Nickelodeon

210 Lincoln Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

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Additional Info

Operated by: Landmark Theatres (USA)

Styles: Neo-Vintage

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News About This Theater

Nickelodeon

A charming four-screen local theater located steps away from the Santa Cruz downtown area. “The Nick” screened many independent films as well as local favorites catering to the varying tastes of the Santa Cruz residents. There’s a photograph of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in the lobby area, when he lived in nearby Scotts Valley he frequented the theater from time to time. The home of actress Zazu Pitts is also very close to the theater, her photograph also resides in the lobby.

The Nickelodeon was owned and operated by Santa Cruz resident Jim Schwenterley. It was designed by John Elphick and opened on July 1, 1969. The original owners were Bill Raney and his first wife, JoAnne Walker Raney. In 2002 Nickelodeon Theatres took over operations for the nearby Del Mar Theater. In November 2015 it was taken over by Landmark Theatres. It was closed on March 17, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Contributed by Stefan Youngs

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

stefanyoungs
stefanyoungs on October 18, 2006 at 12:54 am

At this website link there are several photos of the Nickelodeon.

http://www.thenick.com/tours.html

There are also several photos of the nearby beautiful Del Mar theater.

Broan
Broan on October 18, 2006 at 4:02 pm

Lost Memory: Please send me an email. Thank you. (Sorry to leave an irrelevant comment here)

stefanyoungs
stefanyoungs on October 24, 2006 at 3:58 am

Nice night photo. Thanks

Edward Havens
Edward Havens on August 9, 2010 at 3:13 pm

Don’t know why I never noticed this before, but ZaSu Pitts' name is spelled incorrectly in the theatre description.

Saw my first movie here in many a year a few days ago, and the theatre is still as charming as ever.

Mikeyisirish
Mikeyisirish on December 8, 2012 at 1:41 am

A 2010 photo can be seen here.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 26, 2015 at 4:08 pm

July 2nd, 1969 grand opening ad in photo section

rivest266
rivest266 on December 12, 2022 at 7:58 pm

appears to be closed per: https://lookout.co/santacruz/city-life/story/2022-03-18/revival-beloved-nickelodeon-movie-theater-could-be-fantasy

“On Feb. 9, 2020, I sat in the back row of a sparsely populated theater inside the downtown Santa Cruz Nickelodeon Theatre for an evening showing of Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.” That same night, it became the first international feature film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, as I had expected considering the global buzz that it generated.

However, despite the early stages of COVID-19 anxiety creating parallel worldwide noise, I never would have expected that this would be my final trip to the Nick.

The unassuming, beloved, four-screen arthouse theater on Lincoln Street “temporarily” suspended services on March 16, 2020, along with just about every other business in town. Many are back in business, but the Nick — a local staple for 50 years — has yet to come back to life.

Can it still be revived?

The Nick hasn’t been officially pronounced dead, but it certainly seems to be dying. The cause? It might seem like a no-brainer that COVID sped its closing. But streaming — an already popular force that was accelerated by the pandemic — has a hand in its demise as well.

For a hot second, it looked like the Nick might be making a comeback when the Del Mar, the other Landmark-operated theater in town, reopened in 2021. However, those hopes quickly slipped down the drain after weeks and months passed with the theater remaining shuttered, and the Nick’s Facebook page has been silent since the summer of 2021. …"

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