I belonged to the Seattle IATSE Union Local 154 but worked this drive in for a weekend in 1992 as an emergency fill in Projectionist even it was in the Tacoma IA local’s jurisdiction. The regular projectionist was in the hospital and the Tacoma local didn’t have anyone to cover the job. That weekend would have been the last time I ever worked at a drive in.
I worked there in the late 1970’s. By that time, the heat and AC were long gone. I was told that it’s use was discontinued in the early 1960’s. To prevent speaker theft, all speaker poles were retrofitted with ¼ inch mono phone jacks and each speaker had a ¼ inch plug on the end of it’s cord. When you bought a ticket, you were handed a speaker to plug in at whatever spot you parked in. The only exit open at the end of the show had employees stationed at it to retrive the speakers as cars left. If the driver said that at it was still on the pole, someone from the car would have to walk back to get it. We did still have some of the custom made speakers in use for sell out nights when we would run out of the newer ones. Eldon Pollock, the theater owner designed the combo heat/AC/Sound speakers himself and had them custom made locally.
When I worked there in the 1970’s, the second floor seating/viewing room was no longer open to the public. The owner of the property, Eldon Pollock, was an avid bridge player and the room was used one evening a week for the local duplicate bridge club. Most of the bridge players were well advanced in years and by the late 1970’s some of the films being shown were hard “R” product. The players were often displeased at the content.
The concession/projection building had a second floor added when the second screen was added. The second floor housed the booth for both screens and a small apartment. The original projection booth on the ground floor was turned into storage. Brenkert BX-80 projectors, RCA soundheads. It’s been some 45 years since I was last in that booth, can’t remember any more details. It was owned by Jim Bonholzer who also operated theaters in Eastern Washington state.
The former Business Agent for the Everett Projectionists Union local told me years ago that this theater closed due to poor business. He said that one of the reasons for poor business was it’s proximity to the City’s garbage dump and the resulting odors from the dump.
Jamey: I beg to differ, I live in this area. The Basin Drive In was at the intersection of what is now I-90 and State Highway 17. Nowhere near East Broadway. I posted a photo of it (from State Department of Transportation. There are also pictures of it at the I-90/SR17 in the Grant County Historical Society archives.
This theater was operated by Cineplex Odeon. As Davidfox mentioned above, the theater never did much business for the reasxons he cited. When this theater closed, I was employed as an IA projectionist at another Cineplex theater just a few blocks away in Seattle. The Newmark closed in an interesting fashion. The mall management and Cineplex had been in disputes for years regarding the lack of patronage for the entire mall. Starting on a Saturday afternoon, the theater was plagued with “Projector Problems” resaulting with the cancellation of all shows in one auditorium. By Sunday evening the “Projector Problems” had spread to affect all 5 auditoriums. In reality, Cineplex (without notice to mall management) had decided to break the lease and strip the theater of anything useful. There was a freight elevator from the third floor theater to a loading dock located in the alley behind the building so no mall staff or other tenants were aware of what was happening. On Monday morning, mall management found an empty shell of a theater, all projection and concession equipment gone. Only the seats remained.
A little more information on the 1982 shootings in the parking lot. The slain brothers and the shooter had been seeing a double feature at the theater. The shooting took place in the parking lot after the films. I can’t for the life of me recall what the two films were but both were “R” rated and of a violent nature. I was off duty that night. The same double bill was run for the jury at the trial at the request of the shooter’s attorney. That weekday morning screening was held at the John Danz theater in Bellevue, owned by SRO Theaters which also owned the Factoria. The Factoria was no stranger to violence, In 1996 a 20 year old assistant manager was shot and killed in a holdup at the theater. In 2021, another fatal parking lot shooting. The theater is in a generally upscale area, not in a bad part of town at all. T-Mobile headquarters is just a few yards away.
I wish to correct a statement regarding number of screens at opening. The Factoria had only 3 screens at opening. All three equipped with Dolby CP-50 audio processors, new Simplex 35mm projectors fitted with lens turrets that were mated to rebuilt older RCA soundheads. At opening, we did not have platters but rather Cinemeccanica Towers which held 13,000 feet of film on the reels but required rewind time at the end of the screening. Platters came in 1982 with the two additional screens. The new screens were equipped for 70mm and each had brand new Century JJ2 projectors with lens turrets, Dolby CP 200 audio processers, and Christie platters. I was the #2 (part time) Union projectionist from 1981 - 1983. The local Projectionist’s Union was IATSE Local 154 and existed from 1908-1998. In 1998, merged with IATSE Local 15, Seattle Stagehands Union.
My Dad’s U. S. Government job took the family to the Devils Lake area for a couple of years, 1969 - 71. My school bus went right by the drive in. Never went to film here, despite pestering my parents to go. I was 11 years old at the time.
This drive in was located just outside of the main gate to Larson Air Force Base which closed in 1966. Airmen on duty at the main gate would have had a view of the screen about 100 yards away. The theater would have been under final approach for B-52 bombers from the SAC base. It is an empty field (with many rattlesnakes!) at present. Foundation of the snack bar building is still there.
Some 6 months later, GCC opened the above mentioned 6-plex on the other side of the parking lot. I worked for GCC, Tom Moyer’s Luxury Theaters had better bookers, in my opinion. GCC rarely had the top grossing films.
I neglected to mention in my previous comment of a major issue that almost further delayed the opening of this theater. It had been scheduled to open before the Christmas season but there were many construction delays. Hence the mid-January opening.
At the last minute, the local fire department insisted that the projection equipment have an Underwriters Labs label. Or a certificate from another nationally recognized testing laboratory. Our Italian made Cinemeccanica projectors and consoles of course did not have this. GCC had to, at great expense, hire another company to do the testing on site. Maryland Testing Laboratories flew a man out from Baltimore for two days so that he could inspect and certify the machines as safe. He even placed a Maryland Testing Labs sticker on each machine.
I was the opening projectionist for this theater. Opened as a 6-plex, all 35mm with 2 Dolby houses and 4 mono. First Dolby houses in the county. Business was poor at first, Weekends were OK but weekdays suffered greatly. Weekday matinees were especially bad, often zero attendance for multiple showings throughout the afternoon. GCC did however maintain the daily matinee policy throughout my 2+ years there. Competing 4-plex less than 100 feet away, just across the parking lot.
A GCC Home Office executive was present for the opening week. It was Charlie Atkinson as I recall. He said to me that he was afraid that the company was some 5 or more years early in opening this theater after he saw the receipts for the first weekday showings.
There was an active farm next door, a gate got left open and we had horses from the farm in our parking lot on opening night. Within a year or so, that farm was gone. Replaced by big box retail including a Toys R Us.
Silverdale is a Navy town, submarine base is there and the Bremerton Navel Shipyard just a few miles away.
I was unaware that Coupeville had ever had a theater. I grew up about 10 miles away in the 1960’s/70’s and thought that Oak Harbor and Langley had the only two indoor theaters on the island. There is also the Blue Fox drive in, just South of Oak Harbor. In addition, there is a theater on the Navy Base but it is not open to the general public.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the Mond theater (name was Cine-Mond by this time) was operated by Bob and and his brother Ben McRae of McRae Theater Equipment. Both Bob and Ben were Union Brothers in Local 154 IATSE Projectionists Union as was I. They operated a handful of theaters in the area. In 1983 when 20th Century Fox gave “Return of the Jedi” to a 35mm house (GCC Villa Plaza) instead of his 70mm Dolby equipped Narrows Theater in Tacoma, Bob decided to get out of the exhibition business. The theater equipment and supply business continued for years thereafter.
Banana Republic closed it’s store in the Coliseum during the pandemic and has announced that the closure is permanent. This theater is vacant, ready and waiting for…? The interior is mostly intact, the conversion to retail was done with the idea that it might someday re-open as a theater.
This is a typical audio rack for a GCC theater during this era. At the top, a Dolby CP-50 audio processor. In the middle, a Kelmar dual 9VDC exciter lamp power supply. At the bottom, four Kelmar power amplifiers. The CP-50 was the first 35mm film Dolby Stereo processor from Dolby Labs. Many were installed worldwide in the late 1970’s and early 80’s.
General Cinema placed their screens within a reflective surround structure in their older theaters. It was called the “Shadow Box”. This design feature was dropped by the middle of the 1970’s. New houses and remodels after that time had the screen surrounded by black masking.
Theater destroyed by fire 7/24/2023. Fire presumed to be arson.
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/explosion-reported-before-fire-vacant-building-seattles-busy-u-district/XKNHDOTFJVB65HT6YMOVXQD4YI/
I belonged to the Seattle IATSE Union Local 154 but worked this drive in for a weekend in 1992 as an emergency fill in Projectionist even it was in the Tacoma IA local’s jurisdiction. The regular projectionist was in the hospital and the Tacoma local didn’t have anyone to cover the job. That weekend would have been the last time I ever worked at a drive in.
It was nearly a 500 foot throw from the booth to the screen.
I worked there in the late 1970’s. By that time, the heat and AC were long gone. I was told that it’s use was discontinued in the early 1960’s. To prevent speaker theft, all speaker poles were retrofitted with ¼ inch mono phone jacks and each speaker had a ¼ inch plug on the end of it’s cord. When you bought a ticket, you were handed a speaker to plug in at whatever spot you parked in. The only exit open at the end of the show had employees stationed at it to retrive the speakers as cars left. If the driver said that at it was still on the pole, someone from the car would have to walk back to get it. We did still have some of the custom made speakers in use for sell out nights when we would run out of the newer ones. Eldon Pollock, the theater owner designed the combo heat/AC/Sound speakers himself and had them custom made locally.
When I worked there in the 1970’s, the second floor seating/viewing room was no longer open to the public. The owner of the property, Eldon Pollock, was an avid bridge player and the room was used one evening a week for the local duplicate bridge club. Most of the bridge players were well advanced in years and by the late 1970’s some of the films being shown were hard “R” product. The players were often displeased at the content.
The concession/projection building had a second floor added when the second screen was added. The second floor housed the booth for both screens and a small apartment. The original projection booth on the ground floor was turned into storage. Brenkert BX-80 projectors, RCA soundheads. It’s been some 45 years since I was last in that booth, can’t remember any more details. It was owned by Jim Bonholzer who also operated theaters in Eastern Washington state.
The former Business Agent for the Everett Projectionists Union local told me years ago that this theater closed due to poor business. He said that one of the reasons for poor business was it’s proximity to the City’s garbage dump and the resulting odors from the dump.
Jamey: I beg to differ, I live in this area. The Basin Drive In was at the intersection of what is now I-90 and State Highway 17. Nowhere near East Broadway. I posted a photo of it (from State Department of Transportation. There are also pictures of it at the I-90/SR17 in the Grant County Historical Society archives.
This theater was operated by Cineplex Odeon. As Davidfox mentioned above, the theater never did much business for the reasxons he cited. When this theater closed, I was employed as an IA projectionist at another Cineplex theater just a few blocks away in Seattle. The Newmark closed in an interesting fashion. The mall management and Cineplex had been in disputes for years regarding the lack of patronage for the entire mall. Starting on a Saturday afternoon, the theater was plagued with “Projector Problems” resaulting with the cancellation of all shows in one auditorium. By Sunday evening the “Projector Problems” had spread to affect all 5 auditoriums. In reality, Cineplex (without notice to mall management) had decided to break the lease and strip the theater of anything useful. There was a freight elevator from the third floor theater to a loading dock located in the alley behind the building so no mall staff or other tenants were aware of what was happening. On Monday morning, mall management found an empty shell of a theater, all projection and concession equipment gone. Only the seats remained.
It opened in the late 1990’s. Perhaps 97 or 98? As I recall, it was owned by two brothers with the last name of Silver.
Same model projectors and lamps that I had in a drive in built new for the 1968 season. Midway D.I. in Kent, WA. State of the art for the day.
I believe that the nearest theater is now a single screen located in Rugby which is a 1 hour drive away.
This is what a projection booth should look like.
A little more information on the 1982 shootings in the parking lot. The slain brothers and the shooter had been seeing a double feature at the theater. The shooting took place in the parking lot after the films. I can’t for the life of me recall what the two films were but both were “R” rated and of a violent nature. I was off duty that night. The same double bill was run for the jury at the trial at the request of the shooter’s attorney. That weekday morning screening was held at the John Danz theater in Bellevue, owned by SRO Theaters which also owned the Factoria. The Factoria was no stranger to violence, In 1996 a 20 year old assistant manager was shot and killed in a holdup at the theater. In 2021, another fatal parking lot shooting. The theater is in a generally upscale area, not in a bad part of town at all. T-Mobile headquarters is just a few yards away.
I wish to correct a statement regarding number of screens at opening. The Factoria had only 3 screens at opening. All three equipped with Dolby CP-50 audio processors, new Simplex 35mm projectors fitted with lens turrets that were mated to rebuilt older RCA soundheads. At opening, we did not have platters but rather Cinemeccanica Towers which held 13,000 feet of film on the reels but required rewind time at the end of the screening. Platters came in 1982 with the two additional screens. The new screens were equipped for 70mm and each had brand new Century JJ2 projectors with lens turrets, Dolby CP 200 audio processers, and Christie platters. I was the #2 (part time) Union projectionist from 1981 - 1983. The local Projectionist’s Union was IATSE Local 154 and existed from 1908-1998. In 1998, merged with IATSE Local 15, Seattle Stagehands Union.
My Dad’s U. S. Government job took the family to the Devils Lake area for a couple of years, 1969 - 71. My school bus went right by the drive in. Never went to film here, despite pestering my parents to go. I was 11 years old at the time.
This drive in was located just outside of the main gate to Larson Air Force Base which closed in 1966. Airmen on duty at the main gate would have had a view of the screen about 100 yards away. The theater would have been under final approach for B-52 bombers from the SAC base. It is an empty field (with many rattlesnakes!) at present. Foundation of the snack bar building is still there.
Some 6 months later, GCC opened the above mentioned 6-plex on the other side of the parking lot. I worked for GCC, Tom Moyer’s Luxury Theaters had better bookers, in my opinion. GCC rarely had the top grossing films.
I neglected to mention in my previous comment of a major issue that almost further delayed the opening of this theater. It had been scheduled to open before the Christmas season but there were many construction delays. Hence the mid-January opening.
At the last minute, the local fire department insisted that the projection equipment have an Underwriters Labs label. Or a certificate from another nationally recognized testing laboratory. Our Italian made Cinemeccanica projectors and consoles of course did not have this. GCC had to, at great expense, hire another company to do the testing on site. Maryland Testing Laboratories flew a man out from Baltimore for two days so that he could inspect and certify the machines as safe. He even placed a Maryland Testing Labs sticker on each machine.
I was the opening projectionist for this theater. Opened as a 6-plex, all 35mm with 2 Dolby houses and 4 mono. First Dolby houses in the county. Business was poor at first, Weekends were OK but weekdays suffered greatly. Weekday matinees were especially bad, often zero attendance for multiple showings throughout the afternoon. GCC did however maintain the daily matinee policy throughout my 2+ years there. Competing 4-plex less than 100 feet away, just across the parking lot.
A GCC Home Office executive was present for the opening week. It was Charlie Atkinson as I recall. He said to me that he was afraid that the company was some 5 or more years early in opening this theater after he saw the receipts for the first weekday showings.
There was an active farm next door, a gate got left open and we had horses from the farm in our parking lot on opening night. Within a year or so, that farm was gone. Replaced by big box retail including a Toys R Us.
Silverdale is a Navy town, submarine base is there and the Bremerton Navel Shipyard just a few miles away.
I was unaware that Coupeville had ever had a theater. I grew up about 10 miles away in the 1960’s/70’s and thought that Oak Harbor and Langley had the only two indoor theaters on the island. There is also the Blue Fox drive in, just South of Oak Harbor. In addition, there is a theater on the Navy Base but it is not open to the general public.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the Mond theater (name was Cine-Mond by this time) was operated by Bob and and his brother Ben McRae of McRae Theater Equipment. Both Bob and Ben were Union Brothers in Local 154 IATSE Projectionists Union as was I. They operated a handful of theaters in the area. In 1983 when 20th Century Fox gave “Return of the Jedi” to a 35mm house (GCC Villa Plaza) instead of his 70mm Dolby equipped Narrows Theater in Tacoma, Bob decided to get out of the exhibition business. The theater equipment and supply business continued for years thereafter.
Banana Republic closed it’s store in the Coliseum during the pandemic and has announced that the closure is permanent. This theater is vacant, ready and waiting for…? The interior is mostly intact, the conversion to retail was done with the idea that it might someday re-open as a theater.
This is a typical audio rack for a GCC theater during this era. At the top, a Dolby CP-50 audio processor. In the middle, a Kelmar dual 9VDC exciter lamp power supply. At the bottom, four Kelmar power amplifiers. The CP-50 was the first 35mm film Dolby Stereo processor from Dolby Labs. Many were installed worldwide in the late 1970’s and early 80’s.
General Cinema placed their screens within a reflective surround structure in their older theaters. It was called the “Shadow Box”. This design feature was dropped by the middle of the 1970’s. New houses and remodels after that time had the screen surrounded by black masking.