Old Calgary stuff you miss...(The Nostalgia thread)

[KTrain]

North Hill was the best. I watched the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy there. Great experience.

It's too bad there isn't a market for smaller number of really large screen theatres.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I remember this curtain before Jurassic Park! This is still the coolest cinema I remember going to in terms of the feeling of it.

North Hill Cinemas in the Sears parking lot!

I'm trying to remember what movies I watched there. Dumb and Dumber is the only one that comes to mind.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Timbo

I was there.

as a fun fact ( I think I have this correct) Empire Strikes back was released the same day it was announced the Flames were coming to Calgary...I would have been there a few days later (the weekend) as this all overlapped with my 10th birthday. those were good times

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm trying to remember what movies I watched there. Dumb and Dumber is the only one that comes to mind.

I think I saw Gandhi there (twice), also saw Blue Thunder there for sure- also pretty sure this is first time these 2 movies have been listed in the same sentence

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm trying to remember what movies I watched there. Dumb and Dumber is the only one that comes to mind.

2001 a space odyssey, Led Zeppelin the song remains the same....

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by KTrain

North Hill was the best. I watched the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy there. Great experience.

It's too bad there isn't a market for smaller number of really large screen theatres.

I saw Fantasia there as a kid. On a screen that size it definitely imprinted on me.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by browna

As I said, it's likely living off the profits of the 80s.
I'm sure the old theatre are where Lunchbox etc are.

It's not the lunchbox - it's where Vertigo now is.
A lot of the original bones of the two theatres are still there, now used for live productions.
I don't know why they replaced the windy staircase because that thing was awesome. But they re-purposed the bulk of the original theatres for Vertigo. Great use of space.

In between the theatres shutting down and Vertigo moving in, it was being used as a church for several years.

In the final days of the Palliser they had Friday and Saturday midnight showings of movies like Alien, Raiders, The Shining, etc. It was fantastic.

Another under-rated old theatre of the downtown was the Showcase Grande, which had stadium theatre in one of them, well before that style made a comeback. When it closed it was converted into a golf centre before The Grande moved in.

[Shazam]

I saw SW: ANH 1997 at North Hill. It was great.

I saw BR: DC at Showcase Grand. It was great. Even back then though the theatre and the building in general was falling apart.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Where was it even? Deep in the bowels of the complex? Or entrance by the street to the tower?

It was to the left of the tower. There was like a car dealership in there also.
It was pretty deep down. Really nice carpet. Better place for orgies than the basement of Chicken on the Way.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm trying to remember what movies I watched there. Dumb and Dumber is the only one that comes to mind.

I saw Jurassic Park on back to back nights. The only ti
Fatal attraction where people who were leaving were shouting out spoilers.

Last movie I saw there was Seven.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I heard the old rail platforms are still hidden under the mass of concrete and parkade structures somewhere.

You can see the platforms extending out from either side of the parking structure if you zoom in with a satellite view on Google Maps (and probably map services).

I would absolutely love to get a tour of the old guts of the station one of these days. Rocky Mountaineer used to use it until they took away the Calgary stop a while back (now they ferry people to Banff by bus).

I was a bit too young to remember passenger rail in Calgary, but I really do enjoy the romanticism and history of it.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

In the final days of the Palliser they had Friday and Saturday midnight showings of movies like Alien, Raiders, The Shining, etc. It was fantastic.

Saw Taxi Driver at one of those late showings.

[dirk diggler]

used to go to the movie dome a fair bit in the early 2000's. right by Jimmy Deans on 36st. cheap movies

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by browna

And the Southcentre cinema was converted from the Safeway that was there until Food For Less opened (where the Safeway is now). It was the most luxurious theater in the south and maybe the city, when it opened.

Esso Plaza moved to $2 movies in its last few years.

Showcase Grand downtown showed first run movies until mid 80s when it shut down too.

My family was a staple at the NE Food For Less.

Free cookies and the TMNT video game at the front.

I also met Mike Vernon there!

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Southland played first run movies.

The theatre was awful. The floor sloped up to the screen, so you were guaranteed a blocked view no matter where you were.

We tried to avoid it whenever we could, but Jurassic Park played there.

Haha yeah, I got in the habit of putting my coat on the seat in front of me so people thought it was taken, then removing it as the lights went out. Funny you mentioned Jurassic Park, as I saw part 2 (The Lost World) there.

I actually have lots of good memories of seeing movies there, but it's probably doused in nostalgia. Wasn't the parrot-covered Earl's right by there too? Loved that place as a kid.

[Shazam]

Yup there was an Earl's next door. Had many meals there with my friends.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm trying to remember what movies I watched there. Dumb and Dumber is the only one that comes to mind.

The ones I know for sure are Jurassic Park, all 3 Star Wars special edition releases, and The Phantom Menace.


The Phantom Menace sticks out, because while driving home from the theater, we heard on the radio that Owen Hart had passed away.

[krazycanuck]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

My family was a staple at the NE Food For Less.

Free cookies and the TMNT video game at the front.

I also met Mike Vernon there!

YES! I spent many an evenings with my family at that Food For Less. The giant fresh squeezed orange juice machine right at the front of the store when you walked in was worth staring at for 10 minutes if you were lucky enough to see it operating.

I would always run ahead of my parents while they were paying and stand in the vestibule exit and longingly stare at the 25 cent candies and toys to wait for them. Unless I found a cart in the parking lot and collected the 25 cent reward I was never allowed these.

Also met Doug Gilmour there and got a mini stick signed there.

[Jordan!]

Anyone remember Food City on 17th Ave and 37th Street that had Bulk soda/pop? Was that my imagination??

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

I saw Fantasia there as a kid. On a screen that size it definitely imprinted on me.

I'm trying really hard to remember where I watched Fantasia. I remember that it was in the NW and when you exited the theatre you were in this different hall way with light or blue colored walls and carpet with movie posters on the walls. It seemed like it was a different floor.