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In what could easy be viewed as one of the more surprising of survival stories, the Santa Ana/South Coast Metro area’s Village Theatre turned forty last week. Opened on December 22, 1971, this modest triplex has managed to outlast all of its area peers and currently stands as Orange County’s fifth oldest theatre, in continuous [...]

Forty years ago this week, the Fullerton area was host to a “star studded” grand opening for the Yorba Linda Cinema (aka Yorba Linda Jerry Lewis Mini Cinema). In addition to mingling with area VIPs and cutting the customary opening ribbon, the celebrities in attendance, Debbie Reynolds and Glen Ford, also left their hand prints [...]

Today’s oddity comes from a 1938 edition of “Popular Mechanics”. This unique idea involved converting a fifty-five foot commercial truck trailer in to a traveling theatre, as a way to bring movies to rural communities. The “World’s First Traveling Theatre” sat sixty people, had a fully functional projection booth, and even featured a small stage [...]

A novel anniversary, as Disneyland’s Main Street Cinema opened on this week, back in 1955. Some might argue that this is more of a theme park attraction than true cinema, but, when one gets down to it, the Main Street Cinema is actually a throwback to the storefront nickelodeons of movie going’s founding years.   [...]

As mentioned in an earlier post, restrooms are likely the least documented feature of cinemas. Despite this long standing decorum fueled omission, here are two pictures of what might be the most famous cinema restroom in existence; the men’s room of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.              Nothing fancy or truly unique to be seen, [...]

Pictured below is an advertisement which ran somewhat regularly in “Popular Mechanics” throughout 1907. Capturing the novice, “do it yourself”, attitude, which drove the early years of film exhibition, the ad promotes one of the many outfits that offered “start your own motion picture business” packages. Companies like Amusement Supply and the Miles Brothers (profiled [...]

This week marks the 70th anniversary of Orange County’s first drive-in, the aptly branded Orange Drive-In. Opened on June 18, 1941, the Orange enjoyed a fifty-three year run as a cinema, was the launching pad for Robert Schuller’s ministry, and hosted a popular weekend swap meet for nearly thirty years. Today, the location is little [...]

Today’s pictures capture the VIP ribbon cutting (for theatres it’s film) of two spring openings from the past.   May 1997 opening of the AMC Fullerton expansion to twenty screens. .   May 2003 opening of the Krikorian Buena Park Metroplex 18. .   The Fullerton VIP night was a standard AMC corporate affair; involving dry speeches [...]

Today’s picture is of Huntington Beach’s Surf Cinema (circa early 70′s). Opened as Scott’s Theatre, in 1925, the venue was later renamed the Roxie and settled in to it’s most recognizable incarnation, the Surf, on June 5, 1941. Owned by a revolving door of notable Orange County cinema operators, including Santa Ana’s Walker family, the [...]

The area of Orange, running beside Interstate 5, has long been known for a string of popular cinemas. From the Orange Drive-In, to the Cinedome Theatres, and to the present day AMC Block 30, this short stretch of real estate has been home to movie going hotspots for seventy years. Yet, amid these period titans, there [...]