Earlier this week, I discovered that, without warning, the Regal Keystone Park 16 had closed its door for good.
The Regal was not my favorite movie theater in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. That honor would have to be jointly awarded to the Dallas and Plano Angelikas. In fact, if anything, the Regal was somewhat trashy. It was located right off of Central Expressway (which meant that traffic both entering and leaving theater was insane) and it sat directly across the street from a free clinic. Whenever I went to the Regal, I was always very much aware of the constantly patrolling police cars. There always seemed to be something dramatic happening at the apartments across the street from the theater.
Despite the police presence, I could always count on being accosted by one at least one homeless person. Most of the time they would just ask for money though other times they just wanted to tell me about who was actually in charge of the world. Most of the time, it seemed to be the Vatican. I would smile politely and hope they were too busy ranting to notice the St. Vitus medal around my neck.
One of the few times I actually made the mistake of going to the Regal by myself, I was greeted in the parking lot by a bearded, foul-smelling man who was about a foot taller than me and who outweighed me by over a hundred pounds. He started walking towards me as soon as I got out of my car and even though I quickened my pace, he quickly caught up to me. Walking less than a couple of inches behind me, he loudly asked me if I liked to perform a certain sexual act. He kept following me, asking me this all the way to the theater doors but he didn’t step inside the theater after me. The whole time this was going on, the parking lot was filled with other filmgoers who heard what the man asked and saw how quickly I was walking away from him. Not one of them said a word or, as far as I know, even called the police. That’s the type of theater that the Regal was.
(Incidentally, I called the police as soon as I got inside the theater. I’m not sure what happened exactly but the man wasn’t there when I left two hours later. The movie I saw, by the way, was Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L. Jackson.)
Still, I’m going to miss going to the Regal. For one thing, it was close to where I live now and it was close to where I lived previously. So, even if it was by default, it was kind of my theater. As trashy as the outside was, the inside was usually pretty clean. Plus, I went enough times that I got to know — at least on a visual level — most of the people who worked there. For instance, there was the elderly gentleman who — no matter what time of day I went to the Regal — always seemed to be working behind ticket table. Usually, he’d end up giving us tickets to the wrong movie but he seemed like a nice old man and he always had a smile ready for me whenever he saw me stepping through the front doors. I’m going to miss him.
No, the Regal wasn’t perfect but it’s a place where I spent a lot of hours and I’ve got a lot of memories of that place. To an extent, I’m not surprised that it closed its doors. It was, obviously, located in a terrible neighborhood and often times it did so little business that me and whoever I had come with would end up watching our movie in an empty theater. That’s good for those of us who like to have sex while watching movies but, as a question of simple economics, it’s not a formula for success. Still, I would have liked a chance to say goodbye.
On Friday, me and my sister Erin drove down to the old Regal, specifically to take some pictures for this little memorial. Unfortunately, no sooner had Erin take a few pictures before we were confronted by some fat asshole in a golf cart who wanted to know why we were taking pictures.
To be honest, I have issues with authority on a good day and Friday was not, at that point, a very good day. So, as Erin put the lens cap back on her camera, I sensibly replied, “I really don’t think that’s any of your fucking business.”
“Some people take pictures because they want to case a place before they rob it,” Mr. Fascist-On-A-Golf-Cart replied.
At this point, Erin had unlocked her car and was attempting to lead me over to it. However, as I retreated, I politely replied, “Your mother sucks cock in Hell, Karras.”
That shut the pig up. I’m still wondering if he realized I was merely quoting The Exorcist or if he thought maybe I actually was possessed.
Anyway, the pictures in this post were all taken by Erin Nicole Bowman on Friday and I thank her for both helping me pay tribute to the Angelika and for keeping me out of jail.
Here, in alphabetical order, is as complete a list as possible of every film I saw at the Regal Keystone Park 16, starting with Iron Man on June 10th, 2008 and ending with Secretariat on October 12th, 2010.
Adventureland
The American
An American Carol
The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond
The Blind Side
The Book of Eli
Brothers
Burn After Reading
Changeling
Clash of the Titans
The Crazies
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Despicable Me
Drag Me To Hell
Eat Pray Love
The Expendables
Everybody’s Fine
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Funny People
Get Him To The Greek
Get Low
The Happening
How To Train Your Dragon
The Informant!
Inglorious Basterds
Invictus
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Lakeview Terrace
The Last Exorcism
Legion
Let Me In
The Losers
The Lovely Bones
Machete
The Men Who Stare At Goats
Ninja Assassin
The Other Guys
Paranormal Activity
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Public Enemies
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Robin Hood
Salt
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Secretariat
Sherlock Holmes
Shutter Island
Splice
Star Trek
Taken
The Town
Toy Story 3
Tropic Thunder
Twelve
Up
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Wall-E
Watchmen
The Wolf Man
Zombieland
Regal Keystone Park 16, R.I.P.
Through the Shattered Lens 
It’s always a sad day whenever a theater ends up closing. Even when one of the very first megaplaxes closed in my area it was a sad day just for the fact that I saw films there as a kid. Had good and bad experiences in them.
The saddest day as a filmgoer for me has to be in 2005 when The Coronet in San Francisco finally closed down due to debt and competition from the massive multi-screen complexes that began to sprout like weeds in the suburbs.
The Coronet was a massive old-school opera-style theater which had close to around 1500-seats. It only showed one film but it was shown on a massive screen that almost seemed like IMAX in size. I remember seeing Aliens and The Abyss in The Coronet when I was young and that theater helped me in appreciating film beyond just a form of entertainment but one that transcends it.
http://www.friendsof1800.org/NEWMISSION/sftheaters.html
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I think, until the day I die, I will regret the fact that I will never have a chance to see a movie in any of the infamous 42nd street Grindhouse theaters. Most of them closed before I even knew what the term grindhouse meant. I understand, of course, that this apparently did wonders for the mental and financial health of New York City but dammit, I just wanted to see one movie in a genuine grindhouse! Is that too much to ask? 🙂
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I was lucky enough to have seen a few films at what could be considered as grindhouse. It was in a bad neighborhood, surrounded by strip clubs, adult books and video stores, hookers and dealers outside and dollar-only flicks all day. Even the popcorn was at least a week old and the soda was mostly water with flavoring.
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That’s a nice remembrance of a place where you spent a considerable amount of time, and saw a wide variety of cinematic genre. I think most people feel some level of affection for such places, even if they have some warts. Some of those, at least, can add to the charm. Others, maybe not so much…
There is an historic theater in Baltimore, which is about half an hour from me, called The Senator, to which Arleigh’s Coronet seems similar. It was built in 1939, has a huge single screen, and shows both first-run and classic films. I saw “Braveheart”, which is perfect film fort at venue, there. It screened a restored version of “The Wizard Of Oz” about ten years ago; I still regret not seeing that. The theater was almost sold and permanently shut down, but a combination of investors and hosting live performances as enabled it to undergo some renovations and reopen.
It is so much nicer to see a film at such a classic-type of theater than at a modern cineplex. For that matter, I preferred the old, small Bel Air single-screen theater, with its old-style marquee, where I saw films like the “Planet Of The Apes” double-feature (“Planet” and “Beneath”) as a kid. I still remember that particular experience, and the impression those films made on me. Thr atmosphere of the theater enhanced the experience in a way that modern theater would not.
I hope, somehow, some vestiges from those eras remain available to moviegoers who can appreciate them.
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Does anyone know if there will be another movie theater to come and take it’s place, this is a big loss for this area and its very out of no where i just went to this movie earlier this month. I am shocked
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Hopefully, that’s what will happen. The Regal was really the only theater located in that area and it sucks not having one nearby. Now, if I just want to go see a movie on a whim, I have to make a 30-minute drive all the way out to Valley View, which is just so not convenient. You’er right, the Regal did go away without any warning at all. One week it was there and open for business and the next week, it was suddenly closed, locked up, and guarded by some fat pig riding around on a golf cart. Still, I’m not optimistic. How long has that old Wal-Mart sitting across the street been sitting there abandoned?
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And the Skoots burger place in front of the theater has been closed for what, two years? Granted, that was probably the most tasteless burger I’ve ever eaten, so I’m not surprised it closed, but I would have thought it wasn’t a bad location for something else to take its place. At any rate, really going to miss the theater. Wish I could try and count the number of movies I’ve seen there since it opened in ’97.
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Sorry to hear the Keystone closed. I knew it was coming as it was just too easy to get in, no matter if it was the first weekend for a big release. As for being accosted outside, it never happened to me, whether I was alone or with people.
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I am terribly sad that this theater is closed. There was nothing better deal-wise than the $4.75 twilite showings, 4-6pm, every day including weekends. For a first run movie, it couldn’t get any better.
“The Regal was not my favorite movie theater in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. That honor would have to be jointly awarded to the Dallas and Plano Angelikas”
Have you ever been to Gold Class Cinemas in Fairview? I know it’s a bit out of the way off Stacy Rd on the Allen/Fairview border, but once you have that experience, you’d be hard pressed to find a better theater in the country (there are 6 Gold Class Cinemas in the nation, this is the newest one that opened in May 2010). Seriously, it’s worth checking out:
http://www.goldclasscinemas.com/
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I haven’t been to Gold Class Cinemas but I was just checking out their web page. I may have to check them out this weekend. 🙂
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Just discovered the Regal about a year ago and loved it for all the reasons previously mentioned (except for the part about being accousted, never happened to me). It quickly became my first choice for viewing new releases.
Great piece! I’m glad I found it.
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