R.I.P AMC Orleans 8
“It’s as if I’m being whittled away, piece by piece,” said Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor in the long running sci-fi series “Doctor Who.” And in a way, that’s kind how I felt after hearing the news about the closing of the AMC Orleans 8, which became official on Labor Day.
The AMC Orleans 8 was the last of the great theaters that once peppers the section of Northeast Philly where I grew up. For many years, it was within a half hour’s walking distance. With my memory overflowing with useless information, I could probably recall all the movies I’d ever seen there. I won’t, for everyone’s sake. Just know that I saw many, many, many movies there in my time.
And now it’s closed its doors. With it, there is only one active movie theater in Northeast Philadelphia, and that is the UA Grant Plaza. That’s a newbie, though. It opened in 1995. The AMC Orleans is the last of the old theaters.
People who’ve been around longer than myself probably have stories about all the other great neighborhood theaters that once stood out on the landscape. I can’t name them all, but I most specifically remember the Mayfair Theater, at Frankford and Cottman. One of my earliest movie memories was seeing “Snow White” there right before the theater closed.
For a while, the only theaters in the area were the Orleans, the GCC Northeast 4, on Welsh Road just under the Boulevard, and the Devon Theater, whose mythology is rather notorious both publicly (old time theater, was briefly a porn theater that Frank Rizzo assisted in raiding at some point in the late 60s-early 70s) and privately (my best friend Mike Bale and I saw countless movies there, mainly due to the dirt cheap ticket prices). The GCC and the Devon both closed in 1999. The Devon briefly reopened but that didn’t last long. It’s since been renovated and it’s supposed to be some kind of performing arts center in the future. The GCC has since been turned into a social security office.
That left the Orleans. Like I said, I have many memories of that place.
I know I saw my first movie there, but what that movie was has been dispute many times. I swear I saw “E.T.” there, but it’s believed by others that either “Star Trek II” or “Return of the Jedi” was my first in-theater movie experience. Doesn’t matter, though. Whenever that first experience was, it launched a life-long obsession with movies.
I went there with my Dad, with some of the movies we saw including the first “Batman,” “Dick Tracy,” “Christmas Vacation,” “Home Alone,” and “Blues Brothers 2000.” I went there with my Aunt Ann to see “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “My Blue Heaven,” and “City Slickers,” among others.
I’m sure I went there with my brothers but I can’t remember what we saw. I went with friends, seeing whatever movies appealed to our prepubescent and teenage tastes. I went on dates there. Though it wasn’t on a date, my at-the-time future wife and I saw a movie there. We’d gone to see “Star Trek: Insurrection.” She was with her then-boyfriend. There was another couple there. I was the fifth wheel, but I didn’t care. It was a Saturday night and I was out, which, at that point in my life, was rare.
Now, please don’t think that I’m glossing over certain things with a nice glaze of nostalgia. Let’s get one thing straight: That was one of the shittiest theaters you could find. The seats weren’t very comfortable, the floors were sticky, the sound wasn’t great, some of the screens had holes and tears, and the bathrooms weren’t very clean. Also, the clientele wasn’t very good. On a Friday or Saturday night, it could become gangland in that area.
If you want more on the theater, search out my post about Spamlot, Easter, and Grindhouse.
“Grindhouse” will now go down as the last movie I ever saw there. I guess if I was gonna have a “Last Movie at the Orleans,” that’s the perfect way for it to go out. After all, Quentin Tarantino directed the second part of GH, and it was in that very theater, 13 years before (give or take) that I saw “Pulp Fiction,” the movie that solidified my love for movies and briefly enflamed in me a sense that maybe, I could do it too.
Of course, I learned that I could, and then I learned that I couldn’t. I’ll expound on that conundrum another time.
The Orleans may be gone, but my memories and my love for movies lives on.
R.I.P. AMC Orleans 8.
The AMC Orleans 8 was the last of the great theaters that once peppers the section of Northeast Philly where I grew up. For many years, it was within a half hour’s walking distance. With my memory overflowing with useless information, I could probably recall all the movies I’d ever seen there. I won’t, for everyone’s sake. Just know that I saw many, many, many movies there in my time.
And now it’s closed its doors. With it, there is only one active movie theater in Northeast Philadelphia, and that is the UA Grant Plaza. That’s a newbie, though. It opened in 1995. The AMC Orleans is the last of the old theaters.
People who’ve been around longer than myself probably have stories about all the other great neighborhood theaters that once stood out on the landscape. I can’t name them all, but I most specifically remember the Mayfair Theater, at Frankford and Cottman. One of my earliest movie memories was seeing “Snow White” there right before the theater closed.
For a while, the only theaters in the area were the Orleans, the GCC Northeast 4, on Welsh Road just under the Boulevard, and the Devon Theater, whose mythology is rather notorious both publicly (old time theater, was briefly a porn theater that Frank Rizzo assisted in raiding at some point in the late 60s-early 70s) and privately (my best friend Mike Bale and I saw countless movies there, mainly due to the dirt cheap ticket prices). The GCC and the Devon both closed in 1999. The Devon briefly reopened but that didn’t last long. It’s since been renovated and it’s supposed to be some kind of performing arts center in the future. The GCC has since been turned into a social security office.
That left the Orleans. Like I said, I have many memories of that place.
I know I saw my first movie there, but what that movie was has been dispute many times. I swear I saw “E.T.” there, but it’s believed by others that either “Star Trek II” or “Return of the Jedi” was my first in-theater movie experience. Doesn’t matter, though. Whenever that first experience was, it launched a life-long obsession with movies.
I went there with my Dad, with some of the movies we saw including the first “Batman,” “Dick Tracy,” “Christmas Vacation,” “Home Alone,” and “Blues Brothers 2000.” I went there with my Aunt Ann to see “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “My Blue Heaven,” and “City Slickers,” among others.
I’m sure I went there with my brothers but I can’t remember what we saw. I went with friends, seeing whatever movies appealed to our prepubescent and teenage tastes. I went on dates there. Though it wasn’t on a date, my at-the-time future wife and I saw a movie there. We’d gone to see “Star Trek: Insurrection.” She was with her then-boyfriend. There was another couple there. I was the fifth wheel, but I didn’t care. It was a Saturday night and I was out, which, at that point in my life, was rare.
Now, please don’t think that I’m glossing over certain things with a nice glaze of nostalgia. Let’s get one thing straight: That was one of the shittiest theaters you could find. The seats weren’t very comfortable, the floors were sticky, the sound wasn’t great, some of the screens had holes and tears, and the bathrooms weren’t very clean. Also, the clientele wasn’t very good. On a Friday or Saturday night, it could become gangland in that area.
If you want more on the theater, search out my post about Spamlot, Easter, and Grindhouse.
“Grindhouse” will now go down as the last movie I ever saw there. I guess if I was gonna have a “Last Movie at the Orleans,” that’s the perfect way for it to go out. After all, Quentin Tarantino directed the second part of GH, and it was in that very theater, 13 years before (give or take) that I saw “Pulp Fiction,” the movie that solidified my love for movies and briefly enflamed in me a sense that maybe, I could do it too.
Of course, I learned that I could, and then I learned that I couldn’t. I’ll expound on that conundrum another time.
The Orleans may be gone, but my memories and my love for movies lives on.
R.I.P. AMC Orleans 8.