So Long, Lloyd Cinemas! You Won’t Be Missed

1. Problem is, a lot of the remaining theaters were designed for a much smaller Portland. Where will the floods go for the next Avengers? Living Room is the only theater I can think of, other than Regals/Cinemarks, to have been built from scratch in the past 30 years around here. Maybe more theaters will start taking their assigned seating approach?

2. I don’t really care for Regal as a company, but it is by far the most comfortable way to watch a movie in town. Most of the indie cinemas in town don’t have air conditioning, comfortable seats, etc.. Watching a summer blockbuster at Bagdad or Cinemagic, especially if they’re over 90 minutes long, is brutal. Not to mention, we’re going from having one multiplex into several one or two screen theaters, which gives people less options to go to the movies if they want to see something in town, until the go to DVD. Most of the indie cinemas all show the same thing (likely Avengers at the moment) on one screen. Losing a multiplex, especially one that centrally located, blows.

   Also, I’m fairly sure that IMAX at Lloyd Center is a real one, as is the one out at Bridgeport Village which is now where I’ll have to drive to watch a movie in IMAX, which is pretty much the only reason I go and drop the money on seeing something on the big screen anyways these days.

3. Hopefully all the boring California people will move into the boring California apartments (with parking!) and leave everybody else to continue complaining about them in peace.

4. Agree with the other comment regarding the IMAX. Not sure why Erik says it’s fake? Erik, can you clarify? Seeing those summer blockbusters on their IMAX screen in 3-D has been magnificent…that I will truly miss. I hate trying to see those kinds of movies on a smaller indie screen with people chomping on a meal around me.

5. I beg to differ regarding Bagdad. They have ice cold AC and got all new seats when they remodeled a couple of years back. It’s one of the best theaters to see a first-run movie in Portland.

6. A ‘real’ IMAX screen is like the one they have at OMSI. Regal bought the brand name and tried to convince people it just meant ‘slightly larger than normal.’ Apparently they succeeded.

   A real IMAX screen is about 80 feet by 100 feet, and fills your field of vision. A Regal Cinemas IMAX screen is less than 30 x 60.
   http://www.lfexaminer.com/20081016.htm

   I haven’t been to that Regal in years, but I remember seeing ‘Batteries Not Included’ there. Too bad.

7. Time to convert to Oregon Theater into an IFC Cinema.

8. My fondest memory of Lloyd Cinemas was seeing Apocalypse Now Redux and watching two dudes get into a fistfight into the theater after the movie was done.

9. I will actually be sad to see it go. It was a great theater for movie hopping, but more than that it’s a big theater in the middle of the city. Not everyone wants to spend an hour taking a bus out of Tigard or 82nd just so they can watch Age of Adaline.

10. Yeah this actually sucks. Love that movie theater and love having options. Closest place to me now is Cinemagic. Which is great, but has rusty seats and plays 1 movie every 2 weeks.
    Don’t appreciate the condescending and negative attitude of this article. Sounds like you just hate everything don’t ya

11. I can’t find any data on it but I believe the lloyd center imax screen is significantly larger than the ones at Bridgeport.

12. I’m far more upset over what is supposed to be built in the space than the theater closing. We don’t need the added traffic on 84 or around the mall.

13. They are combining them into the Nordstroms space so that it will have its own dedicated entrance from the mall. Easiest thing in the world to research. Is the Mercury hiring writers?

14. I used to work there and still know some people that work there. I feel bad that they will be losing jobs. The GM was one of the best bosses I have ever had.
    That said anyone higher than the actual theater level at Regal were ways a nightmare.

15. Portland’s got plenty of centrally located, comfortable first-run theaters that show both mainstream and niche films. (All the ones I’m about to list offer better moviegoing experiences than Lloyd, with the indie theaters usually being cheaper, too.) If you aren’t able to find the first-run movies you’re looking for between the Bagdad, the Hollywood, Cinema 21, the Roseway, Fox Tower, Living Room Theaters, or Pioneer Place, you’re not looking very hard.

    That’s not even taking into account theaters that’re a bit more far-flung, but often closer to peoples’ houses: Century Eastport, St. Johns Twin, St. Johns Theater and Pub, Division Street, the Moreland.

    Regarding having options, even if you only count the bookings at a few key Portland theaters—the Hollywood, Cinema 21, Living Room—you’ve still got a greater breadth of films than Lloyd offers.

    As for IMAX, el cubano and leed: Basically what Reymont said.

    And as for Mo Davis’ comment about Lloyd Center’s Nordstrom space: Regal has yet to return the Mercury‘s call, but when they do, I’ll ask if that’s the plan. If Lloyd Center has plans for a theater there (which’d be significantly different, or at least significantly more specific, than the plans here and here), we’ll keep you updated.

16. Great article. Of course it would have been a lot better if I didn’t have to stare at the tattoo covered naked man covering his penis with a large exclamation mark. “Best of Hump!”, there’s a significant advertising piece. Hey, otherwise, great fucking article, glad to see Regal go.

17. Of course a writer for the Mercury hates Regal theaters. Surprise surprise. I will miss this movie theater and actually I hope this doesn’t happen. Not only do I enjoy paying way too much to watch a movie but I also enjoy free max parking when I want to go downtown. Who is going to live in all this overpriced housing? The young people who move to portland to retire? I think not.

18. To be honest, whoever wrote this article missed the key point. It’s not about how Lloyd Center 10 was a subpar theater and will happily be replaced.

    It’s about Portland becoming a more developed and gentrified city. This point was made secondary to the “good riddance” rant pervasive throughout the article.

    But it’s the key takeaway. Places like Lloyd Center will be the first to go, to make way for more gentrified culturally sterile apartment complexes and boutiques, made for the pregnant hipsters looking for the next best pair of quirky socks.

    Have you seen San Francisco lately? It has turned into a shithole full of defensive and angry assholes, who for some reason came there for a job and a hip, young lifestyle only to realize everyone else was doing the same goddamn thing.

    I’m not looking forward to what happens next. Oh look, they’re renovating the Bagdad Theater on Hawthorne! Oh sweet, the food carts near my house are being displaced so someone can make a 3 story condominium! At that point, what will be the luxury of living in Portland? Where will the city’s character go once everyone comes here looking for it?

19. Erik, of all the theaters you mentioned, only the Roseway is in north or northeast Portland. Yes, there are other options within city limits, but that doesn’t mean they are convenient. The Lloyd theaters were easy for a lot of families to get to, easy to park at, and show more than one movie at a time, a set of criteria that none of the other Portland theaters you list meet. It’s bad enough that every existing business on the north side of the city is being torn down in favor of wine bars / artisinal vegan soap stores. Even if Regal is a shitty chain, losing it is one more thing making those neighborhoods less livable.

    And honestly, I am really surprised that you wrote this piece. You are someone who finds value in movie theaters continuing to exist. If Lloyd closes, some of those people will seek out other theaters, but a lot of them are just going to say fuck it and wait for movies to come out on Redbox (or Piratebay). Losing what you consider to be a bad theater doesn’t make the other ones better, it means less people will get to experience what makes seeing a movie in a theater special.

20. This is the most convenient theater in town, location-wise, to see a first run. Oh well.

21. This is the theatre families go to see movies. This is the theatre we went to on first dates; the theatre we took Tri-Met to meet our girlfriends at for movies in middle school. I don’t expect it hipster transplants to see the value in this theatre but for us regular folks who just want to see a damn movie without schlepping downtown, paying for parking and trying to figure out which exit to Pioneer is open after 8 pm, this is terrible.

22. This sucks! Sad to see them go!

23. Those are good points, caustic—thanks for bringing them up. (And thanks, everybody, for weighing in. Except for a couple of you. You know who you are.)

    And you’re right: I’m bummed even thinking of the possibility that if going to a movie was a bit less convenient, some people might just ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and stop going to movies. Not going to deny that patronizing independent theaters can take more effort, but if watching movies exclusively at a single chain location is how anyone defines “moviegoing,” they’re missing out. I go to chains too (saw Mad Max at a Regal last night, and clapped and grinned like an idiot for two straight hours), but it seems nuts to not take advantage of the fact that Portland, unlike a lot of places, also has bunch of great, unique, locally owned theaters. And the good ones? They’re more fun to see movies in. They’ve got films and atmosphere that actually represent this city, they’ve got better picture and sound, they’ve got better seats and cheaper tickets. If we were talking about one of those getting bulldozed? Then I’d be upset.

    It’s depressing, but I suspect you’re right—there might be a few people who only go to Lloyd Cinemas, and some of them might decide that going anywhere else in town is too much work. But hell, I hope it’s not “a lot” of them. I hope they give Cinema 21, the Hollywood, the Roseway, or the Bagdad a shot. Seeing a good movie at theaters like those is a reminder of why we go to movies in the first place.

24. Man this sucks. I mean the article is all like blah blah Regal sucks. C’mon man, it sucks to lose a movie theater! Not sure what you mean by “fake Imax”. How’s that? And where’s the real deal? Beaverton?

25. Wasn’t Lloyd Cinemas one of the theaters that hosted an early TITANIC screening, one of those screenings months before it came out that made people start to think the film would be a phenomenon? That’s where my mind went when I heard this multiplex would be going away. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with the place; I didn’t even grow up in Portland, and I’ve been going there since 1987, the year after it opened.

    I kind of hope there really are plans for theater screens in the Nordstrom’s space, if that’s what’s happening.

26. I was invited to paint a mural for “attack of the clones” at this theatre for the opening of the film. It was a blessing & stayed up for a month in the theatre.
    I thank the management locals & Regal, I was the only person nationwide to do some artwork for a movie other than one awesome mural that was done for the batman movie in the mid-west or east coast.
    Ive loved the convience of the theatre, the parking & the larger screen they did have, even though it wasn’t a “True” iMax. Whah cry cry. Someone else should build one. I’ve been to wayy bigger true imaxes than most “”mini”” imax domes. Anyway.
    I enjoy the local smaller venues as well. But this was a great location that I saw many a movie at over many a year.
    This article has nothing to do with regal closing its about the city changing & gentrification. Weinhards selling out & closing was a sad day along with norwestern. The mural they painted there wasn’t very old. All that history gone.
    You thought Alberta gentrification was bad. Been down division lately? Now Industrial east side. Just everyone wait meters are coming to the east side.
    Really is disgusting that another 1000 apartments close in inner city is taking the place of this, along with the burnside development etc & others goin on everywhere.
    Traffic already sucks, parking doesn’t exist & cost of living just went ballistic the past year.
    Industrial east side is full of wackos that moved there to hang out with the people they thought were cool but they just pushed everyone out. & are paying thru the roof for office space next to a train blowing a whistle so loud you can’t even talk.
    Bike friendly city, Yeah right, great small city vibe, not anymore.
    Portlandia helped with our current state & influx of people moving here. I go out & it’s like who are these people. Where did they all come from. Why are they here? What they moved here for is gone.
    The Portland we knew & local scene is disappearing. Now it is on the road to where Seattle was 10 years ago people overvaluing rentals property & all of the above.
    Very sad day for movie goers & all residents.
    😢🙈🙉🙊💩👎👎👎

27. More apartments. Less movies. Wack.

28. Hopefully Rifftrax finds a new landing place

29. It does seem a little incongruous to, on the one hand, complain about the city losing its identity due to out-of-state developers coming in and building new housing; and then on the other claim a key part of the identity being lost is wrapped up in a run-down, Tennessee-based, corporate-owned multiplex; all while complaining how “inconvenient” it is to actually patronize locally-owned independent Portland theaters, many of which have undergone significant renovation in the last 5 years to offer a first-run viewing experience at a higher quality than what the Lloyd ever offered under Regal ownership in the first place.

    That a multiplex is going down to accomodate more housing in a city that’s going to keep growing whether or not a low-rated IFC sketch comedy show stays on the air doesn’t necessarily seem to be the harbinger of doom people are inclined to paint it as.

    There are plenty of hills to fight on regarding the growing pains of the Portland Metro area in the 21st Century – I’m not sure the loss of the Regal Lloyd 10 is a particularly well-chosen one. If anything, a lot of the negative response sounds like the moans of the mildly inconvenienced wrapped in the easy righteousness of mock-civic pride.

30. Im sad to hear this, the mass development of P-town hasnt bothered me yet, but this one does. Lloyd center is next im sure. Bring on the future i guess! $17 for an imax matinee is crap anyway.

31. The rage will be amazing when the writers that work at The Mercury can’t afford to live in Portland as well. It will probably come soon too cause I know you people don’t make airplane money. Shit no journalist does. Gresham, Milwaukie, Oregon Shitty, Gladstone and Hillsboro are gonna gain so many cool points in the next 5 years.

32. In all honesty, I’m not sure exactly why I’m supposed to care if a theater is “locally owed.”

    From what I can tell, there’s no real profit in running a one or two screen theater independently (the number of kickstarters would seem to indicate as much) and the staffs at those theaters are incredibly small and make beans anyway, so it’s not like there’s some financial benefit to the city of local owned theaters over a conglomerate, especially when you consider the Llloyd AMC likely employs 5x the number of people as, say, Cinemagic. They’re all low paying, part time jobs regardless, so what’s the difference?

    You’re not getting better service, nor a different product (outside of maybe a bit more red velvet and vintage candy ads), at a locally-owned theater than you are at chain. Both places are showing a film made somewhere else, distributed by someone from somewhere else, staring people from somewhere else. So outside of the person who actually owns the independent theater, why should anyone else care?

    The one exception here would be “art house” films, a feature independent theaters offer that chains don’t.

33. They always talk so highly about, how they destroyed yet another landmark, and then talk it up with 980 spaces to live in and 700 something parking spaces.

    This sounds like a waste to me. At a time where the economy is already stressin, we are always on the borderlines of recession. People can barely afford apartments and with the semi new requirements, someone must make two-three times they’re required monthly rent in order to occupy.. And traffic congestion is already a major problem within the mass city.

    So if u ask me, I think its stupid… 980 spaces for rent and most likely 700+ spaces will just sit vacant until someone unlucky soul pours they’re hard working pockets out just to live in that most likely expensive and unaffordable housing placed in its location.

    And now that its an approved decision, it looks as if more traffic congestion and thefts will rise in that area since it is a high volume area already… That’s the ticket politician’s, waste more space and money. Take away from us the things that occupy us and keep our kids out of trouble. Why don’t they just place a rec center there. And place cameras all around to monitor the area 24/7.

    I’m starting to hate our country…and its decisions.

34. Awesome! Great idea! Let’s systematically tear down every place young black people go in Portland, so that they have nothing left! I look forward to the condos, and the lattes, and the cafes with $12 sandwiches that those pesky black youths can’t afford, going up where this theater is. I mean, do we really need to entertain them? Why didn’t they take the hint when we closed down the theater in the mall? As soon as we get rid of that mall all together (in the works), and force a few more dog-grooming salons and food-cart pods into the north (probably on Williams, I think Mississippi is all but white-washed), we’ll only have to see black people on TV, and then, thankfully, we can change the channel.

    Way to go Portland, way to go!

35. Why don’t you Californian’s work on ruining your state and make it inconvenient. And leave Oregon alone. I personally hate going downtown and Gresham is a shit whole so thank you for taking away the only theater I like going to.

36. Erik, I’d like to say you’re on the right side of this…but you’re not. I prefer local, art-house, and single-screen cinemas whenever possible, but there are certainly things I want to see day-1 at a multiplex. This happens to be the best one in town, and what’s replacing it is something far worse, tower housing.

    I appreciate your dedication to the film section in the Merc, especially in the last year, but you really come off like a tool in this article.

37. Why aren’t they using a local company? There are plenty of contractors and developers in Portland, so why use a Californian company? We need the jobs here. Fuck that!
    Keep Portland Weird, I guess.

38. Cinema 21, the Hollywood, the Bagdad and the Rose way are all SMALL!!! What are you supposed to do when a film like Avatar comes out, and is sold out for weeks because we only have tiny theaters? Yes, locally owned, independent theaters can be great…I personally adore The Academy…but we need huge multiplexes too. I went to the midnight showing of every Harry Potter film (except for the first) at Lloyd 10, and I for one will miss it. I live in Parkrose Heights…and will probably now have to drive to f#cking Vancouver to watch a movie. They should build a new Regal multiplex at Cascade Station.

39. HOLY CRAP if you guys didn’t read Rashelle Hibbards comment a couple above this one, do that now. Those are my thoughts exactly. Like this place was easy to get to, especially when I was a teenager with no car. Its where everyone in the area went to on first dates in high school. Have some fun as a kid and sneak into an R rated movie with your friends… Oh wait, there’s the bulldozer to destroy my nestalgic thoughts and build an(other) apartment complex on top of its bloodied remains. And while on thast topic, We need an upgrade to our cities highway infrastructure before any more of these huge apartment complexes goes up. I-5, and I-84 are only drivable for like 2 hrs during a normal work day, and with the highest projected percentage of people to move to portland out of almost every other city in the US over the next 5 years, I’d say we’re pretty screwed

40. HOLY CRAP if you guys didn’t read Rashelle Hibbards comment a couple above this one, do that now. Those are my thoughts exactly. Like this place was easy to get to, especially when I was a teenager with no car. Its where everyone in the area went to on first dates in high school. Have some fun as a kid and sneak into an R rated movie with your friends… Oh wait, there’s the bulldozer to destroy my nestalgic thoughts and build an(other) apartment complex on top of its bloody corpse.

41. Great!!! More garbage development that causes more traffic! Obviously, I won’t be going to Lloyd Center mall anymore. Oh wait, I stopped a long time ago because of how traffic bad traffic in that area is like.

    New city law is you must provide parking space for every unit for any new development providing over 30 units. You’re short 107 parking spaces in your plans. Oh wait?! There are plenty of free parking in front of people’s homes one block over, and more some. Who welcomes additional 107 more cars in front of your own home. Where you can’t park in front of your own house. Yes, it’s not a inconvince for the developer because they’re making money. “It’s not my neighborhood, and I don’t live there” kind of attitude.

    Everyone put out something in front of your house to prevent parking in front of your house (ex. Metal garbage cans). That way, you have a place to park when you come home after a long day at work as a home owner. I’m sorry this is happening to the people who own homes in the area.

42. Oh, and the reason why it’s a Californian developer is because all thanks to Sam Smith. He called his friend’s move up here from California to build all these whacked up new developments which aren’t developed properly. Due to “If no one complains or finds out about until it’s too late”. It’ll be already built for things to be done right, and we make money!!! If I’m making this up then please look into what Sam Smith did to screw over this city!

    Oh yea, they all have lunch together, and push numbers around for each other to get elected into office. You do a favor for me, and I got your back. Didn’t these people been elected in the past?! Hmmm…

    The city Mayor gets a $50,000 credit card/prepaid card to use it on whatever he or she chooses. Tax-free!!! Think I’m lying, then prove me wrong. Research the politics that goes through this city, and link them together. lol

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