Pleasant Valley Cinemas I & II Family Theatres

This venue was a sound example of the suburban luxury movement in cinema exhibition. That period saw upstart independent operators build on their own or franchise with a new breed of cinema circuits that were developed outside of city’s central business districts to take advantage of lower leasing and mounds of free parking. And, like a lot of independent cinema operators, it turned out to be a lot harder to have success in the film industry than anyone was ready to admit.

The new-build, nondescript $900,000 Pleasant Valley Shopping Center had opened in the 1960’s in Colorado Springs' Pleasant Valley neighborhood. The center opened with a Furr’s Supermarket as its anchor tenant and no theater. By the end of the decade, classified advertisements called upon center-owners to add one-button automated theaters to their plazas because you couldn’t lose and the added foot traffic would benefit all.

In the early-1970’s, Art Theatres of Colorado Springs was the group which was convinced of easy money to be had at the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center. It opened an automated mini-theatre cinema with architecture by Percell and Ten Eyck Architects. Robert Goldenstein - soon to be associated with Studio 21 Cinema - was in charge.

Bathed in gold and crimson, the Pleasant Valley Twin Cinemas 1 & 2 launched on April 30, 1971 with Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl” and Gregory Peck in “Marooned.” Goldenstein’s programming called for a family title on Cinema 1’s screen and a more mature title for Cinema 2. Comfy Irwin Citation seating was found in both auditoriums. It’s very likely that Cinema 2 had 16mm projection to lower operational costs.

The theater scuffled and Goldenstein’s Art Theatres entity was auctioned off in the classified advertisements that had once promised easy money in running such a cinema. After that, the theater changed programming and operators often beginning in March of 1973. In that effort, the operator tried Spanish language programming on screen two and eclectic English language programming on screen one. It rebranded at month’s end to Cinema City for screen one endeavors and Cine Español for screen two beginning on March 30, 1973 possibly in a sub-leasing arrangement.

Cine Español said despedirse in November of 1973. Cinema 2 was rebranded as the New Bijou Classic Film Theatre showing - undoubtedly - 16mm classics starting with Asta, the dog in “The Thin Man” supported by a Pete Smith Specialty short. Meanwhile, Cinema City remained unchanged with its English language contemporary fare. That is until 1974 when Cinema City and the Bijou called it quits.

A fifth owner saw gold in the gold and crimson colored theater with another reopening - this one as the Pleasant Valley Cinemas I & II Family Theatres. It opened with optimism on November 1, 1974 with Charles Bronson as “Mr. Majestyk” and Johnny Whitaker as “Tom Sawyer.” It appears to have closed permanently on November 10, 1974 likely not attracting any or many patrons. All five operators failed to find the gold but did reach crimson on their final ledger sheets. The space was repurposed for other uses.

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