Walnut Theaters

The Walnut Twin’s groundbreaking ceremony was in 1973 and the theater opened on March 1, 1974. Texas Automated Theaters was behind the theater and McBroome-Bennett were the engineers of the project. The automated theater concept was where small theaters would be located adjacent to – or inside of – hotels or other high traffic areas and run with minimal personnel. They were often franchised. The Walnut was one such theater. It was designed to be a four-screen concept with two mini-theaters completed and two more mini-units added later. That expansion never happened. The theater sat behind the newly completed Colonial National Bank shielding it from view from passer-bys on Walnut Street traveling east to west. As a result, a sign was placed on Walnut St. in an attempt to attract customers. Auditorium One had 298 seats and Two had 224 seats for a total of 522 seats. That’s the way it stayed from 1972 to 2012 when the theaters were converted to allow for booked parties and other events.

Texas Automated found its operators in independents Don and Betty Christenson, their first theater. They had actress Charlotte Westmoreland of “Kristi and the Legend of Mt. Shasta” as one of the few personal appearances hosted at the theater. Under their operation, the Walnut Twin would transform from first run to discount, dollar screen in the early 1980s. The couple said that 1996 was one of their better years financially as a discount house but closed the theater on Nov. 19, 1996 due to the owners' health concerns. Because the 9/10 screen United Artists Galaxy, UA Northstar 8, and Cinemark Hollywood 15 were all within five miles of the Walnut, many thought the aged twin-screener would not reopen. That proved false.

Sanjay Chandahas bought the theater six months later in 1997 installing a state-of-the-art sound system with speakers in the ceiling and sides returning the theater to first run status. The original white quartz theater which had attracted graffiti in the down time was painted a lime sherbet green. Chandahas rebranded his business as Walnut Theatres, continuing operations into the 2010s. Under his direction, the Walnut drew crowds with “Rocky Horror Picture Show” but maintenance issues caused by unruly patrons forced the discontinuation of that booking. As noted, Chandahas redesigned the theater in 2012 to accommodate non-theatrical bookings in hopes of extending the viability of the Walnut Theatres.

That Location Has A Happy Life In 97. I Haven’t Seen An Operated Independent Theater Operation In The Dallas-Fort Worth Area, Other Than One In Denton.

The theater has officially closed after 10 years of posting showtimes but not really showing the films. I’ve scheduled “Tears” for 4:30, 7 and 9:30 and “Heartbreak” for a 2p matinee (only). Current use: full-time event center

The Inwood (Tri-plexed) and the Texas Theatre (duplexed) are the classic venues that still have current movies as their daily bread and butter. There are other 50-plus year old venues in the area dabbling with repertory (Grapevine’s Palace or the Plaza in Garland among many others) for nostalgic reasons.

The only shoebox (pre-1994 twin, tri, quad or multiplex) in almost original condition is America Cinemas Fort Worth. Every other multiplex still showing film (AMC Green Oaks, GCC Central Park 8, Denton’s ABC Cinema, AMC Hulen, UA Hulen) has been remodeled to the point of not really seeing the original design intent of sterile shoe-boxedness.

Moving to the 1990s era, a lot of the AMC megaplexes have a high percentage of auditoriums unchanged (non recliner audis). But the answer to the question - if understood correctly - not a whole lot of authentic era movie houses pre-megaplexes showing contemporary cinema in their original design form factors. The tides have long turned against feature-starved movies-only venues of the previous cinematic exhibition eras.