Comments from leegard

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leegard
leegard commented about Art Theatre on Aug 4, 2008 at 3:56 pm

I took some pictures of the renovation last night (the 3rd) on my way home:
http://tinyurl.com/6ngfp5

leegard
leegard commented about Starlight Lakewood Center on Feb 8, 2008 at 6:18 am

I have to say this theater was way cooler before the renovation: it was lots of gaudy gold drapes and carpeting, and crystal chandeliers, almost reminiscent of a poor man’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. When I went here it was a 4 plex (although I have been there once as a 16 plex and swore never to go again), and the theater to be in was the main auditorium to your left, directly behind the snack bar.

Everything about this theater was big, from the screen and sound, to the restrooms the size of Montana. The main auditorium had four entrances, one per aisle, and the screen was rounded; I also seem to remember pre-show Muzak. I saw a ton of 70’s and 80’s films here: Alien, Back to the Future, Goonies, Purple Rain (?), Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist 2, Flashdance, Footloose, Superman III, Out of Africa, Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

The renovation completely neutered the character of this place.

leegard
leegard commented about UA Cerritos Mall Cinemas 4 on Feb 8, 2008 at 5:48 am

Positioned in the corridor between Robinson’s and the Broadway, the theater was on the west side of the mall across from the early-80’s arcade Mecca “Sega Center”. I remember the ticket booth out front was made of dark wood veneer with a suspended, illuminated cube with the numbers 1 – 4 in 70’s “Laugh-In” font. Once you purchased the ticket you walked through the glass doors behind the ticket booth; the snack bar was to the left in a large-ish lobby. Directly across from the snack bar were video games like Pac Man or a pinball machine (or both).

The theaters set off a central corridor. The screens and auditoriums were never as big as the UA Twin outside, but they helped me kill a lot of Summers. I remember seeing Black Beauty, For Your Eyes Only, and my favorite first-run double-bill: 9 to 5 with Airplane!; in fact, I think this theater ran a lot of double features in the early 80’s. Later I saw The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover there, must have been the early 90’s?

leegard
leegard commented about UA Cerritos Twin Cinemas A & B on Feb 8, 2008 at 5:30 am

I was actually pretty sad when this was torn down with “upscaling” of the Cerritos Mall (marketing folk insist on “Los Cerritos Center”). As a kid I saw Star Wars (all three original chapters), ET, Superman, Elephant Man, Flash Gordon, Xanadu, and, waaay later, Pulp Fiction; the bigger screen and better sound was always in the left theater (whichever letter that was).

Architecturally, it was pretty bland. The ticket booth was basically front and center behind glass as you walked up to the front door, with the option to buy the more “luxurious” Loge Seats that made up the last 6 or 7 rows of the auditorium. The outside looked like a shoebox with rounded corners; large white stones- it kind of looked like a large Baked Alaska.

leegard
leegard commented about AMC Alondra 6 Theatres on Feb 8, 2008 at 5:16 am

I watched a million movies here in the late 70’s and early 80’s, including my first 3D flick: “Comin' at Ya”. I definitely remember it being low rent even as a kid; the snack bar was to the immediate right as you walked in the front door. I remember a lot of burnt orange tile and small screens, with the two auditoriums flanking the snack bar as being larger perhaps?

leegard
leegard commented about American Theatre on Feb 8, 2008 at 12:03 am

This was one of my Grandmother’s favorite movie theaters, having grown up within walking distance of 47th and Broadway. She said that it was cheap at a 10-cent admission, but you did have to put up with the silhouettes of rats scampering across the well-polished floor.