Westminister Mall Cinema
Westminister Mall, Westminister, CA.

Specifications

    Operators: UA/Edwards
    Status: Demolished
    Opened: 8/7/74
    Closed: 3/12/01
    Current Use: Retail
    Screens: 4
    Seating: Slope

Profile

The Westminister 4 Cinema was rather prototypical of early mall  based multi plexes. Opened by United Artists, inside the Westminister mall, this sub par venue had a small, non descript lobby and four shoe box auditoriums with mono sound. Similar to a host of mall cinemas UA built around this time, the venue was geared more towards mass consumtion of films than quality movie going experience.

In the mid 80’s the Westminister 4 and it’s sister venue (The A & B Twin, located outside the mall), were sold to Edwards Theatres. While maintaining the theatre’s substandard amenities, Edwards upgraded to Dolby Stereo sound in all four auditoriums. 

The Westminister Mall Cinema fell in to sharp decline after Edwards opened the Westminister 10 a few miles away, in 1992. Coupled with ever worsening mall business, the Westminster 4 limped in to the new millennium, earmarked for closure. In March of 2001 the theatre was damaged by a broken water line and closed for repairs. After a week of being promoted as “reopening soon”, Edwards announced that the site would remain closed (the troubled chain had exercised an early escape clause in the lease). The space was soon gutted and replaced by retail. 

Images

Click on images for larger view