Another list of things long gone - Part IV
The fourth and final installment in the list of theaters I saw movies at, where the theater no longer exists. This edition is for theaters outside of the Southern California area.
In 1978, I was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. It still exists, albeit in a different form. Most of the base was destroyed by a hurricane. Now it's a Reserve base. I'm told the base theater, where I saw many low price movies on weekend nights is long gone. I believe I saw "Grease" there in 1979.
In downtown Homestead, there was a Wometco Triplex that was later expanded to six screens. A friend of mine and I went there to see the first local showing of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at a midnight showing. I shouted at the first appropriate moment, for someone who'd attended this movie at the Tiffany Theater more than once, and I was the only one to do so. Needless to say I got a lot of stares. I did not shout again that evening.
I took a girl I was dating during my time in Florida to the Breezeway Drive-In in Homestead on several occasions. She liked drive-ins because the car I drove at the time permitted her to slide all the way over to my side for...appropriate body contact.
We also went to the Dixie Drive-in on South Dixie Highway once before it closed in 1978.
When I lived in South Florida, there was a mall known as Cutler Ridge. It was the closest large shopping center to the base and at the time it had a twin theater. I saw "The Deer Hunter" and "Dawn of the Dead" among other movies there.
The Movies of Kendall was a twin-theater not too far from Don Carter's Kendall Lanes, where I bowled league two or three nights a week during my time in Florida. I have vivid memories of seeing two movies there, "Apocalypse Now" and "Dreamer", a movie where Tim Matheson played a bowler who dreamed of joining the Professional Bowler's Tour.
The Kendall Mall Twin was very near the really big mall in South Miami, Dadeland. Dadeland was gigantic. I think there are still five anchor department stores there. The movie that really stands out in my mind that I saw at the Mall Twin was on May 21, 1980. I stood for three hours in a rainstorm (it wasn't raining too hard) without an umbrella because I wanted to be first in line to see "The Empire Strikes Back". Until I was victimized by a break-in at a mover's warehouse in 1985, I still had the ticket stub with 0001 on it from that show.
The Kendall Lakes Triple was another multiplex that sprang up as the Kendall area grew like a weed during the late 1970s. I saw several films there on night after taking classes at Miami-Dade Community College's South Campus.
The Regency was further away, but it was worth going to because it showed second run features at low prices. Saw "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" there a second time.
I went from Homestead to Andersen AFB, Guam. The two theaters on the base, one indoor and one outdoor but not a drive-in are still there and in operation. I include them only because I saw so many movies there in 1980/81. Among the movies I saw at one or the other of those two theaters are "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "For Your Eyes Only" and "Up in Smoke". We were hoping "Stripes" would make it there but it hadn't by the time by the time I left.
There was a duplex in Guam's capital city of Agana that is no longer there, although its name escapes me. I remember going there to see a Jackie Chan film in 1981 but going to the wrong auditorium and ended up seeing "The Howling". To this date it is the only horror film that ever scared me, probably because I wasn't expecting it.
Biloxi, Mississippi was my next stop, for roughly 2 and a 1/3rd years at Keesler Air Force Base. There were two theaters on the base. One in the main base area and the other in the student area. I suspect both are there, although the base's website has no current information for them and the last "movie schedule" on that site is from 2011.
There was a fourplex called the Surfside Cinema, alongside Highway 90, famous for having been the road that Jayne Mansfield was riding on when she was killed in a car accident. I remember it very well because I stood in a long line there on the opening day for "Return of the Jedi". Again, I took a day off of work and was the very first person in line.
The Sand Theater was in nearby Gulfport and was a second-run house when I was stationed there. Saw several early 80s films there in 1983 and 1984. Saw "Tron" and "Porky's" there, both second viewings.
Edgewater Plaza was Biloxi's biggest shopping mall at the time and it had a weird movie theater setup. There was one building with two screens outside in the mall's parking lot, and one theater inside the mall, also with two screens. I took a date to see "Reds" in the outside theater and she fell asleep during the film.
I left that post in 1984 and it was off to South Korea, to Kwang-Ju AB. Most of my movie watching during my year there was on the base's closed-circuit cable network where movies on VHS tapes were broadcast 24/7 by the base fire department. There was a rundown AAFES theater on base, which I'm told still stands but isn't in operation. I saw a few movies there in early 1985.
My last assignment in the military was Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Strangely enough, I did not see a single movie at the theater on base. There were just too many movie theaters in the city, and I did not live on base anyway. The Huntridge Performing Arts Theate was only ten minutes away from my apartment and operated during my entire stay in Vegas. It was a twin theater when I was there and I saw many films there.
Most of the theaters in town were Syufy theaters. Eventually they would become part of the Century Theater Chain. They had a location on Desert Inn, another on West Charleston and two more whose locations I can't recall at the moment. During my time working part-time at KMZQ-FM, we had a promotion called "Klassy 100 Night at the Movies", where we would give listeners passes to a Tuesday night showing of any film playing at any Syufy location.
In 1986, the Gold Coast Hotel/Casino opened. A few months after the grand opening, they opened a new attraction, a twin-theater. I saw "RoboCop" there. They had the best movie popcorn in town. It is now closed, and there's a big multiplex across the street at the Palms.
Although this theater is still open, I'll mention it because I believe it was the last movie I saw in Las Vegas. In 1999, I was there for a weekend and I went to the UA Showcase right next to the MGM Grand and saw a late night showing of "The Matrix".
This wraps up my tour of old movie theaters.
In 1978, I was stationed at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. It still exists, albeit in a different form. Most of the base was destroyed by a hurricane. Now it's a Reserve base. I'm told the base theater, where I saw many low price movies on weekend nights is long gone. I believe I saw "Grease" there in 1979.
In downtown Homestead, there was a Wometco Triplex that was later expanded to six screens. A friend of mine and I went there to see the first local showing of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at a midnight showing. I shouted at the first appropriate moment, for someone who'd attended this movie at the Tiffany Theater more than once, and I was the only one to do so. Needless to say I got a lot of stares. I did not shout again that evening.
I took a girl I was dating during my time in Florida to the Breezeway Drive-In in Homestead on several occasions. She liked drive-ins because the car I drove at the time permitted her to slide all the way over to my side for...appropriate body contact.
We also went to the Dixie Drive-in on South Dixie Highway once before it closed in 1978.
When I lived in South Florida, there was a mall known as Cutler Ridge. It was the closest large shopping center to the base and at the time it had a twin theater. I saw "The Deer Hunter" and "Dawn of the Dead" among other movies there.
The Movies of Kendall was a twin-theater not too far from Don Carter's Kendall Lanes, where I bowled league two or three nights a week during my time in Florida. I have vivid memories of seeing two movies there, "Apocalypse Now" and "Dreamer", a movie where Tim Matheson played a bowler who dreamed of joining the Professional Bowler's Tour.
The Kendall Mall Twin was very near the really big mall in South Miami, Dadeland. Dadeland was gigantic. I think there are still five anchor department stores there. The movie that really stands out in my mind that I saw at the Mall Twin was on May 21, 1980. I stood for three hours in a rainstorm (it wasn't raining too hard) without an umbrella because I wanted to be first in line to see "The Empire Strikes Back". Until I was victimized by a break-in at a mover's warehouse in 1985, I still had the ticket stub with 0001 on it from that show.
The Kendall Lakes Triple was another multiplex that sprang up as the Kendall area grew like a weed during the late 1970s. I saw several films there on night after taking classes at Miami-Dade Community College's South Campus.
The Regency was further away, but it was worth going to because it showed second run features at low prices. Saw "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" there a second time.
I went from Homestead to Andersen AFB, Guam. The two theaters on the base, one indoor and one outdoor but not a drive-in are still there and in operation. I include them only because I saw so many movies there in 1980/81. Among the movies I saw at one or the other of those two theaters are "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "For Your Eyes Only" and "Up in Smoke". We were hoping "Stripes" would make it there but it hadn't by the time by the time I left.
There was a duplex in Guam's capital city of Agana that is no longer there, although its name escapes me. I remember going there to see a Jackie Chan film in 1981 but going to the wrong auditorium and ended up seeing "The Howling". To this date it is the only horror film that ever scared me, probably because I wasn't expecting it.
Biloxi, Mississippi was my next stop, for roughly 2 and a 1/3rd years at Keesler Air Force Base. There were two theaters on the base. One in the main base area and the other in the student area. I suspect both are there, although the base's website has no current information for them and the last "movie schedule" on that site is from 2011.
There was a fourplex called the Surfside Cinema, alongside Highway 90, famous for having been the road that Jayne Mansfield was riding on when she was killed in a car accident. I remember it very well because I stood in a long line there on the opening day for "Return of the Jedi". Again, I took a day off of work and was the very first person in line.
The Sand Theater was in nearby Gulfport and was a second-run house when I was stationed there. Saw several early 80s films there in 1983 and 1984. Saw "Tron" and "Porky's" there, both second viewings.
Edgewater Plaza was Biloxi's biggest shopping mall at the time and it had a weird movie theater setup. There was one building with two screens outside in the mall's parking lot, and one theater inside the mall, also with two screens. I took a date to see "Reds" in the outside theater and she fell asleep during the film.
I left that post in 1984 and it was off to South Korea, to Kwang-Ju AB. Most of my movie watching during my year there was on the base's closed-circuit cable network where movies on VHS tapes were broadcast 24/7 by the base fire department. There was a rundown AAFES theater on base, which I'm told still stands but isn't in operation. I saw a few movies there in early 1985.
My last assignment in the military was Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Strangely enough, I did not see a single movie at the theater on base. There were just too many movie theaters in the city, and I did not live on base anyway. The Huntridge Performing Arts Theate was only ten minutes away from my apartment and operated during my entire stay in Vegas. It was a twin theater when I was there and I saw many films there.
Most of the theaters in town were Syufy theaters. Eventually they would become part of the Century Theater Chain. They had a location on Desert Inn, another on West Charleston and two more whose locations I can't recall at the moment. During my time working part-time at KMZQ-FM, we had a promotion called "Klassy 100 Night at the Movies", where we would give listeners passes to a Tuesday night showing of any film playing at any Syufy location.
In 1986, the Gold Coast Hotel/Casino opened. A few months after the grand opening, they opened a new attraction, a twin-theater. I saw "RoboCop" there. They had the best movie popcorn in town. It is now closed, and there's a big multiplex across the street at the Palms.
Although this theater is still open, I'll mention it because I believe it was the last movie I saw in Las Vegas. In 1999, I was there for a weekend and I went to the UA Showcase right next to the MGM Grand and saw a late night showing of "The Matrix".
This wraps up my tour of old movie theaters.
posted by me at 11:19 AM
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