Texas thanks for the photo. The noisy Regal side wall white blocks will bounce so much screen light reflection back into the audience. Who does this kind of wall design for UA/Regal? They must not test out the problems. Please Regal now called Cineworld please stay with a dark solid wall color and keep our eyes focused on the screen light.
Thanks Texas for these colorful inside shots. The only thing that needs to go is the white ceiling. The reflex must be terrible from the light on the screen. Time to paint or replace to black or dark purple ceiling panels.
The new movie opens July 26 2019. A few theatres will be showing ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ in blow up 70mm film prints and many will be showing It on 35mm film. We will be seeing It at the only Northern CA 70mm print at the Drafthouse New Mission Theatre in San Francisco. The New Beverly Cinema will play a 35mm film print in Los Angeles CA. Lets hope MR Tarantino will obtain a 70mm film projector some day and enlarge the screen a little with a slight curve at the New Beverly. Curtains also please!
Thanks CC for the cool stereophonic ad. I wonder how big the screen was for Shane at ‘Fox Grauman’s Chinese Hollywood’ with a blow lens? A few months later they put in a semi curved 20th Century Fox CinemaScope® screen with 4 track mag stereo sound. I wonder if ‘Shane’ had surround sound or just split speakers on the stage?
If you sit in he last few rows under the booth you will not hear any stereo surround sounds coming from any speakers. There are no separate speakers in the back lower area like at the Seattle Cinerama has.
This former UA/Regal Riverfront Twin Theatre has opened again in downtown Santa Cruz CA now called DNA’s Comedy Lab. They serve beer & wine with some food. They mainly use the right side former movie auditorium. We wish them luck and maybe they can run classic older comedy movies on DCP in the other space on the left side of the large wide lobby on special nights. Time to bring into the Santa Cruz area some new comedy acts and other events. Glad the owners did not gut the inside for something else! Check out the new photos as of July 6 2019.
Thanks DF87**To bad the Syufy family did not keep this great neon marquee when they built a mall on the Drive In lot next to the busy Nimitz freeway. The Syufy’s built a new multiplex many years ago under the Century name now sold to Cinemark Theatres were the old theatre once stood. The classic flashing sign could have saved and used as a center piece for the huge mall that once people came to watch outdoor movies. If you are ever in Niles CA the big antique town near Fremont check out the train depot museum they have a small HO train set up and have a miniature Union City DI Theatre lot and sign with the train going around It. Looks like the real thing!
Just visited again the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Same old problem with no lights on when you come into the theatre to find your numbered seat. They have the blue lights turned on so low on the curtains and the lights on the gold ceiling turned way down. The worst is the DCP scope picture. They have masking on the bottom right and left part of the curved screen going up words. I have been to many large curved screens lately and you don’t see this problem on the bottom. I think they can correct this bottom problem by doing a pre test curve alignment to push the curved image down more to fit the corners not loop the image up? They have seemed to have put in these new cheap looking surround speakers that have the grill off that shine the treble cones. The old surround speakers were hidden behind the side wall curtains. Seems the Cinerama Dome had way better base a few years ago. The new 3D scope Disney movie ‘Toy Story 4’ did not have the deep base or was it the speaker set up at the Dome? At least the image looked bright and crisp. Pacific needs to turn up the lights and correct the bottom curve problem. Go check other theatres that have the curve but don’t curve up the bottom corners, see what they are doing to correct the image on the bottom corners. .
Daniel thanks for the photo. Glad to see Regal still has some neon. Lets hope they put some in in their new build in San Francisco at the Stonestown Mall now under construction under UA Stonestown 12. Neon looks so much nicer then LED’s.
The Chabot Theatre has just been sold June 4 2019. No longer run by Cinelux. The buyer was ‘Smalltown Society’ along with the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward CA. They plan on still showing first run family movies along with special events.
Thanks David for another photo find. These must have been the owner of General Theatrical Company and the Garden Theatre manager. The box office lady almost looks like Betty P the burlesque queen! Love all the rare etched glass in this classic ticket booth from the late 1940’s. You won’t find candy type multi junk managers today in a suit & tie nor even tile one sheet movie case poster displays with little neon lights.
Thanks David for this hot photo of the former Fox West Coast Theatres Fox Crest Sacramento. The built out stage took out 8 rows of seats. Now used for stage events and a few movies. Looks like they have pulled the red & blue lights out of the side wall lights and stuck in old white bulbs. The curtain waterfall color lights are not on. At least they still kept the blue effect lights on the ceiling. Hope the lobby coves still has some of the pink neon working. The best part of this downtown Sacramento cinema is the neon on the outside marquee. Some of the best still on the West Coast. Thanks again for posting this image. If anyone is up visiting Sac at night check out the neon If something is playing at the Crest. If you look up on the wall you will see the original Ampex surround wooden box speakers when they ran 4 trk magnetic 35mm film prints in the 1950’s and 60’s. They have Dolby® now for stereo DCP movies but can still show 35mm film I believe. Outside back you can still see the 3 cement cases for the 3 speaker L R C speaker set up.
Thanks Neb for the cool old ad. The studios or Tarintino need to bring back HypnoMagic® on a new movie to hypnotize young people and get them away from watching computer and their cell phones 24/7. Turn them into cinema zombies during parts of the film and send them into a trance when they leave the cinema. I still have the nice one sheet poster over my jukebox that has great movie art that you don’t see these days to pull you into the movie theatre! I saw this movie at the huge Fox Oakland Theatre when I was a kid and remember the spinning disk that sent you into a hypnotic state, fun times missing today! The poor projection people that had to watch this disk in he 35mm print for 2 weeks up in the booth during changeovers. They got a little dizzy.
Thanks Dallas for the photo, must have looked great in color with the fluorescent lights turned on. Theatre owners of today need to put a few of this type of deco glow art in a few of their mega large auditoriums. Bring some class back to the side walls! There must be some creative artist people around today. How nice to see the art glow dim during a film or at least when people are coming in instead of watching boring ads or a blank white screen because the owners are too cheap to fix the curtains. Thanks again.
Thanks Texas I went here many times in my early days with my grandfather. I go by the former spot of the Hayward Motor Movies and have great memories. What a fun place all the outdoor movies were in the 1950’s & 1960’s. Nearby also was the Stadium and Oakland DI Theatres now with a mall.
Strange they put the CINERAMA logo on the ad. Probably just ran in 1 projector 35mm film scope and no curved screen or stereo sound? Some people must have got confused If they saw in in true CINERAMA 3 projector in Detroit in 7 ch stereo.
Thanks Steve. This former now torn down UA 70mm Coronet Theatre in SF had once in the mid 1950’s SF’s first huge Todd-AO curved screen. By the time this photo was taken this is what was left with the masking set for scope and the old Todd-AO screen taken out. At least the large curved curtains still worked almost till they day they closed down. UA was after the money for the lot, not showing movies anymore.
Thanks David I was there for this showing and they put a big net up in the ceiling with some plaster chunks laying in It. The Cerwin Vega speakers shook the place very week. They had them all over the back and sides. Corny movie but the sound was great.
They will be opening their first San Francisco CA Theatre in the closed former AMC 14 Van Ness Theatre. With a opening in 2020 with SF’s first 4D auditorium along with our first EX 3 projector cinema. We look forward to this new CJ CGV movie theatre company coming into the long SF controlled AMC and CineMark/Century theatres that don’t offer any thing new for the locals or tourists to enjoy once inside their cinemas. Good luck on your move up to SF!
I have been told this new South Korean cinema company does very well in the LA area because they offer cinema treats that the local chains don’t bother to offer. It will be fun to see a movie in 4D & EX in the San Francisco CA area in 2020!
Texas thanks for the photo. The noisy Regal side wall white blocks will bounce so much screen light reflection back into the audience. Who does this kind of wall design for UA/Regal? They must not test out the problems. Please Regal now called Cineworld please stay with a dark solid wall color and keep our eyes focused on the screen light.
Thanks Texas for these colorful inside shots. The only thing that needs to go is the white ceiling. The reflex must be terrible from the light on the screen. Time to paint or replace to black or dark purple ceiling panels.
The new movie opens July 26 2019. A few theatres will be showing ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ in blow up 70mm film prints and many will be showing It on 35mm film. We will be seeing It at the only Northern CA 70mm print at the Drafthouse New Mission Theatre in San Francisco. The New Beverly Cinema will play a 35mm film print in Los Angeles CA. Lets hope MR Tarantino will obtain a 70mm film projector some day and enlarge the screen a little with a slight curve at the New Beverly. Curtains also please!
Thanks CC for the cool stereophonic ad. I wonder how big the screen was for Shane at ‘Fox Grauman’s Chinese Hollywood’ with a blow lens? A few months later they put in a semi curved 20th Century Fox CinemaScope® screen with 4 track mag stereo sound. I wonder if ‘Shane’ had surround sound or just split speakers on the stage?
If you sit in he last few rows under the booth you will not hear any stereo surround sounds coming from any speakers. There are no separate speakers in the back lower area like at the Seattle Cinerama has.
This former UA/Regal Riverfront Twin Theatre has opened again in downtown Santa Cruz CA now called DNA’s Comedy Lab. They serve beer & wine with some food. They mainly use the right side former movie auditorium. We wish them luck and maybe they can run classic older comedy movies on DCP in the other space on the left side of the large wide lobby on special nights. Time to bring into the Santa Cruz area some new comedy acts and other events. Glad the owners did not gut the inside for something else! Check out the new photos as of July 6 2019.
Thanks DF87**To bad the Syufy family did not keep this great neon marquee when they built a mall on the Drive In lot next to the busy Nimitz freeway. The Syufy’s built a new multiplex many years ago under the Century name now sold to Cinemark Theatres were the old theatre once stood. The classic flashing sign could have saved and used as a center piece for the huge mall that once people came to watch outdoor movies. If you are ever in Niles CA the big antique town near Fremont check out the train depot museum they have a small HO train set up and have a miniature Union City DI Theatre lot and sign with the train going around It. Looks like the real thing!
Just visited again the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Same old problem with no lights on when you come into the theatre to find your numbered seat. They have the blue lights turned on so low on the curtains and the lights on the gold ceiling turned way down. The worst is the DCP scope picture. They have masking on the bottom right and left part of the curved screen going up words. I have been to many large curved screens lately and you don’t see this problem on the bottom. I think they can correct this bottom problem by doing a pre test curve alignment to push the curved image down more to fit the corners not loop the image up? They have seemed to have put in these new cheap looking surround speakers that have the grill off that shine the treble cones. The old surround speakers were hidden behind the side wall curtains. Seems the Cinerama Dome had way better base a few years ago. The new 3D scope Disney movie ‘Toy Story 4’ did not have the deep base or was it the speaker set up at the Dome? At least the image looked bright and crisp. Pacific needs to turn up the lights and correct the bottom curve problem. Go check other theatres that have the curve but don’t curve up the bottom corners, see what they are doing to correct the image on the bottom corners. .
Daniel thanks for the photo. Glad to see Regal still has some neon. Lets hope they put some in in their new build in San Francisco at the Stonestown Mall now under construction under UA Stonestown 12. Neon looks so much nicer then LED’s.
The Chabot Theatre has just been sold June 4 2019. No longer run by Cinelux. The buyer was ‘Smalltown Society’ along with the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward CA. They plan on still showing first run family movies along with special events.
I wonder If they showed it in D-150 70mm?
Thanks David for another photo find. These must have been the owner of General Theatrical Company and the Garden Theatre manager. The box office lady almost looks like Betty P the burlesque queen! Love all the rare etched glass in this classic ticket booth from the late 1940’s. You won’t find candy type multi junk managers today in a suit & tie nor even tile one sheet movie case poster displays with little neon lights.
Thanks David for this hot photo of the former Fox West Coast Theatres Fox Crest Sacramento. The built out stage took out 8 rows of seats. Now used for stage events and a few movies. Looks like they have pulled the red & blue lights out of the side wall lights and stuck in old white bulbs. The curtain waterfall color lights are not on. At least they still kept the blue effect lights on the ceiling. Hope the lobby coves still has some of the pink neon working. The best part of this downtown Sacramento cinema is the neon on the outside marquee. Some of the best still on the West Coast. Thanks again for posting this image. If anyone is up visiting Sac at night check out the neon If something is playing at the Crest. If you look up on the wall you will see the original Ampex surround wooden box speakers when they ran 4 trk magnetic 35mm film prints in the 1950’s and 60’s. They have Dolby® now for stereo DCP movies but can still show 35mm film I believe. Outside back you can still see the 3 cement cases for the 3 speaker L R C speaker set up.
Thanks Neb for the cool old ad. The studios or Tarintino need to bring back HypnoMagic® on a new movie to hypnotize young people and get them away from watching computer and their cell phones 24/7. Turn them into cinema zombies during parts of the film and send them into a trance when they leave the cinema. I still have the nice one sheet poster over my jukebox that has great movie art that you don’t see these days to pull you into the movie theatre! I saw this movie at the huge Fox Oakland Theatre when I was a kid and remember the spinning disk that sent you into a hypnotic state, fun times missing today! The poor projection people that had to watch this disk in he 35mm print for 2 weeks up in the booth during changeovers. They got a little dizzy.
Thanks David I wonder If they ever expanded the stage area for a wide CinemaScope® screen in 1953/54?
Thanks KEN to bad they did not put in a nice curved screen.
Thanks Dallas for the photo, must have looked great in color with the fluorescent lights turned on. Theatre owners of today need to put a few of this type of deco glow art in a few of their mega large auditoriums. Bring some class back to the side walls! There must be some creative artist people around today. How nice to see the art glow dim during a film or at least when people are coming in instead of watching boring ads or a blank white screen because the owners are too cheap to fix the curtains. Thanks again.
Thanks Texas I went here many times in my early days with my grandfather. I go by the former spot of the Hayward Motor Movies and have great memories. What a fun place all the outdoor movies were in the 1950’s & 1960’s. Nearby also was the Stadium and Oakland DI Theatres now with a mall.
Strange they put the CINERAMA logo on the ad. Probably just ran in 1 projector 35mm film scope and no curved screen or stereo sound? Some people must have got confused If they saw in in true CINERAMA 3 projector in Detroit in 7 ch stereo.
Thanks Dallas what a nice curved Todd-AO curved screen they had.
Thanks Steve. This former now torn down UA 70mm Coronet Theatre in SF had once in the mid 1950’s SF’s first huge Todd-AO curved screen. By the time this photo was taken this is what was left with the masking set for scope and the old Todd-AO screen taken out. At least the large curved curtains still worked almost till they day they closed down. UA was after the money for the lot, not showing movies anymore.
Thanks Texas I sent this along to my friend Paul the owner.
Thanks David I was there for this showing and they put a big net up in the ceiling with some plaster chunks laying in It. The Cerwin Vega speakers shook the place very week. They had them all over the back and sides. Corny movie but the sound was great.
They will be opening their first San Francisco CA Theatre in the closed former AMC 14 Van Ness Theatre. With a opening in 2020 with SF’s first 4D auditorium along with our first EX 3 projector cinema. We look forward to this new CJ CGV movie theatre company coming into the long SF controlled AMC and CineMark/Century theatres that don’t offer any thing new for the locals or tourists to enjoy once inside their cinemas. Good luck on your move up to SF!
I have been told this new South Korean cinema company does very well in the LA area because they offer cinema treats that the local chains don’t bother to offer. It will be fun to see a movie in 4D & EX in the San Francisco CA area in 2020!