posted 05-30-2008 03:42 PM                    

quote:

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24894009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - An infestation of rats and mice has led to the partial shutdown of the Century Stadium 14 movie theater in Sacramento. The Sacramento County Environmental Management Department ordered the closure of two of three snack bars in the complex on Thursday, while theater operators voluntarily closed two screens to deal with the rodent problem.
Twelve other screens remained open at the complex, which is located at Arden and Ethan ways.
Authorities said the infestation has been a problem in recent months. Several patrons complained about seeing rodents.
KCRA 3 took a hidden camera inside the theater Wednesday after receiving a complaint about rodents in the theater.
Kristin Hoffman said her boyfriend felt a rat brush his elbow.
"Sitting on the seat there next to him was a black rat about six or seven inches long," Hoffman said.
Health officials were working with theater operators to eradicate the unwelcome creatures. Meanwhile, red placards are posted warning patrons.
According to an inspection report, about 15 rodent droppings were seen in a cabinet below the hotdog roller at one of the snack bars.
More droppings were found on the floor of the snack bar kitchen, on top of a water heater and in an area where the projector is located.
An inspector also found droppings, old food wrappers, trash and debris behind an access panel behind the kitchen area.
Inspectors said part of the problem was that theater management was not requiring workers to clean up theaters after each show.
Officials expected that one of the closed snack bars could reopen Friday after an inspection.
KCRA 3 made two calls to Century Theaters for comment, but had received no response.

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Maybe the rats will team up and take down the walls that divide the large domes into 2 theaters, and restore them to their former glory! This is the oldest theater in the area (opened in 1967) that has been continuously showing first-run films, starting out as two large domes with additional screens added over the years, but around 1974 one dome was twinned and the other met the same fate in 1978. (Click on the link to see a picture of the outside of the original dome.) Watching a movie in the half-dome theaters is pure torture- I haven't been in there in over 15 years and don't know why it has stayed in business this long. (If they ever did restore the large theaters, I promise I will attend showings there at least once per week!) VIVA LOS RATONES!

[ 05-30-2008, 09:58 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]

posted 05-30-2008 04:18 PM                    

quote: David Stambaugh

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Sounds like they have a management problem there.

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Well, that's nothing new- I worked on floor staff there very briefly in 1992, it was a traumatic experience I've been trying to forget ever since. I do remember mice being in a back room (they had glue traps set up) and on my last day there someone had reported a rat in the womens' restroom.

Some of the dates on that Cinematour site are wrong- the 2 smaller domes (which thankfully were never split) were added in 1974 according to newspaper ads I looked up. 8 more screens were added on in 1994, but I've never seen them and probably never will.

The worst mouse experience I've had though was at the now-gone Cinema 2 theater in Davis- the soda syrup bag-in-boxes were upstairs outside the projection room door and would often leak onto the floor. One night after shutting off everything and leaving I saw a mouse stuck in the Coke syrup, struggling to get free. I ran like hell out of there and left a note for the manager downstairs. Don't know why mice scare me, but they do!