Totem Lake Cinemas
12232 Totem Lake Way,
Kirkland,
WA
98034
12232 Totem Lake Way,
Kirkland,
WA
98034
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Status should be changed to “Demolished”. The site is apartments now, no trace of the theater remains.
To clarify what I just wrote above, there were a total of two 400 seat houses, one on either end of the building. Not two on each end.
This theater was a near identical twin of the Factoria Cinemas in it’s original 3 screen configuration. Two 400 seat houses at either end of the building with a 200 hundred seat house between. It opened about 6 months after the Factoria. All booths were identical insofar as equipment goes. New Simplex 35 projectors with lens turrets, rebuilt RCA 9030 soundheads, Xetron 2000W lamphouses. Dolby stereo with CP 50’s and BGW amplifiers in each house. The booth did not originally have platters, SRO seemed to prefer Cinemeccanica towers as film transport devices during this time frame. I worked there in the 1981/82 time frame a few times as a relief projectionist. It was always a nice house to work, SRO took very good care of their theatres as well as their employees. SRO was a class act, they were not a cheap operator.
Status should be closed. Listed as closed on Facebook page and elsewhere on web.
This opened on December 12th, 1980. Grand opening ad posted here.
Open ~1985-~2001, ~2004? Can anyone verify the exact dates?
1985-1986 Sterling Theaters Co. of Seattle, Fredric A. Danz, President, they had 39 theaters in Oregon, Washington and california.
1986-1998 Cineplex Odeon
1998-2001 Loews Cineplex Entertainment
2004 Bollywood Movies
Jhakar Production
More info and photos are always welcome.
TRIVIA, Costco Wholesale, the third largest retailer in the United States, after Walmart and Kroger, had it’s corporate headquarters in the city of Kirkland, Washington (home of the Totem Lake Cinemas) from 1987-1996. Costco’s house brand, Kirkland Signature, of course is named for Kirkland, Washington.