Going to the Movies in Jacksonville -1976-1989-Regency, Arlington,Town & Country,Cedar Hills ,& More

[@areguapiri]

You are correct. Things were simpler, easier, and more intimate. These were the years when our parents just dropped us off at the movie theaters with no cell phones and no worries. Things were just better--just like you said.

[@michaelglover2871]

The cedar hills theater is now an auto parts store, of all things. At least they didn't tear it down.

[@saturn722]

I saw the Blue Lagoon at the Regency with my Dad in 1980!

[@franceslarsen4037]

Thank you so much for these pictures of the Cedar Hills Theater and the inside too!! I saw Ordinary People there with my mother (an amazing experience of a movie) Nightcrossing, about a family who escaped East Germany in a hot air balloon (true story), Annie, Chariots of Fire, and On Golden Pond. We lived in a house off Wilson Blvd. on MacGregor Dr. about a mile and a half from here. I had a huge crush on a guy who worked behind the counter, I think his name was David... He had black wavy hair, ha.. I think I saw St. Elmo's Fire here also, September 85...

[@rebeccadeangelo2974]

I remember seeing Logan's Run

[@octopaljazz2930]

Had a lot of precious memories in Arlington back in the day!

[@jotacalvo]

I for some reason use to love Expressway Theaters and mall. It was tiny and depressing in comparison to the newer Regency mall, but it was quiet and we had no problems getting access to the Donkey Kong machine in the arcade next to the theater. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in '82 there. I think it was later in the 80's it became a $1 movie theater. I was there almost weekly after that. I resided at the beach, but practically lived in Arlington for the movies and Kona.

[@tomc8888]

Thanks for this video, this is wonderful. I think at one time or another I saw a movie at all of these other than the Kingsley and the Cedar Hills, and what's funny is I live near the Cedar Hills now (grew up on the Southside, moved to the Westside in the early '00s). Two that weren't on the video: the Plaza on Phillips Highway and the Expressway Cinema (later the Expressway 3). Saw my first movie with my dad at the Plaza in the mid-60s, a kids matinee of an English dubbed version of Rumpelstiltzkin, and also tried to get in to see Star Wars on opening day there in 1977 (sold out, saw it the next day there). Saw several movies at the Expressway. I saw The Empire Strikes Back at the Regency opening day, first show!

[@100pennys6]

I was the 1993 Winn-Dixie Cedar Hills cashier of the year 🤣

[@franceslarsen4037]

That is awesome:) I went there with my mother a lot, some 13 yrs earlier, when I was a teen:) I liked that store, you could buy a paperback book there on a bookstand near the cash register. I used to get seventeen magazine also, they had a neat display for the magazines, sort of midway through the store if I'm remembering correctly...

[@robertthorn9560]

Rarely, that we could afford a walk in theater, mostly a drive in(Southside drive in)at a dollar a car load this was in late 50s or early 60s....you right, a different experience. The current generations are addicted to entertainment and expect to be entertained all the time.

[@geraldschwartz5941]

I grew up on the Westside and the two theatres I remember most from the mid to late 60's was the Murray Hill Theater and the Edgewood Theater, both located on Edgewood Ave. Both usually had Saturday matinees of either horror or sci-fi movies, and sometimes comedy. My brother and I spend many Saturdays them.

[@Tomrific]

I worked at the Regency from 1968 to 1971, first as a janitor, then a doorman, and then as Assistant Manager. It has always been a twin theatre.

[@csymindspring]

No...it was a single auditorium theater with a Cinerama screen. They twined the theater after the original run of The Exorcist in 1974.

[@themovietheatre]

Did you know that Cineplex Odeon opened 11 new theatres on December 18th, 1987 including the Mandarin 6? They also opened in Calgary, Edmonton, Montréal, Newark, Provo, Rocky Mount, 3 in Toronto and in Washington.

[@jawdroppingbeautybyjulie61]

I would give anything to see a picture of the inside of the regency square theater again.

[@coophandluke3697]

Grew up going to the Arlington theater in the 60s

[@coophandluke3697]

Childhood memories 😢

[@mikedreaden6880]

The Cedar Hills and Town And Country Theatres used to always show the same movies...which made me think they were probably owned and programmed by the same outfit. When I went to the Town and Country in the 1960s and 1970s it was a single screen, first run theatre. I spent many Saturdays at the Arlington Theatre when I was a kid, mostly in the 1960s. It was a true neighborhood theatre, 2nd run, but wonderful, because you could often go to a triple feature horror show. This is where I saw Brides of Dracula which scared the life out of me! Also many of the Vincent Price movies. The Arlington usually had the same bill as the Murray Hill across town...their ads in the Times-Union ran together, so I think they must have been co-owned.

[@timothymeadows8326]

I saw Star Wars (ROTJ) at a theatre that shared a parking lot with K-Mart off Lem Turner....do you have any info on that one? Thanks for share.

[@TheJaxLeft]

Thanks, No, sorry

[@timothymeadows8326]

@@TheJaxLeft thank you for your coverage none-the-less!

[@7000fps]

Thunderbird lounge "NEW WAVE NIght Thursdays" the best

[@sandyandtraceyarpen7039]

Regency Theater was a unique design by architect Bob Broward.

[@coophandluke3697]

Saw all the elvis movies at the Arlington theater

[@rosemadder5547]

I was born in JAX but waay later 😊 it’s changed…. Even since 1987. Me mam says that all this was there way before the 70s

[@coophandluke3697]

I saw Tommy by the Who, at cedar hills

[@jaxflfreebird]

I saw many movies at that round theater behind Regency Square. I think that was my favorite place to see a movie. And me and friends from the neighborhood, usually four, a girl from next door and one boy and my younger brother and myself, would watch a movie. We would be driven to and from the theater usually by my mother. Those were great times. I remember I saw some bad movies like Disney's "Fantasia" and "the End of the World". My mother once made us watch "Where the Lillies Bloom", instead of what I wanted to see. Maybe I wanted to see "The Towering Inferno". I know I wanted to see a disaster movie. That said, Inferno was never a great movie. I remember falling asleep to the first Star Trek movie. I also fell asleep in, perhaps it was, "Return of the Jedi". I was not into Ewoks or Yoda. That was a bridge too far for me. I did see "Star Wars" in that theater also. I think I saw some Disney flicks also, like Escape from Witch Mountain". It was just the best time to have going to the movies with the other kids, eating a huge tub of buttered popcorn, eating candy, drinking a soda. That was my favorite theater to go to. It really felt like a special place. Later they put that super theater down the road on Atlantic before Regency and they also put a much larger set of Theaters behind Regency. I doubt this small theater was able to compete. This theater had personality and warmth. Those other theaters had small rooms but many of them to show many movies. So, you'd see the movie but the room was a bit claustrophobic. It surely felt more corporate and it was.

[@jaxflfreebird]

When I got older I did go to movie theaters by myself. There was a theater to the right on the Atlantic Blvd Expressway. It was near a Publix in the same complex. I also used to get my hair cut near the theater by a store that gave haircuts and the guy's brother fixed shoes. Anyway, I remember that theater for some reason went mostly black "demographically" speaking. I remember seeing "Basic Instinct" there too. Back in the day an R movie was the closest I got to seeing porn. I never rented an x rated video tape. I also saw "The Postman Always Rings Twice" at the corporate theater on Atlantic. I think the last movie I saw at a theater was the first Fantastic Four movie, so it's been decades since I went to a movie theater. They are just insultingly EXPENSIVE. I won't waste my money in one now.