Cinemark Dollar Theater

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NoTime4Love-DrJones@reddit

Watching Jurassic Park there, is still one of my most memorable times at a movie theater.

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gimmedatsammich@reddit

I used to work at a local Cinemark and the GM of this theater was so fun. He would call the theater I was at to talk to my GM and they would just yap all day.

I will say, Cinemark is a cheap AF company so I’m not surprised that place went downhill fast and is not around.

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Relevant_Scallion_38@reddit

My parents took me there to see Pokemon: The First Movie there when I was a kid.

RIP Mom

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EndzoneWeenie222@reddit

We didn’t have a ton of money growing up and we LOVED movies…my mom made it happen for us by taking us here growing up. Miss this place a ton.

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I'm old enough that I remember when that theater was one of the nicest in the Dallas area. I think it was one of the first megaplexes. There was also a Wet n Wild waterpark nearby, and an experimental McDonald's called "McD's" (not to mention Hypermart and Incredible Universe that were within close driving distance).

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Ready-Lingonberry692@reddit

I came to say exactly this! This theater when it first opened was a big deal. This was the theater to go to. My parents would take us there all the time & it was always packed! I remember watching the lion king there & it was pretty amazing. No theaters looked like this. Then AMC’s the grand off 35 & nw highway opened & that one seemed to kill Hollywood in Garland.

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gibbyhikes@reddit

I went to Wet n Wild when it was White Water.

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tukai1976@reddit

That and penny whistle park were so fun back in the day

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SunMyungMoonMoon@reddit

The Wet n Wild was where CarMax is now. After WnW and before Carmax, it was a farmer's market.

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STAY_5TRAPPED@reddit

Who remembered the smell of MamaMias pizza when walking into Hollywood USA to try your luck at the Tekken cabinet?

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SunMyungMoonMoon@reddit

It was Mama Ruiggi's Pizza. I worked there when the theater first opened in the early 90s. I think i still have a hat. somewhere.

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STAY_5TRAPPED@reddit

YES it was!!! Thanks for the correction!!!

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Dick_Lazer@reddit

I can’t really remember what the pizza was like but I remember being excited about it.

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stripmallsteve@reddit

Damn right, Dick Lazer. You nailed it. What a time to be alive

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crackbabyx@reddit

It was literally called "Mickey Dees" in cursive

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firetomherman@reddit

I'm from Mesquite. My friends and I went to that wet n wild all the time. Good times.

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StackablePancakes@reddit

:(

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chandu1256@reddit

There was one in Irving too! Miss that stain ridden theater!

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Cinnamon_Bark@reddit

Yep, lovingly referred to as the Bollywood theater

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CovidReference@reddit

The Chateau!

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

First theater i went to. Watched That darn Cat. Then we went to Fazios. Its an open field now.

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InitiativeTight@reddit

I have very distant memories of Fazios in Irving during the 90s as a kid. What did they sell exactly? And when did they close?

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

It was groceries in the front, random tools in the back . They had a second floor that sold clothes. At the foot of escalator they had cómics. I spent alot of time reading cómics while parents shopped.

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NikkiVicious@reddit

We had a car meet in that parking lot, it's between where that was and the Walmart. It was so weird seeing it all boarded up and fenced off, before they demolished it.

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

That was the starplex theater. The chateau was off irving Blvd and story.

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STAY_5TRAPPED@reddit

You’ve no clue how much nostalgia you brought up with a simple correction. The fucking Chateau 🥹! The epitome of a classic theatre. My grandparents took me to see Nothing But Trouble there. They’ve both since passed. The feelz. Another cool theatre was the classic AMC on Beltline before you got to Irving Mall when coming from the North.

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NikkiVicious@reddit

I worked at that theater for 2 weeks! There used to be a really good hole-in-the-wall Chinese food place just a bit further north, at Rochelle and Beltline. We stopped there like every other shift because it was super cheap and the woman running it would give me huge portions because she said I was too skinny.

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

Maki boy?

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NikkiVicious@reddit

Egg Roll House. It was in the parking lot, in this little pink-ish detached square building, of a strip mall. There's that gas station (Exxon maybe?) at the northeast corner of Beltline and Rochelle, it was on the parking lot behind that.

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

Yeah it used to be a Mexican restaurant in the early 2000s. Marianos i think.

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NikkiVicious@reddit

That was next to it! I've been trying to remember the name of it. Once went into it once, and I had an allergic reaction to something in my food/cross-contamination, so we never went back. That place and Egg Roll House shared that part of the lot for parking.

All of the pictures I can find of it are when it was painted white. I think they used different paints, because I remember it being yellow-ish at one point, and then more of a pink color in the early 2000s.

https://share.google/KxrG0KkIh2bVSPrZh

My husband is probably glad this place closed, I'm not forcing him to go with me once a month for food (or bringing it back for him after my doctor appointments)

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

Yeah i had an ex girlfriend that loved that place. I never understood why. Everything tasted old and reheated (the Mexicanplace). I still go to Maki boy down the street. She worked at the Arby's that was on the other side of beltline. 20 + years ago lol

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NikkiVicious@reddit

Don't remind me. I'm still deluding myself that I worked at that AMC "only" 10 years ago... (it's been 22 😭)

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NikkiVicious@reddit

Yes! OK now I remember the different names.

I lived off Story and MacArthur for a while with a boyfriend. I know him and I went to both, but I was getting the names mixed uo in my head.

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yeahimhigh04@reddit

I probably was at that car meet i use to drive a convertible 93 240sx . Miss those days with cheap gas and $1 whoppers.

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Comprehensive-Duck26@reddit

Omg Fazios! 😭

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soggyballsack@reddit

The starplex behind Walmart. Loved that place in the 90s.

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BlackStarCorona@reddit

I remember seeing Sgt. Bilko as a 13 year old at that one.

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Jajandesu@reddit

I miss Frys electronics near that place .

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ckeelephotos@reddit

I saw Jurassic Park in that theater! Man, I'm sad they tore it down.

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pauliep13@reddit

I saw The Fugitive there.

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SnittingNexttoBorpo@reddit

Click (Adam Sandler) for me. I didn’t know that dumb movie was going to make me cry!

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racazip@reddit

Muppet Treasure Island. I saw it with my good friend Justin. That was a good day.

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Adventurous_Class65@reddit

Gump for me

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alex2374@reddit

I remember how excited me and my friends were when that place opened up. Spent a lot of high school cash there.

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replicant0wnz@reddit

I used to work there back in 1994 when it wasn't a $1 theater! I was an usher and basically just cleaned the theaters and "kept on eye" on the crowd while movies were playing. Which basically meant I was standing in the back of the theater watching the movie. Plastic suspenders and plastic bow tie w/white shirt and black slacks was the uniform. Was a fun job for a 17 year old! I couldn't eat popcorn for at least a year after it as we'd have to throw the trash out in the trash compactor in the back. That smell was ... Not nice ..

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AccomplishedLove6169@reddit

Still drive past that lot daily, wasn’t Cinemark though, Hollywood…. Right next to the Dart Station and Carmax.

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tukai1976@reddit

I worked at casa Linda in 93-95. I miss these old theaters

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NoDadNotMyTrolls@reddit

Wasn’t this place once called Tinseltown?

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KitchenPalentologist@reddit

Not sure if this was a Cinemark, but there was a dollar theater at the north end of Macarthur in Lewisville that we used to go to quite a bit.

It closed during covid, and was torn down last month. I'd guess we'll see apartments there soon.

That theater wasn't bad, not really different than the older full-price theaters.

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IcyInferno11@reddit

One of my first movie theater experiences in my life was going to this theater.

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treyelevators@reddit

I remember Movies 8 in Lewisville.

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Stonecoldfreak1@reddit

I miss that piece of shit so much.

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MineralWaterMike@reddit

I saw Zombieland in this theater and the first narrator line in the movie is “I'm in Garland, Texas. And it may look like zombies destroyed it, but that's actually just Garland….” and I have never, in my life, heard a theater full of people cackle that hard at the irony of that line playing in that theater

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arcbeam@reddit

As someone who grew up in south garland, I feel like I know exactly the area they got that joke from. It’s got to be Centerville and 635 right?

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fugu_chick@reddit

(Not same theater) I remember laughing so hard because I legit thought it was the exact spot my cousins in Garland lived next to

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boomer7793@reddit

Same! There were only 20 of us in that theater, but we laughed hard!

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musiquarium@reddit

I was so moved I saved the image to my photos

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JLMTIK88@reddit

Spent many of Friday nights there as a kid, and as a teenager in the 90’s. Same with the Wet n Wild. Worked at the Hypermart during Y2K.

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Ok-Animator-1456@reddit

My favorite theatre - usually had the whole place to ourselves.

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SeaCow_216@reddit

When it first opened it had trash cans that talked. This was mind blowing to a young teen.

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TX_Ghostie@reddit

Came here to say this. The talking trash cans! I thought that was the coolest when I was a kid.

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FREE-AOL-CDS@reddit

It was incredible when it was new and still had all the wacky 90s aesthetics at full power.

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le_gasdaddy@reddit

McKinney just lost theirs late last year or early this year. My brother was heartbroken his 2 dollar matinees were gone.

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Lurcher99@reddit

The one in Plano (coit/park) went upscale too. Miss the $3 tickets for 60 day old movies

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lost_in_trepidation@reddit

That theater and the Java and Chai used to make that strip a hangout area when I was in high school. I'm surprised the Java and Chai closed.

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ninjamike808@reddit

They used to have 50 cent tuesdays

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iidontwannaa@reddit

My friend and I saw three movies in one day one summer, all for $1.50

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Crist1n4@reddit

Turned into a Church… like we need more of those in Texas!

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Repulsive-Ad-8558@reddit

RIP movies 14

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Jay__IV@reddit

My mom took my siblings and I to see Alvin & the Chimpmunks and Up here. Those were some of the best childhood memories I’ve got.

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iidontwannaa@reddit

I remember the one in Plano, which was remodeled in 2020. The McKinney cinemark that was cheaper is gone now too.

I just miss fun interior design. Give me leopard print stall doors and checkered tile floors!!

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AppropriateSpecific8@reddit

I left Dallas for San Antonio in January 2020. I came back last October. I saw that this Theatre was no longer there by the DART transfer Center and I wept. We really need Dollar theatres to come back.

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broniskis45@reddit

They closed the one off 80 too. It's a furniture store now smh

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Dijital20@reddit

The one off of 80 was a Starplex cinema. Good times there... but it wasn't well maintained. I remember the seats having springs that'd poke you in uncomfortable places...

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broniskis45@reddit

Some people pay extra for that kinda poke

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SexyOctagon@reddit

I have no data to back this up, but I’m willing to bet that streaming killed the dollar theaters.

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AppropriateSpecific8@reddit

Not far from what I was guessing, that Covid quarantine brought down numbers in attendance and profit, that almost brought the bigger theatres down, and surely killed the smaller dollar theatres. I don’t think and of the Dollar places survived.We just need some entrepreneurs brave enough to bring a few of them back.

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tmanarl@reddit

Miss dollar theaters. I used to knock out double features back in college

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gibbyhikes@reddit

Front Row Joe!

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gibbyhikes@reddit

Saw tons of movies there back in the day when it was a first run theater.

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Holls867@reddit

The cinemark near me still has the same flooring from 1990s. That carpet has seen some things…. Cinemark carpet remembers….

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daphoenixdiva@reddit

I had the best of times with friends. Such a great place

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InfamousDeparture900@reddit

First movie, 8 year old, Jurassic Park. And so many more after.

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meowingcat91@reddit

Anyone remember 25 cent Wednesdays?

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MrOtakuDad2u@reddit

I know… I was devastated since they built that over the old Wet N Wild water park. Life gets less fun as the days go on.

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v4por@reddit

I saw a bunch of movies there back in the 90s. Jurassic Park, Junanji, The Mask, Titanic.

I remember when they opened up the Galaxy theater on Jupiter it was newer and bigger. I think that was when Hollywood changed to being a dollar theater. Before that, Big Town Cinema was the nearest dollar theater.

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SonderEber@reddit

Oh fuck, I didn’t know it got shut down, let alone demolished. I saw a movie there as “recent” as 2019. I forget what movie, sadly. The building itself always stood out to me. A shame it’s gone. :(

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G-Money-ish@reddit

I saw Zombieland there. Was hilarious when the movie opens up with, "you might think this is the site of a zombie apocalypse dystopian hellscape, but it's just Garland".

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Dick_Lazer@reddit

Oh man, I saw Zombieland opening weekend in Plano. When they said that line about Garland I don't think I've ever heard a theater break out in that much laughter before.

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Horror-Reporter-3754@reddit (OP)

LOL. That’s hilarious.

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cityboylost01@reddit

I was a senior in HS, when it opened and had quite a few friends that worked there over the years. I thought the talking trash cans were hysterical.

I did a lot of drugs my seniors year…

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longhornmike2@reddit

I was there when it opened. I’m old.

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elliemff@reddit

Same. I grew up in the area so that was my theatre till the big one in Mesquite opened a few years later.

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Dijital20@reddit

That's the AMC Mesquite 30. I also remember when the Hollywood opened. Definitely remembered when the AMC 30 opened because it was my senior year of high school and they canvassed our school hard!

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SunMyungMoonMoon@reddit

I worked at the pizza restaurant the first few months that it was open.

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Gringo0984@reddit

Loved this place. Was in Garland off 635/NW Hwy,Shiloh. It didn't start off as a dollar movie, but one that showed all the new releases. It then became a dollar movie way down the line, so it was much more upgraded in its design and quality than a normal dollar theater. The one in Mesquite also closed after the unwinding of Covid. It was off 80/Belt Line. Can't imagine many more dollar theaters exist at all, if any.

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saturnvrock@reddit

Saw Jurassic Park there when it first released. Great times.

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GarLandiar@reddit

When i was broke and had like no money for fun, I'd get high as hell with my drug dealer nearby and then go watch a dollar movie. The late 2010s...what a time

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Saamari@reddit

Horror movies were so much fun 🤣 the audience reaction is half the show

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NowWeGetSerious@reddit

Wait!! It's demolished 😭 I grew up at that spot. Damn. Had my first kiss there, damn I'm sad

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IceMac911@reddit

There was also a Cinemark dollar theater in Plano off of Coit and Park that I use to go to a lot growing up and it's no longer a dollar theater anymore 😔.

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sodiumn@reddit

50 cent Tuesdays there were a staple of my teenage life.

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Curiouserousity@reddit

I just looked and now its $6 Tuesdays. I loved that theater because it only showed movies right before they were released on dvd, but i'd go and catch them. I'm terrible about remembering to go see movies when they release, So it was so nice.

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Horror-Reporter-3754@reddit (OP)

Yes! My mom used to take me and my sisters to 50¢ Tuesdays!

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00dlesofn00dles@reddit

I remember sneaking in snacks in there all the time

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Dick_Lazer@reddit

Yeah I was kinda surprised they kept that one open. They had to convert it when the movie studios basically made running a dollar theater impossible, so now Plano has 3 first-run Cinemarks.

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MrNastyOne@reddit

Yep. While I miss the cheap tickets, the remodeled theater IS nice.

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gentlegreen95@reddit

I used to go so much growing up! Hit up the cicis down the street, grab some candy after, then binge movies all afternoon/night. It was such a bummer to move back to Dallas after college and find out dollar theaters just stopped existing.

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Briarhoffner@reddit

I watched many movies there through the years

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vanveensuckerofpeen@reddit

Almost the only place I ever saw movies as a kid

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Big__If_True@reddit

Same here, occasionally we’d go to the Regal or to Valley View instead but it was usually the dollar theater

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chaseacheck100@reddit

Yep! Only went to valley view if the movie wasn’t playing in Garland

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kokolupa@reddit

Yall ever ride around the city and hear the lyrics to that Beatles song “In my life”? The combination kind of messes me up, Dallas has changed so much since I moved here as a kid in ‘99. I miss these old, slower and simpler times.

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chaseacheck100@reddit

Nope never

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JinFuu@reddit

Dallas has changed so much since I moved here as a kid in ‘99.

Hell, it's changed a massive amount since I moved here in 2009.

I miss empty grass fields where apartments and other things stand now.

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chaseacheck100@reddit

Omg I remember soo many dates to this place. Made me smile thinking about that kind of love

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masonjar014@reddit

I remember seeing The Little Rascals there back in the 90s and Napoleon Dynamite there in 2004. Great memories.

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Xybr@reddit

I saw Star Trek: First Contact there, when it was new and shiny. It fell so hard when stadium theaters took over.

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custermustache@reddit

I had so many dates there when it was actually a nice theater - Hollywood USA

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New_Fig_6815@reddit

Before this theater was built, there was both a cement plant and huge sunflower field. In the mid 70’s, we’d go dove hunting there.

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VampireOnHoyt@reddit

Lewisville had TWO discount theaters when I was a kid. My cousins lived within walking distance of one of them so we went there all the time and watched glorious trash movies and ate snuck-in candy from the Albertson's next to the theater.

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SameSadMan@reddit

I saw That Thing You Do, and Howard Stern Private Parts at the Lewisville dollar theater.

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NikkiVicious@reddit

The guy I was dating wanted our group to go to the one on 35, between Corporate and 3040, before his senior prom. Like we were supposed to show up in our dresses/tuxes, and watch Lilo and Stitch? (I have no idea why I remember the movie he wanted us to watch.)

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FutureInPastTense@reddit

I once hit the jackpot on the Cyclone in their arcade when I was a kid. Good times.

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sentient-cyborg@reddit

Rip

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Berdlyy@reddit

My childhood 😔

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kingleonidas1983@reddit

This and wet’n’wild next door. This was the prime of my childhood.

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ItsMinnieYall@reddit

I can still smell the theater seats (derogatory but also nostaglic).

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Pheonixgate1@reddit

I remember that was the theater with the mad neon lights man. It was something to see back in the day.

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bepeacock@reddit

damn i remember when that opened. holy shit.

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SuperBiteSize@reddit

Oh yeah I missed Hollywood dollar theater.

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GlendoverPark@reddit

Used my lawn mowing money to pay for my whole family to see Baby Geniuses here in ‘99. They haven’t spoken to me since.

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Yabrin_Sorr@reddit

I used to alternate between Hollywood and Galaxy for new releases when I lived in that area.

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NeverBled@reddit

Food there was great

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IcedCoffeeVoyager@reddit

I miss $1 and $2 theaters. Like everything else value oriented, they are sadly no more.

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Big__If_True@reddit

I loved that theater, I went there all the time as a kid living in Lake Highlands

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bahlahkae@reddit

I miss it every time I wanna go to the movies🥲

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singleguy79@reddit

I loved going there. Great arcade.

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SharkGirl666@reddit

Hell yes the arcade was my favorite.

The dollar theater off of hwy 80 in Mesquite had a fun little arcade too.

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coltsmetsfan614@reddit

I'm not from the area originally, but we had two dollar theaters like this up in Indianapolis. I think they were both Cinemark, but at least one was for sure. I remember you could go for $1 most days and $0.50 on Tuesdays.

Cinemark actually renovated it several years ago and turned it into a first-run theater because there weren't any other options in that part of town. Kind of interesting that they put money into it instead of just closing it like the other old dollar theaters.

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Im_a_computer-y_guy@reddit

Did anyone else's parents also drop you off for "fun time live" on Fridays or weekends at Audubon Recreation Center off Oats?

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sm0lbee13@reddit

I miss this place so much. I could watch as many movies as I wanted without going I to debt. So many wonderful memories from this place.

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mixem143@reddit

Brings back such good memories….

I watched so many movies there, then spent another hour or so playing Killer Instinct 2 in their arcade. I also remember grocery shopping at the Hypermart a few blocks down from the theater

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