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Author
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Topic: Ode to Cines Plaza I y II
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Louie Gonsalves
Film Handler
Posts: 16
From: Tamarac, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 08-22-2012 10:11 PM
I've been to many cinemas, but only one truly captured my heart. It did for reasons I can't put into words, and because on a technical level, I've yet to find another cinema beat their presentation. OK, there's one in London where I saw Back to the Future II that might've beaten it. But I went there once, whereas I lived with the ones I'm writing about for a good 10-12 years.
From 1968 to 1998, in a mall in Puerto Rico called Plaza Las Americas, there once was a magnificent twin, Cines Plaza. My mother was a friend of the owners of the land the mall was built on. They also owned the mall itself outright. They spared no expense in the mall, or in the cinema itself. To this day, they still represent to me Film Done Right.
They had curtains, and they knew how to use them. They put on a proper show. Dim lights to half, open curtains, roll newsreel / ads (Cigarette ads! Marlboro rolling stock! No joke! Complete with Magnificent Seven music) and trailers, shut curtain, fade lights up. A pause of a couple of minutes. Lights then slowly dim all the way down, as they get to their lowest setting, the projector starts rolling, and as the studio logo hits, the curtains are well on their way to being open. Both had moving masking in all directions. Uniformed ushers came and went, helping people find seats, or ejecting miscreants.
This wasn't a single that got twinned, it was a twin from the get-go but they were made in such a way that both auditoriums had a completely different look and feel from the other. One was cozy, inviting. The other was not cozy, but it was still inviting -- and it completely sucked the air out of your lungs the first time you saw it. Or the 2nd, or the 3rd. It did this to me every time I went to it.
I don't know if these shared a booth. If they did, it must've been "L" shaped, the two screens were perpendicular to each other
Despite my mother knowing the owners of the mall, I never did get a booth tour.. not even once. I regret that now, as this theater died so it's space could be recycled for some banal non-cinematic use.
Auditorium I was about 450-500 seats, flat screen, red decor. Got surround sometime in the late 70s / early 80's. Sloped floor. 35mm only.
Auditorium II was about 900-950 seats, curved screen, curved seating, blue decor. Two sloped floor sections connected by a series of steps. 70mm. And from googling and learning from this here forum, I'm 99% sure the machines in II were DP70. It got Dolby Stereo for Star Wars, I remember them making a big deal of it. To me, that theater always sounded superb.
II is the one that damaged me the most. It had DP70 projection. They did play 70mm whenever they could. The screen was (or seemed to me) about 70 ft wide. There was a large space between the foot of the screen and the 1st row of seats. The sound was always crisp, clear, full. The image was always sharp and bright. I don't recall seeing many scratches or bad splice jobs there. I think they treated film with respect at that booth.
I left for the USAF in 1989 and came back in 91 for a two week vacation. My last film there was some Star Trek thing during that vacation, saw it in the smaller house, I. It never occurred to me that that would be the last time I'd see those two theaters. I never did get to say "goodbye." The last time I went to the big one, II, must've been 88 or 89.. I think it was for Memphis Belle.
I always thought Plaza I and II would live forever. Who would get rid of the two best cinemas in the island? Cinemas that packed 'em on a regular basis? But in 1998, they were demolished and replaced with a Macy's. A Macy's. The best cinema I've been to, with the best presentation I've ever seen, demolished, to make a Macy's. It just.. ugh. It does hurt. A friend told me about it, and it did get a tear or two out of me.
They were unusual, these two. The box office was at ground level, then you went into a foyer lined with poster cases, with a set of stairs on one side, an escalator on the other, and an elevator. These all took you to the actual lobby on the 2nd story, where the stairs and escalator emptied right in front of a ticket taker. Beyond that, in the middle, was concessions. As you faced consessions, I was on your right, II was on the left.
To get to I, you just walked in.
To get to II, you walked, and walked, and walked up a shallow ramp.. and eventually, your head would peek into this cavernous hall which seemed impossibly quiet, and as you panned your head to take in that magnificent screen and kept walking, you became more and more immersed into the room.. until the nasty world outside was completely shut out, and you were fully in the auditorium. Just the mere act of entering Plaza II sent a signal in your brain that this here now was a different world.
Good god I miss it.
In 1980, the mall was greatly expanded, they added two more floors, the topmost floor was a food court, and in that court they built 3 more cinemas.. but these lacked the sheer ballsy character the older twins at ground level had. These New 3 were tiny affairs, maybe 250 for the bigger houses, and maybe 150 for the smallest. Maybe less than 150. They too were demolished afer I and II were. The whole thing was replaced by a 13-screen
plex. If I go back, I don't think I'll pay them a visit.
I and II should've been preserved. Even as a teenager in the 80's I was keenly aware that they belonged to an older school, to a different time. Even then I knew the 3 little ones in the 3rd floor were "the future." How did I know? No ushers, no curtains. Less people to run, less money to pay.
And here's the ironic twist in my story: The cinemas I'm talking about, the original I and II, single-handedly destroyed an entire theater district in Santurce within 10 years of their opening. I and II took away the Paramount, which I liked a lot, and the Matienzo, which was repertoire and foreign film heaven (if a bit run down.) One by one they all dropped, save for the Metro. Ironic, isn't it? Karmic, even. My two favorite theaters destroyed a whole town's worth of moviehouses, and in turn, they themselves were brushed aside to make.. a Macy's.
So what's your favorite cinema? Do you run it / own it? Does it still stand? Would you want to buy it, if you could? Or has it been lost forever?
I don't even have pictures of these two.. and I can't find any online.
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Louie Gonsalves
Film Handler
Posts: 16
From: Tamarac, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 08-30-2012 09:18 PM
Richard,
Wow, you seem to have had some exposure to PR.
I caught Santurce on the very tail end of its former glory days, and saw the very quick and steep decline.. it was ugly and depressing. Boarded up buildings, shuttered theaters with marquees untouched for years. Abandoned businesses and even residences.
Interesting that you were involved with the Metro's re-do. Did they respect the Deco heritage of that building when it got tripled? Paramount didn't when they did theirs, but it was still a nice cozy triple, had stadium seating.. I only wish I could've seen Paramount before they tripled it. That was a big building, the single-screen Paramount must've been epic. I don't recall going to the Metro at all.
Basically the Matienzo (now Arrivi, live theater only) and Paramount (gutted, only the building remains) were the only two Santurce theaters I went to. The rest were either already closed, or porno houses well on their way to closing. Somehow the Metro was tenacious, that I know of it never did go under, it kept showing 1st-run fare.. somehow. I suppose the Metro before it got tripled was also epic in size, I do remember the building itself, and it was maybe even a bit bigger than Paramount.
Matienzo was little, about 250 seats if I remember right. Saw Tora Tora Tora, Midway, Ten Commandments, GWTW, and WoOz there, among many other oldies. Once it shuttered I didn't have any other revival theater. When they showed GWTW it was a huge deal, most of my mom's side of the family went to that, and I went with them. All I remember from that night was Bonnie Blue Butler getting thrown from her pony, one red reel, one yellow reel. I guess the print was craptacular.
Your mention of the Samuel Goldwyn made me look it up -- I knew it is the big Academy theater, but hadn't fully appreciated how big it is. I guess I won't, not until I step into it.. someday.
Re: Plaza. Did you get a chance to see I and II before they were torn down? If you did, have my recollections of it rang true, or am I seeing things through the rose-tinted filter of 20 years' time? Are the new 13 something special, or is it the typical multiplex?
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Richard Fowler
Film God
Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted 09-01-2012 12:08 PM
The Metro theater was part of an international chain of cinemas designed and operated by MGM studios. It was an 800+ seat house which was sold to Caribbean Cinemas in the late 1960's. Prior to the handover it had been upgraded to a 70mm house using Cinemeccanica V-8 projectors. In the creation oI the triplex I was able to locate the original ( 1938 ) blueprint for the building and working with Art Sickels of Soundfold and the Local Engineer, we found a support truss beam to the roof which allowed us to raise (via two days of jacking) the rear end of the building. This extra height allowed us to use the former stage as part of Cinema #1 and to layout the rooms sideways to give us comfortable cinemas . The cinema was the first on the island for DTS and Dolby Digital. The new cinemas location required a new projection room; the old huge 1930's style projection / rewind / generator room was converted to a 30 seat stadium cinema for exhibitor & Studio bookings. We tried to save the vertical Metro sign but it was damaged during reconstruction so it was left on the roof. The Metro building was also the headquarters for MGM which had five 35mm fire proof film vaults for flammable "Nitrate" storage. The concrete was so dense in the building that I remember the General Contractor taking several months breaking up the auditorium floor....versus two - three weeks.
The Paramount theater was operated by United Artists and the policy was to book popular / action pictures in this location. UA was very tight with the dollar and the building was barely maintained....the last time I was in the building to do a survey part of the roof was leaking and small patches of roof missing.
The Cine 1&2 where operated by Wometco ( Miami ) Theaters; they held many regional press screenings and where the first users of Digital sound (CDS/ORC/Kodak). The Wometco circuit dumped many single/dual screen units in favor was multiplexing in the 1980's. They did them cheap and did not hold up to AMC/Regal/ Caribbean Cinema upgrades and they have been out of the movie business for many years.......Wometco held on to Baskin Robbins Ice Cream distribution.
The Plaza 13 I was involved in was a good mix of small / medium / large sloped and stadium rooms. The largest with a 70+ foot screen with four way masking, 8-70mm special venue and regular 35mm projection ( changeover with CA21 automation from 35mm to 8-70mm was always a crowd pleaser ). This cinema, in 2000, was also designed for network interface for future systems for computer monitoring, video advertising and "proposed" digital cinema. The entire complex, which is on a second floor, is on a floating slab so as to mute sub-woofer sound leakage to the first floor shops.
I enjoyed my time in Puerto Rico but I have not done any recent work from my former client. One of their senior managers, has nickname me "Steve Jobs" for the business forecasting regarding digital cinema.
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Louie Gonsalves
Film Handler
Posts: 16
From: Tamarac, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 09-07-2012 04:23 PM
quote: Richard Fowler
The Plaza 13 I was involved in was a good mix of small / medium / large sloped and stadium rooms. The largest with a 70+ foot screen with four way masking, 8-70mm special venue and regular 35mm projection ( changeover with CA21 automation from 35mm to 8-70mm was always a crowd pleaser ). This cinema, in 2000, was also designed for network interface for future systems for computer monitoring, video advertising and "proposed" digital cinema. The entire complex, which is on a second floor, is on a floating slab so as to mute sub-woofer sound leakage to the first floor shops.
Richard,
Thank you. Wow, the new 13 sounds like they truly put some effort into it. 8-perf 70? Floating slab foundation? 70-ft screen? Not what I expected from a 'plex. Glad to hear it. I may want to visit it, then! I've seen pictures of the lobby and found it interesting that it emulates Old San Juan's collection of bright colors with old Spanish facades.
And they thought about digital back in 2000? It's starting to sound like whoever paid for these screens were every bit as fastidious as the folks who paid for the old I and II. This is a good thing.
8-perf, though.. I don't think I've ever seen any of that. 5-perf vertical and 15-perf horizontal are the only 70's I know.
quote: Richard Fowler
In the creation oI the triplex I was able to locate the original ( 1938 ) blueprint for the building and working with Art Sickels of Soundfold and the Local Engineer, we found a support truss beam to the roof which allowed us to raise (via two days of jacking) the rear end of the building.
Re: The Metro: I've heard of this process before, and seen it on TV, but it breaks my head to think of lifting the back of the Metro! Ah well that's why engineers get paid what they do. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I knew Metro was MGM, but I had no idea they had offices there as well as film storage. I thought it was Just Another Moviehouse. Amazing that you found the original drawings for it.
Re: UA being tightwads, and letting Paramount go to pot -- no surprise there. UA even let their own flagship, UA Cinema 150 go down the drain. It was the island's only D-150 screen (not that it mattered, almost nothing got made in D-150)
quote: Richard Fowler
The Cine 1&2 where operated by Wometco ( Miami ) Theaters; they held many regional press screenings and where the first users of Digital sound (CDS/ORC/Kodak). The Wometco circuit dumped many single/dual screen units in favor was multiplexing in the 1980's. They did them cheap and did not hold up to AMC/Regal/ Caribbean Cinema upgrades and they have been out of the movie business for many years.......Wometco held on to Baskin Robbins Ice Cream distribution.
Heh.. Baskin Robbins and Wometco.. there was a Baskin Robbins right next to Plaza I and II. Literally next door. It was a tiny hole in the wall with maybe 20 seats. By the mid 80's Wometco had imploded. IN the mid-80's a twin was built in a small mall in my own town of Guaynabo, a short bike ride away from my house.. it was crap. Shoebox rooms, uninspiring sound. I can't remember if it was Wometco.. I saw two films there. I preferred to catch the two buses to Plaza, or do the 45-minute bike ride in hellish crazy traffic rather than go to the shoebox twins in my town. Proof that Plaza trumped all.
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Louie Gonsalves
Film Handler
Posts: 16
From: Tamarac, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 09-07-2012 06:49 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
I still mourn the loss of the General Cinemas Northpark 1-2 in Dallas. There are pictures of it on this web site in the theater pictures section. An expanded section of Northpark Mall, including an Apple store, was built over the bones and ashes of that great, lost movie theater
Bobby, I just looked at the pix of that theater in the Warehouse and read the writeup on it. Greed. What a shocker. the Northpark looks like a place I would've become fond of. I can't imagine how sad it must be for a projectionist to run the last movie ever in their cinema.
quote: Robert E. Allen
The screen presentation I miss the most is the one at the UA theatre in Pomona, California (It's now a Mexican church). My father was the projectionist.
Robert A., sounds like your dad was a master.. A lost art, truly.
In a related tangent, saw Brave for the 2nd time in a dollar house here.. they'd moved it from their biggest room (where it was razor-sharp) to the smallest. The image was soft all the time in the small room. Not truly out-of-focus, just soft. I talked to the manager, whom I've spoken with before.. I know he "gets" presentation, hence my surprise at the soft image. "Sorry man.. it's the lens." Sure 'nuff, I stayed for the next feature in the same room (Ted, flat) and with the flat lens, the same projector threw a nice sharp picture. (these are long-throw shoebox rooms.) The man did comp me a hot dog and a coke, so thumbs up to the Last Picture Show in Tamarac ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) It wasn't thermal focus drift, it's just a bum lens.
quote: Marcial Feliciano Ramos
You can still see some TVP logos in some of the cinemas in Puerto Rico
Marcial, I don't know what or who TVP was. But I do remember Cine-Revista and Cine-Periódico, our newsreels!
Thanks, all.. it's great to hear people remisce about old favorite moviehouses.
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