Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

[mel]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

While I lament the fact that the last old theater in Honolulu is closing, I have to also admit it is one of those theaters that I never been to. I'm not the artsy fartsy film type of person.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

While I lament the fact that the last old theater in Honolulu is closing, I have to also admit it is one of those theaters that I never been to. I'm not the artsy fartsy film type of person.

I hear you. I haven't been to it enough to say I'd miss it. It's more that I'll miss the disappearance of yet another familiar landmark.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Another one bites the dust...

I've seen many a great movie there.

[Vanguard]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Oh that is sad. Varsity and the Art Academy are the two places that show films that wouldn't be widely shown here.

Just to clarify; The Art Academy isn't going anywhere anytime soon, right?

I saw a few foreign films there. I really like that place.

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Ah, the ever-changing face of Honolulu business...

this bothers me, because megaplexes will never be as romantic or nostalgic as these old twin-type cinemas. And this has got me rethinking opening up my own 2-screener on Kauai.

[Adri]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Just to clarify; The Art Academy isn't going anywhere anytime soon, right?

I saw a few foreign films there. I really like that place.

Oops, sorry, I didn't mean the Art Academy was closing, just that it was the only other place I could think of that showed those non-mainstream films.

[Hellbent]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

I'd like to open up a drive-in, Oahu needs one.

[Honoruru]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

And this has got me rethinking opening up my own 2-screener on Kauai.

I'd like to open up a drive-in, Oahu needs one.

If you’re going back to Drive-Ins, how about going back even further. How about reviving open air theaters?

I used to live in the old Halawa Housing (where Aloha Stadium is now). There was an open air theater at what used to be the corner of Salt Lake Boulevard and (I believe) Saratoga Drive. It was a wooden enclosure, with a white gravel entranceway to a theater with a simple screen and wooden benches set in front of it, half of them out in the open air, the other half sheltered under a simple wooden roof crawling with geckos and cane spiders the size of your fist. (Remember, at that time, this was in the middle of sugar cane fields.) There was another open air theater in the military housing area near Hickam. There may have been more of these theaters scattered around the island, but I was not aware of them at the time. They’ve long since quietly disappeared.

I guess these type of theaters have been “sort of” revived recently with the Sunset at the Beach movies, but back then, these were tiny, unadvertised affairs in our neighborhood. They were fun, but you had to watch out for the cane spiders, geckos, centipedes, and scorpions.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

So where will the HIFF be venued now?

[mel]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

If you’re going back to Drive-Ins, how about going back even further. How about reviving open air theaters?

...back then, these were tiny, unadvertised affairs in our neighborhood. They were fun, but you had to watch out for the cane spiders, geckos, centipedes, and scorpions.

Sounds like a great idea. Only problem besides the spiders, geckos, centipedes and scorpions, is that the people showing the movie would have to look out for the lawyers, copyright police and the MPAA.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Sounds like a great idea. Only problem besides the spiders, geckos, centipedes and scorpions, is that the people showing the movie would have to look out for the lawyers, copyright police and the MPAA.

Can't be as bad as the rats that nibbled at our toes at the old Queen and Kaimuki Theater's in Kaimuki back a few decades ago. Yeah footwear was a necessity at either theater then.

[Vanguard]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

I'd like to open up a drive-in, Oahu needs one.

I distinctively remember seeing a drive-in back in 1985, in the Pearl Harbor area. Whatever happened to that?

[Mike_Lowery]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

I distinctively remember seeing a drive-in back in 1985, in the Pearl Harbor area. Whatever happened to that?

I think that was the Kam Drive-In. Long gone, now. It's additional parking for Aloha Stadium today.

[1stwahine]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Great story on the "Varsity" by Beth posted on March 28, 2003 on our Sister Site at HawaiiStories.com!!
http://www.hawaiistories.com/archives/004912.shtml

"Having moved to Honolulu from Atlanta, when somebody told Baz and I that we should check out The Varsity because it was in our neighborhood, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. See, The Varsity is an Atlanta fast food historical landmark. A true car hop, you can sit in your yuppie mobile and be served the greasiest fries and orange creamsicle shakes by friendly car hops in oldey timey red paper hats that say Varsity in wonderful collegiate sports type across both sides.

When I found out that Honolulu's Varsity was a movie theatre, I was left hungry and disappointed. Until I actually drove by and saw the place...."

Auntie Lynn

Btw: They still have Kam Swap Meets!

[pzarquon]

Re: Varsity Twin Cinema Closing

Thanks for the blast from the past, Aunty Lynn! Believe it or not, I work for Beth now. And she is going to be crushed to hear the Varsity is closing.

My wife and I are about to head out to catch one of the last shows in that remarkable theater. Sniff.