More commonly known as the “Valley 3 Theatres” and later the “Carmike Valley 3”. Closed August 25, 2001 according the a Des Moines Register article (“Carmike To Close 3 Iowa Theatres”), the mall was remodeled at least twice and the space was occupied by retail, then a restaurant “Kahunaville” which had it’s ribbon cutting celebration on July 25, 2007. Became Ocean Beach Bar & Grill circa November 2008. More information about the mall can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_West_Mall
20th Century Bowling was/is located at 505 South Duff, presumably next door – to the North of this 509 South Duff site. Apparently the building was demolished, but the sign was left standing.
According to a Des Moines Register article “Still Mad For The Movies” 5/18/1998 (Page 1T) by G.T. Melhus, this theatre was built (circa 1980s) by Dubinsky, sold to Excellence in 1988. It later became Carmike 11 circa 1990, then Nova 10 Cinemas circa 2002. 4353 MERLE Hay Road is street address.
According to Mark Heggen’s excellent website “Lost Cinemas Of Greater Des Moines” (http://lostcines.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html), the Galaxy began as the Empress in 1908, becoming the Pantages in 1921, the Sherman in 1922, the RKO Orpheum in 1933 (not to be confused with the other Orpheum further down the street at 210-8th), and finally as the Galaxy in 1966.
A December 9, 1950 Box-Office Magazine article announces the incorporation of the original owner – The West-Vue Drive-In Theatre Corp. of Des Moines: View link
“Blade Runner” (1982) featured the Million Dollar Theatre (307 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA)
Also note that according to Director Randall Kleiser, the Drive-In sequence in “Grease†(1978) was filmed at the Pickwick Drive-In (1100 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA). The drive-in was closed in 1989 and torn down shortly afterward. A shopping center (including a Pavilions grocery store where the outdoor movie screen had stood) now stands on the site.
This quote from Kleiser came from a 1998 Los Angeles Times article on the making of Grease: “At the Drive-In, when Olivia’s character leaves Travolta alone, there was a song in the play called “Alone at a Drive-In Movie”. None of us felt this would work effectively in the screen version and our musical director, Louis St. Louis, wrote the song “Sandy” to replace it. Now the challenge was how to stage it so it was interesting. We didn’t want him to just sit in his car and sing. When I was in high school I used to go to the Main Line Drive-In (which is now a housing development). Just below the screen there was a small playground for kids to amuse themselves at dusk waiting for the movie to start. I loved the idea of Travolta sitting on the kid’s swing, pining away for his girlfriend. The popcorn trailers that ran between drive-in features encouraged viewers to visit the refreshment stand with animated countdowns of when the next movie would start. We sent away to a Chicago distributor for about twenty vintage 50’s popcorn trailers, but they didn’t arrive until the night we were shooting at Burbank’s Pickwick Drive-in (now a shopping mall). Bill Hansard, the industry’s top process projectionist, ran the trailers one by one on the drive-in screen as the crew sat around waiting. My eye was caught by one that had a hot dog jumping into a bun at the end. I asked Bill if he could synch that action up to the end of the song. The end result looked like it had been carefully planned instead of improvised on the spot. Thinking back, I guess I should have played more of the ending on Travolta; this was his solo. But, I was so excited by the animated hot dog falling into synch that I was swept along and didn’t shoot a closeup. One of my regrets.â€
Zip code was/is 91502.
More commonly known as the “Valley 3 Theatres” and later the “Carmike Valley 3”. Closed August 25, 2001 according the a Des Moines Register article (“Carmike To Close 3 Iowa Theatres”), the mall was remodeled at least twice and the space was occupied by retail, then a restaurant “Kahunaville” which had it’s ribbon cutting celebration on July 25, 2007. Became Ocean Beach Bar & Grill circa November 2008. More information about the mall can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_West_Mall
20th Century Bowling was/is located at 505 South Duff, presumably next door – to the North of this 509 South Duff site. Apparently the building was demolished, but the sign was left standing.
Looks like it opened in the late 1960s or possibly early 1970s.
The address listed in the newspaper article is 509 South Duff Avenue.
A couple of pictures can be found here – although the auothor of this blog has the closing date listed (incorrectly) as 1987: View link
Screen was still standing in 1990. Became “Sands Volleyball Club” prior to 1992.
According to a Des Moines Register article “Still Mad For The Movies” 5/18/1998 (Page 1T) by G.T. Melhus, this theatre was built (circa 1980s) by Dubinsky, sold to Excellence in 1988. It later became Carmike 11 circa 1990, then Nova 10 Cinemas circa 2002. 4353 MERLE Hay Road is street address.
According to Mark Heggen’s excellent website “Lost Cinemas Of Greater Des Moines” (http://lostcines.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html), the Galaxy began as the Empress in 1908, becoming the Pantages in 1921, the Sherman in 1922, the RKO Orpheum in 1933 (not to be confused with the other Orpheum further down the street at 210-8th), and finally as the Galaxy in 1966.
Actually I believe the ownership was the other way around. Operated by Dubinsky circa 1988, closed by Carmike (circa 2000?).
9 Theatres, 1600 seats. Built in 1999 according to Polk County tax records.
A December 9, 1950 Box-Office Magazine article announces the incorporation of the original owner – The West-Vue Drive-In Theatre Corp. of Des Moines: View link
Make that Governor Square. Thank you.
Area graded/developed 1988, nine-plex built 1994.
Nice theatre. Had a balcony, which was rare for modern theatres in the area in the 1970s-1980s.
Zip code is 50321 for what it’s worth.
The Fleur 4 Theatre was open at least as early as the spring of 1974 as I remember seeing Disney’s “Superdad” there then.
Great job to all compiling this info!
“Blade Runner” (1982) featured the Million Dollar Theatre (307 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA)
Also note that according to Director Randall Kleiser, the Drive-In sequence in “Grease†(1978) was filmed at the Pickwick Drive-In (1100 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA). The drive-in was closed in 1989 and torn down shortly afterward. A shopping center (including a Pavilions grocery store where the outdoor movie screen had stood) now stands on the site.
This quote from Kleiser came from a 1998 Los Angeles Times article on the making of Grease: “At the Drive-In, when Olivia’s character leaves Travolta alone, there was a song in the play called “Alone at a Drive-In Movie”. None of us felt this would work effectively in the screen version and our musical director, Louis St. Louis, wrote the song “Sandy” to replace it. Now the challenge was how to stage it so it was interesting. We didn’t want him to just sit in his car and sing. When I was in high school I used to go to the Main Line Drive-In (which is now a housing development). Just below the screen there was a small playground for kids to amuse themselves at dusk waiting for the movie to start. I loved the idea of Travolta sitting on the kid’s swing, pining away for his girlfriend. The popcorn trailers that ran between drive-in features encouraged viewers to visit the refreshment stand with animated countdowns of when the next movie would start. We sent away to a Chicago distributor for about twenty vintage 50’s popcorn trailers, but they didn’t arrive until the night we were shooting at Burbank’s Pickwick Drive-in (now a shopping mall). Bill Hansard, the industry’s top process projectionist, ran the trailers one by one on the drive-in screen as the crew sat around waiting. My eye was caught by one that had a hot dog jumping into a bun at the end. I asked Bill if he could synch that action up to the end of the song. The end result looked like it had been carefully planned instead of improvised on the spot. Thinking back, I guess I should have played more of the ending on Travolta; this was his solo. But, I was so excited by the animated hot dog falling into synch that I was swept along and didn’t shoot a closeup. One of my regrets.â€
See: http://www.directorsnet.com/kleiser/latimes2.html