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This week, in 1970, Nation General opened the South Coast Plaza 2 (later to become known as the South Coast Plaza 3), to compliment the neighboring South Coast Plaza Cinema. Among the opening week’s events was a charity champagne reception and screening of the John Wayne western “Rio Lobo”. Being a resident of near bye Newport Beach, Mr. Wayne [...]

Seventeen years ago, Edwards opened the Festival 8 Cinemas, hoping to tap in to the affluent planned community of Anaheim Hills. While the Festival 8 never quite lived up to attendance expectations, the theatre was later expanded to fourteen screens, to stay viable in the megaplex era and trump it’s nearest competitor, Cinemapolis (now known as Cinema City). Yet, the truly notable [...]

Back on November 4, 1948, Costa Mesa welcomed it’s first cinema with the opening of the Mesa Theatre. Having faced strict post World War II construction restrictions, the Mesa’s opening had been long delayed and only came after some prolonged lobbying by city officials; which reached all the way to the White House. The luxurious single screen [...]

In recognition of Halloween, today’s picture is of Anaheim’s 1947 Halloween parade; taken in front of  the Fox Anaheim Theatre. . . While Anaheim’s Fox Theatre “passed away” long ago, the city’s annual parade has managed to survive, in varying forms, up to the present day (their first parade was held in 1924, with Babe Ruth serving as the [...]

Here is a unique photo of the Fox Fullerton from 1930 (determined via the feature “Min and Bill” being listed on the marquee).  This, until recently, rarely seen photo comes courtesy of the First American Historical Colletion. First American, which boasts a historical collection in excess of 12,000 photos, has recently begun to digitize their collection and make copies [...]

October marks the thirtieth anniversary of both the Mission Viejo Mall and the long forgotten cinema that Edwards operated on the site for almost twenty years.   Opened in multiple phases, throughout late October of 1979, the Mission Viejo Mall was a $65 million project developed by the Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation, to serve an increasingly affluent and expanding southern Orange [...]

Twenty-five years ago, Orange County quietly bid farewell to the grandest of it’s eleven drive-ins. Opened in July of 1967, the Fountain Valley Drive-In had the shortest run of any county ozoner (aside from the Star Vu’s pseudo drive-in setup), but, what the venue lacked in longevity, it more than made up for in notoriety. [...]

Twenty years ago, Pacific’s La Habra Drive-In closed with a double bill of “Parenthood” and “Twins”. The 1,450 car venue had served northern Orange County for twenty seven years, opening as the county’s eighth drive-in, back in the summer of 1962. .   After going dark on September, 18, 1989, the site was razed for [...]

This week marks the tenth anniversary of Regal’s Foothill Ranch 22. While the theatre has never quite lived up to business expectations, the site does have a rather colorful back story. Back in 1993, the Foothill Ranch Development Company announced plans to build a retail and entertainment center, on a fifteen acre parcel, beside the [...]

One likely doesn’t think of concessions, when the, long defunct, Pussycat adult theatre chain is brought up. However, as with it’s mainstream counterparts, there were concession stands in use at Pussycat venues and they even had branded merchandise. While I’m sure there was some activity at the stand, especially during the “porno chic” era, I can’t imagine there were [...]