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 was present to take part in the festivities and those purchasing a special $25 ticket were afforded the opportunity to sit with the star in a VIP “golden circle” area (i.e. the bi level auditorium’s lower half). Proceeds from the evening were used to hold an “American Heritage seminar” for Orange County teachers.
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The theatre opened to the general public a day later with “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” and the Plaza would serve as one of the county’s finer movie going destinations up until the new millennium. Sadly, after sitting vacant and forgotten for nearly a decade, the theatre was razed in the spring of 2008, along with the equally notable South Coast Plaza Cinema. Today, the site is an empty lot, sitting between a parking structure and bank.
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