The Landmark Plaza was announced in 1979 and built by Becker Brothers containing and containing the Landmark Bowling Lanes, the Fun City Arcade, Landmark Restaurant and Lounge, and a movie theater as a family fun destination center. The Kerasotes Landmark Cinema 3 launched with “Kramer v. Kramer” on December 19, 1979 with “The Rose” and “Roller Boogie” two days later honoring those opening dates.
Kerasotes bumped that up to a five screener as the Landmark Cinema 5 on October 3, 1980. Under GKC (George Kerastoes Corporation) operation in November 8, 1985, the venue was changed to the Landmark Mall Cinemas 5 (plural). On October 7, 1988, it expanded to an 8-plex simply as Landmark Mall Cinemas though January 1992. They moved on at the end of lease.
Formerly operated by Nova Cinemas as the Nova Cinemas Peoria, it had a stretch as an independently run cinema. That included a drive-in screen beginning in 2012. The venue closed as Landmark Cinemas at Landmark Recreation Center on August 1, 2023.
The Pekin Mall was announced in 1967 to be anchored by a P.A. Bergner’s Department store. The long-gestating project added a JCPenney anchor and finally launched on August 2, 1973 theatre-less. But that would change quickly. General Cinema Corp. entered the market with a double cinema. The GCC Pekin Mall I & II opened with 701 seats on Feb 8, 1974. “American Graffiti” and “A Touch of Class” were the opening titles.
General Cinema left the Mall on October 28, 1987. Kerasotes took on the venue the next day, October 29, 1987, as the Pekin Mall Cinemas beginning the next day. The 25-year leasing deal was coming toward its end and Kerasotes went big building a new multiplex. It opened on November 19, 1999 and the Mall undoubtedly gave Kerasotes a month-to-month sweetheart deal to keep the space filled with the mall reaching greyfield status.
The venue was repositioned on November 19, 1999 as the Discount Movies at Pekin Mall with all seats a dollar. Kerasotes bailed on the dying mall on January 27, 2000 with just a single auditorium functioning and “Double Jeopardy.” The Pekin Mall was demolished in December of 2003.
The trade press reports that the Sievers Amusement Co., of Peoria opened the Duchess Theatre on December 15, 1913 running only movies. He was trying to corner that market as best as he could with the Empress, Princess, Duchess, Crescent opening in early 1914.
In 1976, the Peoria Civic Center project targeted a number of longstanding Peoria downtown buildings including the Rialto Theatre. With demolition all but guaranteed and business down to 142,000 annual tickets (roughly 97 people per show in a 1,400 seat capacity house), the Rialto was DOA.
Give Kerasotes credit for booking “Star Wars” there as that title, alone, sold over 110,000 tickets in a 27 week run making it the highest grossing film in Rialto history. A plan and a Save the Rialto movement started and a plan to retain the Rialto was proffered. It seemed to make sense and was within the realm of possibility. So actions hastened to remove the buildings in the Civic Center’s path. The Rialto was to have closed with a vaudeville show and classic movie but those plans were scrapped. 20 people attended the last showing of “Every Which Way Bit Loose” on January 18, 1979.
The salvage auction was held on January 25, 1979. In that prep for the auction, they found an archive of movie posters that were in a “lost” closet in the basement. In early February 1979, the demolition began.
The Beverly Theatre opened March 17, 1937. Effective with its GKC (George Kerasotes Corp.) operation, on November 8, 1985, it was rebranded as the Beverly Cinema. It closed as the Beverly Cinema on January 30, 1992 with “Star Trek VI.” It had 734 seats in its final capacity, down from 936 in its final stretch. It was demolished in 1993.
National General Corp. circuit opened the Fox Theatre on July 2, 1969 with “Funny Girl” on a 20-year leasing agreement. The venue owed its name to Fox Eastern Theatres, the subsidiary responsible for planning and opening the Fox - reportedly its 293d location. It was announced in June of 1967 - a $500,000 replacing the Risius Greenhouse facility. (The sister Fox Midwestern Theatres had nearby locations in Champaign, Jacksonville, Springfield, and into Southern Illinois at the time.)
The 821-seat luxury suburban single-screen theater was everything the aging downtown Peoria theaters weren’t. They had comfy new seating, lots of free parking (250 spaces), modern HVAC designed for the building at opening, and - when the Northwoods Mall opened four years later - was near the fastest growing part of retail in Peoria. The venue was announced and construction started by Becker Bros. in 1968. It was the city’s first hardtop, new-build theater since the Crest in 1939.
The venue’s booth left space for 70mm platters but opened and stuck with 35mm projection. Also, despite what it says above, this one remained stubbornly single-screen despite operating into the multiplex era and being outpaced. It’s opening location was 4025 W. War Memorial Drive in Peoria and its successor - the Red Roof Inn was 1822 West War Memorial Drive in an address switch (should you want to pay your respects in person).
Effective July 1, 1973 Mann’s Theatres took over the National General Corp. portfolio - here as Mann’s Fox Theater. Wehrenberg Theatres took on the Mann portfolios in the area effective July 1, 1982. Union projectionists were picketing on July 3, 1982 at the Fox Theater. On May 18, 1984, the Illinois portfolio of theaters was sold by Wehrenberg to Kerasotes Theatres. In 1985, those venues were under the GKC moniker (George Kerasotes Theatres) and, for reasons unclear, GKC actively marketed the portfolio including the Fox as “cinemas” with this venue as the Fox Cinema from November 1985 to closure despite not changing the exterior signage of “Fox Theater.”
As the leasing expiry was coming at January’s end in 1989, the building was sold outright to the parent company of Red Roof Inn. The theatre closed as the Fox Cinema on January 22, 1989 with “Twins.” The City Council approved of plans to raze the theatre which may have started in December of 1989 but completed in 1990. As noted, the Red Roof Inn’s operational cycle was primarily at 1822 West War Memorial Drive after the area was renumbered. And it was also knocked over with that patch of commercial area in turnaround.
The Galesburg Drive-In launched on March 27, 1953 with “Abbott & Costello Meet Capt. Kidd.” but had a free screening of “Ivory Hunter” the night before. Kerasotes closed at the end of its 30-year leasing agreement with “Spaceship” and “Galaxina” on September 4, 1983
The Varsity Theatre closed on February 1, 1990 with “Tango and Cash,” “Mask of the Red Death,” and “The Wizard.” Capacity was 764 as a two-screener with 484 in the main floor and 280 in the upstairs. The closing gives John N. Ziegele co-architect credit as part of Lankton & Ziege e. The Varsity had opened in 1939 with “Out West” and a full house. Five people showed up for the final screening of “Tango & Cash.
According to the reports on its demise, GKC said it had no choice in closing the venue as they could either sell out or get imminent domained as the Campustown project was coming through their building no matter what.
The Orpheum circuit brought Al Jolson, Will Rogers, Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor, and Fannie Brice to Peoria. And this was known when the demolition crew found the log of everyone who had been on the stage in the wreckage in January of 1952.
The building was stout in its defense - the project took longer than expected at six months and it took a big bite out of the neighboring Elks Club in a noon-time accident that crushed a pinball machine, damaged the bar, and injured two patrons. The space was used for a 55-car parking lot for Terminal Parking Co.
The Crest closed on April 30, 1956. Its lobby was used for various retail purposes and the blade signage changed to Cove. The former Crest joined the sad long line of movie theaters bulldozed to make way for another Minnie Pearl Roast Beef Restaurant chain location - one of six built in the area.
BTW: The franchises were built and readied… and then boarded up… and then auctioned, never opening… all with their oversized auctioned price tags sticking out of the rooftops.
Should you pay your respects to either establishment, you are better off heading to 4415 North Prospect Road because those Peoria Heights folks renumbered the street there at the confluence of Moneta Avenue and N. Prospect Road.
Trivia note: The Rialto folks found an amazing movie poster collection dating back decades that had been locked away in a closet and found prior to the venue’s auction. BTW: At the auction, the 1920’s $10,000 chandelier that was two tiered and ten feet long went for…. $50 at the hammer!
Plitt Theatres closed the Palace Theatre on February 6, 1980 with Steve Martin in “The Jerk” in its 8th week. Plitt turned out to be the jerks having announced the closure publicly for February 10, 1980 and advertising two February 7, 1980 shows that did not play because their insurance had run out on the venue the previous night. Fans of the theater were denied their final showings.
Reading the above, yes, the Palace should have been saved without question; but it was actually saved once prior. Its final 16+ years from 1963 to 1980 were on borrowed time and only happened because of a deal with Publix Great States Theatres and a local hospital that had received the property in an estate / will.
A potential Palace Theatre restoration would have been challenging other than the amazing facade. That’s because of the major transformation to streamline moderne in 1936 when the Palace lost some of its most significant interior elements and Plitt’s austerity-centric 1967 alterations - to say nothing of asbestos abatement and ADA challenges that would have been ahead.
Doesn’t really help matters, of course, and the City of Peoria very much failed to save the Rialto. A fairly feasible proposal was drafted to place it within the Civic Center project instead of being bulldozed. The Rialto project would have been significantly more challenging and expensive; yet it would have shown that the City valued architecture - which it clearly did not. This was due to the economic pressure at that time with its central business district in free fall greyfield status collapse with retail moving to Northwoods Mall and other strip shopping complexes.
And this has been said I’m sure earlier, but the Peoria Preservation Alliance did get the Palace’s amazing facade elements carefully removed and stored at demolition in 1981. But those elements were lost forever in a January 1984 storage facility housing them was lost to fire. Ironically, whatever was left of the Palace in that facility was ground into oblivion as the former Beeney Warehouse was demolished just days later.
The Lyceum Theatre closed on August 16, 1930 without converting to sound. It was the longest-running all silent operating theater in Peoria’s history which wasn’t exactly the record a theater wanted to have in the 1930s. “The Lyce” - as it was known affectionately - was replaced by a bowling alley.
The Princess Theatre opened in another location as one of Peoria’s first nickelodeons. Seaver Amusement Co. improved the presentation when it built the new Princess Theatre in 1908. Dee Robinson moved it programmatically to three acts of vaudeville and two, one-reel films between those live performances.
By the 1920s, vaudeville profit margins were thin so the Princess was remodeled with a new pipe organ in 1925 shifting to full-time movies. It received sound to remain commercially viable. It was remodeled getting a streamline moderne sign and other amenitites in the 1930s.
Kerasotes operated it into the TV age and sublet it to an independent for its final months. Its final films were largely exploitation films and discount double features on a grind policy. The Princess was abdicated on March 19, 1954 with a shoppers' special of “The Stars are Singing” and “Tropic Zone” churning from 11a to 11p.
The Becker family acquired / salvaged the Princess Theatre’s pipe organ at its closure and prior to its 1957 demolition for the $3 million Central Illinois Light Company (CILCO) building. It was still in usage in their home in the 1960s.
The Columbia gravitated from a nickelodeon to a real theatre in its 40 years of operation. It closed December 31, 1951 with a double feature of “Jungle Terror” and “Ridin' Over the Rainbow.” It was used for one year as a retail store for B&M clothing store - which had been around as long as the Columbia - while they built a new location. The Columbia Building was demolished for a W.T. Grant store.
Kerasotes Theatres launched the ShowPlace 8 on November 14, 2003 after a free preview the night before. More than 1,300 folks came for the free shows resulting in hundreds of folks being turned away. The opening replaced two aging twin-screen locations in town. The ShowPlace replaced the nearby Sandburg Mall Cinema 1 & 2 and the downtown West Cinema 1 & 2 which both closed November 13, 2003. The West was unable to make it to its 100th birthday though got past the 90 year mark with room to spare.
The Earl Theatre in downtown Knoxville opened in September of 1941 with “Barnacle Bill.” It was operated by Earl Williams. Williams had operated the Lyric from its 12th year of operation to closure from 1924 to 1941. The Earl replaced it.
Williams closed the Grove in 1958 knowing that TV had doomed this small town theatre. But Don Bowen relit the venue in April of 1958 hoping to buck the trend. That hope faded when he closed permanently in June of 1958. The building was later deomlished.
The Grove Theatre opened on August 29, 1941 with “That Night in Reno.” It It closed April 30, 1960 with “Devil’s Hairpin” and “Johnny Dark.” It became a church to reduce taxing liabilities and then became a home to the Salvation Army.
Carrols Development built this venue in a strip shopping center that housed an Arlan’s Discount Store and A&P. The 604-seat venue was automated launching on September, 1971 with “Carnal Knowledge” and “Summer of ‘42.” It was an upgrade in terms of technology, comfort and parking over the aging downtown theatres run by Kerasotes.
Dubinksy Brothers took over the cinema. Excellence took over when it bought out Dubinksy Bros. effective on December 1, 1989. In 1991, Carmike and Excellence created a joint operating agreement in February and, that same year, essentially buying out the Excellence side by September. This moved the Cinema to Carmike ownership.
It closed the Carmike Cinema 1 & 2 on August 14, 1997 with “Air Force One” and “Picture Perfect.”
The local paper has this as the Columbia Theatre from 1951 to 1953 which “Closed for the Summer” in early May of 1953 (see photos). That signage was there all the way to February 16, 1955 when it was torched and destroyed after a 93 week run. The venue was previously the Rialto Theatre and the Dreamland Theatre. (“Closed for the Summer” unfortunately had great runs at other Pekin and Peoria area theatres.)
1,100 seats capacity - the original capacity was 520 for Audi 1 and 290 for Audi 2 & 3. As a five-plex, capacity stayed about the same with splitting.
The Landmark Plaza was announced in 1979 and built by Becker Brothers containing and containing the Landmark Bowling Lanes, the Fun City Arcade, Landmark Restaurant and Lounge, and a movie theater as a family fun destination center. The Kerasotes Landmark Cinema 3 launched with “Kramer v. Kramer” on December 19, 1979 with “The Rose” and “Roller Boogie” two days later honoring those opening dates.
Kerasotes bumped that up to a five screener as the Landmark Cinema 5 on October 3, 1980. Under GKC (George Kerastoes Corporation) operation in November 8, 1985, the venue was changed to the Landmark Mall Cinemas 5 (plural). On October 7, 1988, it expanded to an 8-plex simply as Landmark Mall Cinemas though January 1992. They moved on at the end of lease.
Formerly operated by Nova Cinemas as the Nova Cinemas Peoria, it had a stretch as an independently run cinema. That included a drive-in screen beginning in 2012. The venue closed as Landmark Cinemas at Landmark Recreation Center on August 1, 2023.
(BTW: The Landmark Lanes closed September 2025.)
The Pekin Mall was announced in 1967 to be anchored by a P.A. Bergner’s Department store. The long-gestating project added a JCPenney anchor and finally launched on August 2, 1973 theatre-less. But that would change quickly. General Cinema Corp. entered the market with a double cinema. The GCC Pekin Mall I & II opened with 701 seats on Feb 8, 1974. “American Graffiti” and “A Touch of Class” were the opening titles.
General Cinema left the Mall on October 28, 1987. Kerasotes took on the venue the next day, October 29, 1987, as the Pekin Mall Cinemas beginning the next day. The 25-year leasing deal was coming toward its end and Kerasotes went big building a new multiplex. It opened on November 19, 1999 and the Mall undoubtedly gave Kerasotes a month-to-month sweetheart deal to keep the space filled with the mall reaching greyfield status.
The venue was repositioned on November 19, 1999 as the Discount Movies at Pekin Mall with all seats a dollar. Kerasotes bailed on the dying mall on January 27, 2000 with just a single auditorium functioning and “Double Jeopardy.” The Pekin Mall was demolished in December of 2003.
The trade press reports that the Sievers Amusement Co., of Peoria opened the Duchess Theatre on December 15, 1913 running only movies. He was trying to corner that market as best as he could with the Empress, Princess, Duchess, Crescent opening in early 1914.
In 1976, the Peoria Civic Center project targeted a number of longstanding Peoria downtown buildings including the Rialto Theatre. With demolition all but guaranteed and business down to 142,000 annual tickets (roughly 97 people per show in a 1,400 seat capacity house), the Rialto was DOA.
Give Kerasotes credit for booking “Star Wars” there as that title, alone, sold over 110,000 tickets in a 27 week run making it the highest grossing film in Rialto history. A plan and a Save the Rialto movement started and a plan to retain the Rialto was proffered. It seemed to make sense and was within the realm of possibility. So actions hastened to remove the buildings in the Civic Center’s path. The Rialto was to have closed with a vaudeville show and classic movie but those plans were scrapped. 20 people attended the last showing of “Every Which Way Bit Loose” on January 18, 1979.
The salvage auction was held on January 25, 1979. In that prep for the auction, they found an archive of movie posters that were in a “lost” closet in the basement. In early February 1979, the demolition began.
Wasn’t twinned and likely should be the Fox Cinema aka Fox Theater
This venue became the Varsity Cinemas under GKC Theatres on November 1, 1985 and closed under that name in 1990.
The Beverly Theatre opened March 17, 1937. Effective with its GKC (George Kerasotes Corp.) operation, on November 8, 1985, it was rebranded as the Beverly Cinema. It closed as the Beverly Cinema on January 30, 1992 with “Star Trek VI.” It had 734 seats in its final capacity, down from 936 in its final stretch. It was demolished in 1993.
National General Corp. circuit opened the Fox Theatre on July 2, 1969 with “Funny Girl” on a 20-year leasing agreement. The venue owed its name to Fox Eastern Theatres, the subsidiary responsible for planning and opening the Fox - reportedly its 293d location. It was announced in June of 1967 - a $500,000 replacing the Risius Greenhouse facility. (The sister Fox Midwestern Theatres had nearby locations in Champaign, Jacksonville, Springfield, and into Southern Illinois at the time.)
The 821-seat luxury suburban single-screen theater was everything the aging downtown Peoria theaters weren’t. They had comfy new seating, lots of free parking (250 spaces), modern HVAC designed for the building at opening, and - when the Northwoods Mall opened four years later - was near the fastest growing part of retail in Peoria. The venue was announced and construction started by Becker Bros. in 1968. It was the city’s first hardtop, new-build theater since the Crest in 1939.
The venue’s booth left space for 70mm platters but opened and stuck with 35mm projection. Also, despite what it says above, this one remained stubbornly single-screen despite operating into the multiplex era and being outpaced. It’s opening location was 4025 W. War Memorial Drive in Peoria and its successor - the Red Roof Inn was 1822 West War Memorial Drive in an address switch (should you want to pay your respects in person).
Effective July 1, 1973 Mann’s Theatres took over the National General Corp. portfolio - here as Mann’s Fox Theater. Wehrenberg Theatres took on the Mann portfolios in the area effective July 1, 1982. Union projectionists were picketing on July 3, 1982 at the Fox Theater. On May 18, 1984, the Illinois portfolio of theaters was sold by Wehrenberg to Kerasotes Theatres. In 1985, those venues were under the GKC moniker (George Kerasotes Theatres) and, for reasons unclear, GKC actively marketed the portfolio including the Fox as “cinemas” with this venue as the Fox Cinema from November 1985 to closure despite not changing the exterior signage of “Fox Theater.”
As the leasing expiry was coming at January’s end in 1989, the building was sold outright to the parent company of Red Roof Inn. The theatre closed as the Fox Cinema on January 22, 1989 with “Twins.” The City Council approved of plans to raze the theatre which may have started in December of 1989 but completed in 1990. As noted, the Red Roof Inn’s operational cycle was primarily at 1822 West War Memorial Drive after the area was renumbered. And it was also knocked over with that patch of commercial area in turnaround.
The Galesburg Drive-In launched on March 27, 1953 with “Abbott & Costello Meet Capt. Kidd.” but had a free screening of “Ivory Hunter” the night before. Kerasotes closed at the end of its 30-year leasing agreement with “Spaceship” and “Galaxina” on September 4, 1983
The Varsity Theatre closed on February 1, 1990 with “Tango and Cash,” “Mask of the Red Death,” and “The Wizard.” Capacity was 764 as a two-screener with 484 in the main floor and 280 in the upstairs. The closing gives John N. Ziegele co-architect credit as part of Lankton & Ziege e. The Varsity had opened in 1939 with “Out West” and a full house. Five people showed up for the final screening of “Tango & Cash.
According to the reports on its demise, GKC said it had no choice in closing the venue as they could either sell out or get imminent domained as the Campustown project was coming through their building no matter what.
The Orpheum circuit brought Al Jolson, Will Rogers, Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor, and Fannie Brice to Peoria. And this was known when the demolition crew found the log of everyone who had been on the stage in the wreckage in January of 1952.
The building was stout in its defense - the project took longer than expected at six months and it took a big bite out of the neighboring Elks Club in a noon-time accident that crushed a pinball machine, damaged the bar, and injured two patrons. The space was used for a 55-car parking lot for Terminal Parking Co.
The Crest closed on April 30, 1956. Its lobby was used for various retail purposes and the blade signage changed to Cove. The former Crest joined the sad long line of movie theaters bulldozed to make way for another Minnie Pearl Roast Beef Restaurant chain location - one of six built in the area.
BTW: The franchises were built and readied… and then boarded up… and then auctioned, never opening… all with their oversized auctioned price tags sticking out of the rooftops.
Should you pay your respects to either establishment, you are better off heading to 4415 North Prospect Road because those Peoria Heights folks renumbered the street there at the confluence of Moneta Avenue and N. Prospect Road.
Trivia note: The Rialto folks found an amazing movie poster collection dating back decades that had been locked away in a closet and found prior to the venue’s auction. BTW: At the auction, the 1920’s $10,000 chandelier that was two tiered and ten feet long went for…. $50 at the hammer!
Plitt Theatres closed the Palace Theatre on February 6, 1980 with Steve Martin in “The Jerk” in its 8th week. Plitt turned out to be the jerks having announced the closure publicly for February 10, 1980 and advertising two February 7, 1980 shows that did not play because their insurance had run out on the venue the previous night. Fans of the theater were denied their final showings.
Reading the above, yes, the Palace should have been saved without question; but it was actually saved once prior. Its final 16+ years from 1963 to 1980 were on borrowed time and only happened because of a deal with Publix Great States Theatres and a local hospital that had received the property in an estate / will.
A potential Palace Theatre restoration would have been challenging other than the amazing facade. That’s because of the major transformation to streamline moderne in 1936 when the Palace lost some of its most significant interior elements and Plitt’s austerity-centric 1967 alterations - to say nothing of asbestos abatement and ADA challenges that would have been ahead.
Doesn’t really help matters, of course, and the City of Peoria very much failed to save the Rialto. A fairly feasible proposal was drafted to place it within the Civic Center project instead of being bulldozed. The Rialto project would have been significantly more challenging and expensive; yet it would have shown that the City valued architecture - which it clearly did not. This was due to the economic pressure at that time with its central business district in free fall greyfield status collapse with retail moving to Northwoods Mall and other strip shopping complexes.
And this has been said I’m sure earlier, but the Peoria Preservation Alliance did get the Palace’s amazing facade elements carefully removed and stored at demolition in 1981. But those elements were lost forever in a January 1984 storage facility housing them was lost to fire. Ironically, whatever was left of the Palace in that facility was ground into oblivion as the former Beeney Warehouse was demolished just days later.
The Lyceum Theatre closed on August 16, 1930 without converting to sound. It was the longest-running all silent operating theater in Peoria’s history which wasn’t exactly the record a theater wanted to have in the 1930s. “The Lyce” - as it was known affectionately - was replaced by a bowling alley.
The Princess Theatre opened in another location as one of Peoria’s first nickelodeons. Seaver Amusement Co. improved the presentation when it built the new Princess Theatre in 1908. Dee Robinson moved it programmatically to three acts of vaudeville and two, one-reel films between those live performances.
By the 1920s, vaudeville profit margins were thin so the Princess was remodeled with a new pipe organ in 1925 shifting to full-time movies. It received sound to remain commercially viable. It was remodeled getting a streamline moderne sign and other amenitites in the 1930s.
Kerasotes operated it into the TV age and sublet it to an independent for its final months. Its final films were largely exploitation films and discount double features on a grind policy. The Princess was abdicated on March 19, 1954 with a shoppers' special of “The Stars are Singing” and “Tropic Zone” churning from 11a to 11p.
The Becker family acquired / salvaged the Princess Theatre’s pipe organ at its closure and prior to its 1957 demolition for the $3 million Central Illinois Light Company (CILCO) building. It was still in usage in their home in the 1960s.
The Columbia gravitated from a nickelodeon to a real theatre in its 40 years of operation. It closed December 31, 1951 with a double feature of “Jungle Terror” and “Ridin' Over the Rainbow.” It was used for one year as a retail store for B&M clothing store - which had been around as long as the Columbia - while they built a new location. The Columbia Building was demolished for a W.T. Grant store.
Closed January 23, 1992 as a dollar house.
Kerasotes Theatres launched the ShowPlace 8 on November 14, 2003 after a free preview the night before. More than 1,300 folks came for the free shows resulting in hundreds of folks being turned away. The opening replaced two aging twin-screen locations in town. The ShowPlace replaced the nearby Sandburg Mall Cinema 1 & 2 and the downtown West Cinema 1 & 2 which both closed November 13, 2003. The West was unable to make it to its 100th birthday though got past the 90 year mark with room to spare.
The Earl Theatre in downtown Knoxville opened in September of 1941 with “Barnacle Bill.” It was operated by Earl Williams. Williams had operated the Lyric from its 12th year of operation to closure from 1924 to 1941. The Earl replaced it.
Williams closed the Grove in 1958 knowing that TV had doomed this small town theatre. But Don Bowen relit the venue in April of 1958 hoping to buck the trend. That hope faded when he closed permanently in June of 1958. The building was later deomlished.
The Grove Theatre opened on August 29, 1941 with “That Night in Reno.” It It closed April 30, 1960 with “Devil’s Hairpin” and “Johnny Dark.” It became a church to reduce taxing liabilities and then became a home to the Salvation Army.
November 24, 1982 grand opening ad with “The Missionary,” “48 Hours,” and “Heidi’s Song” in photos.
Carrols Development built this venue in a strip shopping center that housed an Arlan’s Discount Store and A&P. The 604-seat venue was automated launching on September, 1971 with “Carnal Knowledge” and “Summer of ‘42.” It was an upgrade in terms of technology, comfort and parking over the aging downtown theatres run by Kerasotes.
Dubinksy Brothers took over the cinema. Excellence took over when it bought out Dubinksy Bros. effective on December 1, 1989. In 1991, Carmike and Excellence created a joint operating agreement in February and, that same year, essentially buying out the Excellence side by September. This moved the Cinema to Carmike ownership.
It closed the Carmike Cinema 1 & 2 on August 14, 1997 with “Air Force One” and “Picture Perfect.”
The local paper has this as the Columbia Theatre from 1951 to 1953 which “Closed for the Summer” in early May of 1953 (see photos). That signage was there all the way to February 16, 1955 when it was torched and destroyed after a 93 week run. The venue was previously the Rialto Theatre and the Dreamland Theatre. (“Closed for the Summer” unfortunately had great runs at other Pekin and Peoria area theatres.)