The part in blue below is an actual 1996 list of cinemas and their phone numbers, which I kept as a handy DOC and printed out to put near my phone :)
(Pre-Recorded Message/Additional Information)
Arbor 7 346-6937/7919
Dobie 477-1324/472-3240
Great Hills 8 794-8076/0059
Highland 10 454-9562/9564
Lake Creek 8 219-9195/0291
Lakehills 4 444-0552/3401
Lakeline 9 335-7138/4793
Lincoln 6 454-6469/0194
Mann Westgate 3 892-2775
Movies 12 251-7773
Northcross 6 454-5147/1650
Round Rock 8 388-2848/2703
Showplace 6 258-7275
Southwood 2 442-2333/2334
Village Cinema 4 451-8352/1725
Wells Branch 8 244-6622/1114
Westgate 8 892-2696
My memories of cinemas on the list that are no longer cinemas... :
Presidio's Arbor 7
...was where I saw many first-run movies, like Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and Star Trek 6. It was Austin's first THX-approved cinema. It closed a few years ago after not getting proper maintenance to keep it competitive w/ Austin's newer multiplexes, and also the rent was probably getting too high. It is now a Cheesecake Factory!!! (yeuck)
Act III's Lakehills 4
...was at the junction of Ben White & Lamar, next to Target. It is now a Strait Music!!!
Presidio's Lincoln 6 used to be a great location for first-run pictures, I remember standing in a line hundreds-long for Terminator II. I also remember seeing Aladdin there too, my first Dolby Digital picture. By the end, though, their presentation standards fell off... I recall taking a date to see Saving Private Ryan in '99... they started the movie 15 minutes early!!! And... the focus went blurry half-way into it and stayed blurry until I personally went to the box office to tell them. Ack.
Mann Westgate 3 Down there in the vicinity of the Westgate 11, a skanky dollar cinema. I only went once and can't remember the movie, but it was a horrible experience.
Northcross 6 The mall cinema, this was never that good audiovisually, but it was cheap! $4.50 for full-price tickets. I remember seeing "American Cyborg" there and being so annoyed at having to pay for such a crappy movie that my girlfriend and I sneaked in to see "Tombstone" immediately after, and were very pleased with that one.
Round Rock 8 It's still holding on... I believe it is a discount cinema now. It was first-run initially.
Showplace 6
...I saw "Toys" there and remembered the seats being hard and uncomfortable. Then I saw "Jurassic Park" for like my 5th time, and that was it. This was a pretty skanky place that closed many years ago and only recently got demolished. They have a grassy sports field there now, so at least the concrete is gone.
Southwood 2 First discount cinema I ever attended, I actually saw quite a few movies there, the first of which was "Misery." I think I saw "Delicatessen" there too. One movie I saw had a really bad presentation problem... the optical soundtrack was visible! I think they'd threaded the film the wrong way around. When I first came to live in the USA I had the opportunity to see "Predator 2" at this cinema but passed it up... doh!
Wells Branch 8 Closed and demolished to make way for a Walgreens - yeuck!!! This was an example to all other discount cinemas, I patronised this place many, many times. Great value for money. Was very sad to see it go.
Westgate 8 Was in the original Westgate Mall, right around the location of the south Central Market. First-run, but was never a particularly wow cinema. I remember seeing "Rocketeer" there and also "I know What You Did Last Summer" in 1997 (during which the film melted in mid-movie!!! After a few minutes it was up and running again) I would not ordinarily cover this cinema here since it is not permanentaly closed down, but the Westgate 8 closed during demolition/rebuilding of the rest of the mall, and it was completely gutted, remodelled and refitted throughout w/ three extra screens. The Westgate 11 is a much nicer place now.
Here are a couple of excellent sites that collate information about Austin's old cinemas -
And here's my collection of articles about the Austin cinema scene:
