Silver Cinemas - Bell Rd/I-17 (Phoenix, Tempe: theater, mall, ticket)

[Bondurant]

Last night I made my first trip to Silver Cinemas. Two tickets to Thor for $6 was not a bad deal. The theater had been described to me as "weird" and "like a spaceship inside". For a strip mall second run theater it was an interesting place.

I am curious to know if anyone knows the history of this place. It's a very distinct looking place on the inside and I like the exterior ticket booth (a nice throw back to old time theaters). It looks like an older theater, possibly from the 70s, and I assume Silver Cinemas took it over at some point in time.

An old strip mall theater is not something most will get excited about but I think it's a cool place. It's the next best thing when there's no old time theaters left in Phoenix (that I know of). This type of place is fitting for a city with sprawl. In a fanzine called Cinema Sewer I read about a place in west Phoenix, now closed, that was also in a strip mall. It served as the Phoenix grindhouse and it's last hoorah was showing the Brandon Lee flick Rapid Fire for an entire year.

[Jkgourmet]

If you like this place (and we do, too), pollock theater in Tempe and The Picture Show at Superstition springs are very similar. In fact, the latter even looks the same at Silver, so I'd bet that they were both part of the same movie chain at one time. Pollack has updated his place, and the seating is quite a bit more comfortable.

Just love those cheap movie theatres.

[TBCasino]

I've been dying to go there, thanks for the info! I love throwback cinemas, they remind of being a little kid. This multi-plex stuff can't hold a candle to 'em.