The short-lived Gulf Winds Drive-In opened its gates on October 3, 1948 with “In Old Sacramento” (unknown if extras added). It was first operated by O.W. Philpott who also operates theaters in Clearwater and Winter Haven. It is an all-year drive-in.
In August 1949, the Gulf Winds Drive-In was closed for a single month due to damaging winds destroying the surrounding fence. It reopened on September 23, 1949.
Last managed by Larry Long, the Gulf Winds Drive-In closed for the final time on March 12, 1955. It was originally scheduled to close due to repairs but it appears that the theater never reopened at all afterward.
The entire history is wrong. Here’s the real story (edited from the previous comment from February 5, 2024):
Boonville was once left without a movie theater for seven years after the Thespian Hall stopped running movies in 1975. People were demanded to see movies in Columbia despite its short 25-mile distance across the Missouri River on Interstate 70.
Movies returned to Boonville when 59-year-old Johnnie Griggs of Appleton City renovated the low-slung brick structure that was once a cavernous National Guard Armory store and opened the twin-screen CoCoMo Cinemas in 1982 with an estimate $125,000. The theater name itself was named after the county where Boonville sits, which is Cooper County, Missouri. It had a total capacity of 386 seats (with 211 seats in one screen and 175 seats in the other).
Griggs was a longtime movie operator across much of mid-Missouri, mainly in Columbia. Griggs' theater career started right at the age of 12 when he began working at the Plaza Theatre in Appleton City in 1939. He literally knew everything about being a projectionist because he did saw the headline involving the Lowry City incident where a 14-year-old projectionist died in an explosion caused by the theater’s projector during World War II. While he was in high school, Griggs began operating several other theaters across Henry and St. Clair Counties throughout the remainder of World War II. Not just one job, but he took almost every single job a theater had.
In the 1950s, Griggs began working right at the heart of Columbia. He once operated the Missouri Theatre throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s and would later help demolish the Parkade Drive-In in 1961 and insert the car speakers at the Sky-Hi Drive-In in 1965. Unfortunately he left the movie business for a short period of time afterward due to concerns over the rise of explicit content in movies. He did make a comeback though and would later purchase the Grand Theatre in Fayette in 1978. A short time after, he began operating two more theaters in Muscatine, Iowa, but came back to Missouri a short time later. That’s when he spent the $125,000 to bring back Boonville’s movie business.
Despite being a small twin-screener, it did receive Hollywood fame on August 30, 1991 when “Child’s Play 3” (which was partially filmed in Boonville) held one of its premieres at the Cocomo. Its first showing wasn’t successful, but its second showing grew massively big time overloading one of the two screens. Griggs reported that it was a hell of hard work and negotiation.
The 110 closed for the final time on July 20, 1976 with “Food Of The Gods” and “The Land That Time Forgot”. The theater’s flea market also closed that same day.
The Kingston was twinned as early as November 1983, and indeed it had stereo sound in both auditoriums. It was tripled in June 1989, and became a five-screen theater in Spring 1993.
It was announced that Spring Hill Mall will be closing permanently on March 22, 2024, according to owners. The good news is that there are some exceptions, as both the Cinemark and the Kohl’s there will remain open.
The Starlight opened its gates on July 27, 1952 with “Blossoms In The Dust” along with a marathon of cartoons, and was owned by Paul D. Neal. It was still open in the mid-1980s.
Throughout portions of the mid-1980s, the Westgate Cinema was listed as a major burglary hotspot.
On August 31, 1984, its scheduled run of “Gremlins” was cancelled due to the manager reporting an unknown person snuck into the projection booth and destroyed the entire print.
On February 21, 1985, two unidentified men allegedly stole a carton of assorted cigarettes worth $300 from the Safeway Supermarket before going straight to the Westgate Cinema while it closed for the night before stealing a metal box containing more than $600 in cash.
On June 14, 1985, more than $400 were robbed after an unknown person hid inside the auditorium after an unknown movie was finished and waited until all employees left for the night. He took the theater’s cash box and fled afterward.
The Movies 14 officially became McKinney’s first operating movie theater since the closure of the Westgate Cinema in February 1986, which left moviegoers to travel onto Highway 75 to see movies in Plano or else they’ll wait for the feature to come up on cable.
When it first opened as McKinney Movies 10, they already had enough room for four additional screens to be added, which it did. Four more screens were added during the second week of November 1995 and was renamed the “Cinemark Movies 14”. At the time, the entirety of DFW’s population immediately exploded like dynamite.
The actual opening date is July 5, 1972 with George C. Scott in “The Hospital”.
The Westgate Cinema closed for the final time in late-February 1986, leaving McKinney without a movie house until the launch of Cinemark’s Movies 10 (now Movies 14) in June 1994.
The Ritz Theatre was built on the site of a blacksmith shop and later a department store that was burned down in early 1928.
When the Westgate Cinema opened on July 5, 1972, both the Ritz and the McKinney Drive-In were trying to keep both theaters alive. At the time, the Ritz was operated by the Texas Cinema Corporation alongside the McKinney Drive-In.
The McKinney Drive-In closed in 1974 and the Ritz was still operating when first-run features gain more popularity at the Westgate. That same exact year, ads for the Ritz Theatre no longer appear in the Courtier Gazette meaning that it is very hard to tell on when the Ritz ended its life as a full-time movie house. It appears that the Ritz closed in 1975 and sat abandoned for a time.
The Ritz briefly made a surprise comeback on April 10, 1980 by independent operators Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Rosales. They managed to show English movies by any genre on Thursdays and Fridays, and a Spanish feature on Saturdays as well as live entertainment during the weekends. Unfortunately this did not last pretty long at all. Lasting for several months, the Ritz closed again that same year.
The actual opened date is February 14, 1973 with “What’s Up Doc” at Screen 1 and “Doctor Zhivago” at Screen 2. It originally opened with 600 seats (with 300 in each auditorium). The original manager of the theater is Farmington resident Bill Hickman.
Screen 1 features all red draperies with red seats while Screen 2 features black and red draperies with black seats and red aisle carpeting. Some original installations include Cinemeccanica projection and Xenon lamps (both installed by the Ringold Cinema Equipment Company) as well as Altec-Lansing stereo sound equipment. The lobby area is also paneled with wainscoted paneling in both auditoriums. The building itself is completely fireproof and contains a total of 6,000ft of space.
The original Grand Theatre building was destroyed by a fire on September 5, 1914. It was rebuilt and the Grand Theatre reopened on March 15, 1915. One of the original proprietors of the theater is Charles A. Miller.
The Grand Theatre throughout most of its later years was once operated by Fox Midwest Theatres, who operated the theater for three decades in total. It was once known as the Fox Grand Theatre.
Last operated by the National Theatres chain, the Grand Theatre closed for the final time on February 9, 1960 with James Garner in “Cash McCall”. It comes one month after the announcement of J.C. Penney planning to relocate to the Grand Theatre building, which it did.
One of its last managers of the Grand Theatre is A.H. Pekarek, who had been managing the Grand since May 1957 before moving to Topeka, Kansas to work as the manager for the Jayhawk Theatre in January 1960.
The short-lived Gulf Winds Drive-In opened its gates on October 3, 1948 with “In Old Sacramento” (unknown if extras added). It was first operated by O.W. Philpott who also operates theaters in Clearwater and Winter Haven. It is an all-year drive-in.
In August 1949, the Gulf Winds Drive-In was closed for a single month due to damaging winds destroying the surrounding fence. It reopened on September 23, 1949.
Last managed by Larry Long, the Gulf Winds Drive-In closed for the final time on March 12, 1955. It was originally scheduled to close due to repairs but it appears that the theater never reopened at all afterward.
On March 1, 2024, the Beach Theatre has sold again and will reopen back as a movie house later this year.
The entire history is wrong. Here’s the real story (edited from the previous comment from February 5, 2024):
Boonville was once left without a movie theater for seven years after the Thespian Hall stopped running movies in 1975. People were demanded to see movies in Columbia despite its short 25-mile distance across the Missouri River on Interstate 70.
Movies returned to Boonville when 59-year-old Johnnie Griggs of Appleton City renovated the low-slung brick structure that was once a cavernous National Guard Armory store and opened the twin-screen CoCoMo Cinemas in 1982 with an estimate $125,000. The theater name itself was named after the county where Boonville sits, which is Cooper County, Missouri. It had a total capacity of 386 seats (with 211 seats in one screen and 175 seats in the other).
Griggs was a longtime movie operator across much of mid-Missouri, mainly in Columbia. Griggs' theater career started right at the age of 12 when he began working at the Plaza Theatre in Appleton City in 1939. He literally knew everything about being a projectionist because he did saw the headline involving the Lowry City incident where a 14-year-old projectionist died in an explosion caused by the theater’s projector during World War II. While he was in high school, Griggs began operating several other theaters across Henry and St. Clair Counties throughout the remainder of World War II. Not just one job, but he took almost every single job a theater had.
In the 1950s, Griggs began working right at the heart of Columbia. He once operated the Missouri Theatre throughout much of the 1950s and 1960s and would later help demolish the Parkade Drive-In in 1961 and insert the car speakers at the Sky-Hi Drive-In in 1965. Unfortunately he left the movie business for a short period of time afterward due to concerns over the rise of explicit content in movies. He did make a comeback though and would later purchase the Grand Theatre in Fayette in 1978. A short time after, he began operating two more theaters in Muscatine, Iowa, but came back to Missouri a short time later. That’s when he spent the $125,000 to bring back Boonville’s movie business.
Despite being a small twin-screener, it did receive Hollywood fame on August 30, 1991 when “Child’s Play 3” (which was partially filmed in Boonville) held one of its premieres at the Cocomo. Its first showing wasn’t successful, but its second showing grew massively big time overloading one of the two screens. Griggs reported that it was a hell of hard work and negotiation.
The Cocomo Cinemas closed in mid-1998.
Closed on September 18, 1977 with “Walker Tall: Final Chapter” and “Happy Hooker Goes To Washington”.
The Missouri Theatre closed as a first-run movie-house on January 7, 1988 with “Empire Of The Sun”. It reopened a few months later as a concert venue.
Commonwealth took over the Campus Twin in November 1984, and later by United Artists in November 1988, and by Crown Theatres in November 1990.
Right after Dickinson Theatres opened the Forum 8 Theatres in June 1992, the Campus Twin dropped its mainstream fare and became an art house.
The Campus Twin closed for the final time on November 30, 1999.
The actual closing date is September 14, 1985.
The Campus originally housed 1,350 seats when it opened, marking it one of the largest small-town movie houses in all of Texas at the time.
Closed on July 25, 1979 with “Hometown USA”.
The Bayshore-Sunrise closed for the final time on April 10, 1991 with “Career Opportunities” at Screen 1 and “Warlock” at Screen 2.
The 110 closed for the final time on July 20, 1976 with “Food Of The Gods” and “The Land That Time Forgot”. The theater’s flea market also closed that same day.
The Kingston was twinned as early as November 1983, and indeed it had stereo sound in both auditoriums. It was tripled in June 1989, and became a five-screen theater in Spring 1993.
Actual opening date is May 22, 1997.
It was announced that Spring Hill Mall will be closing permanently on March 22, 2024, according to owners. The good news is that there are some exceptions, as both the Cinemark and the Kohl’s there will remain open.
The Starlight opened its gates on July 27, 1952 with “Blossoms In The Dust” along with a marathon of cartoons, and was owned by Paul D. Neal. It was still open in the mid-1980s.
Throughout portions of the mid-1980s, the Westgate Cinema was listed as a major burglary hotspot.
On August 31, 1984, its scheduled run of “Gremlins” was cancelled due to the manager reporting an unknown person snuck into the projection booth and destroyed the entire print.
On February 21, 1985, two unidentified men allegedly stole a carton of assorted cigarettes worth $300 from the Safeway Supermarket before going straight to the Westgate Cinema while it closed for the night before stealing a metal box containing more than $600 in cash.
On June 14, 1985, more than $400 were robbed after an unknown person hid inside the auditorium after an unknown movie was finished and waited until all employees left for the night. He took the theater’s cash box and fled afterward.
The actual closing date is June 30, 2013.
Once operated by Wehrenberg Theatres.
The Movies 14 officially became McKinney’s first operating movie theater since the closure of the Westgate Cinema in February 1986, which left moviegoers to travel onto Highway 75 to see movies in Plano or else they’ll wait for the feature to come up on cable.
When it first opened as McKinney Movies 10, they already had enough room for four additional screens to be added, which it did. Four more screens were added during the second week of November 1995 and was renamed the “Cinemark Movies 14”. At the time, the entirety of DFW’s population immediately exploded like dynamite.
The actual opening date is July 5, 1972 with George C. Scott in “The Hospital”.
The Westgate Cinema closed for the final time in late-February 1986, leaving McKinney without a movie house until the launch of Cinemark’s Movies 10 (now Movies 14) in June 1994.
The Ritz Theatre was built on the site of a blacksmith shop and later a department store that was burned down in early 1928.
When the Westgate Cinema opened on July 5, 1972, both the Ritz and the McKinney Drive-In were trying to keep both theaters alive. At the time, the Ritz was operated by the Texas Cinema Corporation alongside the McKinney Drive-In.
The McKinney Drive-In closed in 1974 and the Ritz was still operating when first-run features gain more popularity at the Westgate. That same exact year, ads for the Ritz Theatre no longer appear in the Courtier Gazette meaning that it is very hard to tell on when the Ritz ended its life as a full-time movie house. It appears that the Ritz closed in 1975 and sat abandoned for a time.
The Ritz briefly made a surprise comeback on April 10, 1980 by independent operators Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Rosales. They managed to show English movies by any genre on Thursdays and Fridays, and a Spanish feature on Saturdays as well as live entertainment during the weekends. Unfortunately this did not last pretty long at all. Lasting for several months, the Ritz closed again that same year.
Once operated by Fox Circuit.
Once operated by Fox Circuit.
The actual opened date is February 14, 1973 with “What’s Up Doc” at Screen 1 and “Doctor Zhivago” at Screen 2. It originally opened with 600 seats (with 300 in each auditorium). The original manager of the theater is Farmington resident Bill Hickman.
Screen 1 features all red draperies with red seats while Screen 2 features black and red draperies with black seats and red aisle carpeting. Some original installations include Cinemeccanica projection and Xenon lamps (both installed by the Ringold Cinema Equipment Company) as well as Altec-Lansing stereo sound equipment. The lobby area is also paneled with wainscoted paneling in both auditoriums. The building itself is completely fireproof and contains a total of 6,000ft of space.
The original Grand Theatre building was destroyed by a fire on September 5, 1914. It was rebuilt and the Grand Theatre reopened on March 15, 1915. One of the original proprietors of the theater is Charles A. Miller.
The Grand Theatre throughout most of its later years was once operated by Fox Midwest Theatres, who operated the theater for three decades in total. It was once known as the Fox Grand Theatre.
Last operated by the National Theatres chain, the Grand Theatre closed for the final time on February 9, 1960 with James Garner in “Cash McCall”. It comes one month after the announcement of J.C. Penney planning to relocate to the Grand Theatre building, which it did.