. I have a number of photos from that time period. I would be happy to upload some of them when the web site allows us to. I hope it does open again. I would love to bring my kids there to see a movie. Thanks for the memories.
Actually twinned in 1973. The first movie shown here was “Where Eagles Dare in 1968.”