01.09.2019

Yunost in Sankt-Peterburg /Russia

The cinema Юность / Yunost (Youth) - a typical Soviet cinema - was built in the years 1957-1960 according to the drawings of the architects Victor Matveevich Fromsel and Oleg Ivanovich Guryev. On the facade lined with pink tiles - sculptural images of a girl with a ribbon fluttering overhead and a young man with a lamp - disappeared in the 1990s.
Since 2003, the building has been owned by Balthouse LLC. They wanted to demolish the cinema and build a residential building in its place. Later it was decided to convert the house into a shopping and entertainment complex with a small cinema. 
Today there is a restaurant Yunost in this building, but no cinema.

Lichtspieltheater der Jugend in Frankfurt (Oder) / Germany

This postcard is from 1955, when the rebuilt cinema opened again. 
The house was built in 1910 as a concert hall and restaurant by Ludwig Engel. Since 1919 it has used as a cinema with more than 1.000 seats, Decla-Lichtspiele managed by Max Perlinsky. It was destroyed inside in World War II, but had good chances for a reconstruction. In 1954 the works started after plans from Wilhelm Flemming. 
The Lichtspieltheater der Jugend (Cinema of the Youth) opened on April 30, 1955 with the new East German comedy Sommerliebe. I'm not sure, if the poster in front of the cinema advertises this movie. 
The sculpture left of the entrace shows a debris woman, remembering the destroyed and rebuilt city. The sculpture right of the entrace shows a steel craftsman, because Frankfurt (Oder) was a center of steel production.
The cinema closed in 1998, when a new cinema opened in the city. It is a listed monument, but not a nice monument. There were and are different plans for a new chance of this interesting building, maybe a museum of modern arts. Look at this facebook site.

26.06.2019

State Theatre in Oroville, California/USA

Built in 1928 by renown California architect Timothy Pflueger, the Oroville State Theatre was one of many California theaters owned and operated by the Turner & Dahnken Circuit, one of the largest independently owned theater chains in the country. The late 1920s were a period of prosperity in Oroville, reflected by a number of major building commissions, an abundant agricultural industry and ultimately the gold rush which lent support to Oroville’s economy during the early years of the Great Depression.
Over time the City of Oroville has experienced economic peeks of strength and growth as well as the turbulence of struggles and challenges. The fate of the theatre has been passenger to that roller coaster ride. During one downturn, the Theatre was sold to United Artists who modernized several aspects of the theatre, but with considerable loss to the interior detail and damage to the Theatre’s infrastructure. UA held the Theatre for only a short time before seeking to divest itself of the project.
In 2014, the Oroville City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract allowing the State Theatre Arts Guild (STAGE) to operate and manage the Oroville State Theatre.
Today, the theatre provides several types of services: live performances featuring celebrated artists; co-sponsored performances as a collaboration between two or more local organizations; and a rentable venue for community events such as graduations, recitals and city meetings.
The historic Oroville State Theatre is staffed exclusively by an all-volunteer team of workers and supporters who come together to be a part of the ongoing “Miracle on Myers Street”— a community project named not only for sustaining the Theatre’s day-to-day operations but promoting the dream of completely restoring the building to its original appearance and ambiance. 

You can see on the postcard, the State Theatre advertises the movies The Pink Panther and One Man's Way, both came in Spring 1964 to the screen.

28.05.2019

Filmpalast in Kaiserslautern/Germany

This cinema exists from 1937 till 1944.
Alfred Meyer, owner of the cinema Central in Kaiserslautern, built the generous movie theater with 850 seats in the hall of the Protestant Society House. The opening was on September 3, 1937 with the film Sieben Ohrfeigen / Seven Slaps (Germany, 1937). In 1944 the building was destroyed by bombs, the film operation had to be stopped. After the damage had been eliminated in 1950, the Pfalztheater moved in this building.
You can see on the postcard an advertised movie with Heinrich George. It must be the movie Schicksal / Destiny (Germany, 1942).
The fountain in front of the cinema is the Fackelwoogbrunnen, created by Friedrich Korter in 1939.

26.05.2019

UCI Kino in Hamburg-Wandsbek/Germany

This postcard is an advertising card from Edgar Medien, #3.555. Maybe fresh from the opening. This UCI Kino opened as UCI Kinowelt Smart City on 1 August 1999. The architects were Eller, Maier, Walter & Partner. UCI opened another multiplex in Hamburg-Othmarschen three months ago. It seems to be a good time for multiplex cinemas.
Today UCI Kino has 9 halls with about 2.500 seats, among them an IMAX with 249 seats since 2018.

Cinema La Palace in Tunis/Tunisia

Cinema La Palace is located on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the central thoroughfare of Tunis, and the historical political and economic heart of Tunisia. The hotel Rossini Palace openend in 1902 and restored in 2002. Paul Baron was the architect of this art noveau building. It is still standing, not used as a hotel anymore, but the cinema is working.
Originally here was as a theater for the Italian community in Tunisia - Le théâtre Italien is written on the postcard. Later a cinema was opened.
On wikipedia you can read, cinema was opened in the 1920s. But this postcard is dated on 7 May 1916 (not stamped) and already shows a cinema.

21.05.2019

Zentral-Lichtspiele in Riesa/Germany

An interesting postcard from Zentral-Lichtspiele in Gröba. Gröba is since 1923 a part of Saxon town Riesa. Kinowiki writes that this cinema was opened in 1913 with 400 places. I think this postcard is from 1913, an adcard from the opening. It was published by the magazine Der Artist. 
I wonder where the hall for 400 places was. The look into the projection room and the engine room is very interesting
I don't know when the cinema was closed - maybe in the 1960s. The building is still standing.
The cinema was directed by Anna Zach, she had later still two other cinemas in Riesa.

19.05.2019

CT-Lichtspiele in Dommitzsch/Germany

Dommitzsch is a town in Northern Saxony on the river Elbe with about 2.400 inhabitants. 
This cinema was opened in 1939 by Herbert Günther. CT-Lichtspiele means Central Theater Cinema, in 1991 it was also named Central Lichtspiele. It had 288 places and was closed after 1991.
I don't know if this building is still standing.

Jūrmala in Jūrmala /Latvia

Cinema Jūrmala in Majori is written on this postcard. Majori is a part of the town Jūrmala, about 25 km west from Riga. Jūrmala remains a tourist attraction with long beaches facing the Gulf of Riga and romantic wooden houses in the Art Nouveau style.
But I couldn't find anything about this cinema - only some sad pictures with empty cinema buildings in Jurmala on this site.

Pionieris in Riga/Latvia

This cinema in Riga was opened on May 19, 1962, on the day of the 40th anniversary of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V. I. Lenin and got the name Pionieris - Pioneer. It was a special cinema for children. Architect was Juris Petersons. 
It wasn't a newly built cinema. On December 25, 1923 here was opened cinema Forum with about 750 places. The owner was Andrejs Kerre. (Today Forum Cinemas is a cinema operator with some cinemas in Latvia, a subsidiary of the Finnish company Finnkino Oy - but has nothing to do with this building).
From 1997 till 2004 the cinema was named Oskars and showed movies for everybody.
In July 2012 a night club with five dance halls opened in cinema building.

Did you know that great Soviet film director Sergej Eisenstein was born in Riga in 1898?