“Sacred Houses Series”
This month, we would like to pay homage to the Gateway Cinema in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, as we continue to celebrate and honor notable movie theaters around the globe.
The Gateway Cinema in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, opened on March 24th, 1951. It’s part of the Gateway Shopping Center. The theater premiered the film “Up Front,” starring Marion Robert Morrison, better known as John Wayne. Initially, the cinema was a single-screen venue with 1,500 seats.
The theater had several innovative features that made it stand out. For instance, the chairs had a slide-back feature that allowed guests already seated to move back, making it easier for others to walk in front of them without being cramped. Additionally, some of the seats in the theater were designed as rocking chairs, providing guests with a comfortable and relaxed movie-watching experience.
Over the years, the single-screen theater has shifted to four separate screens so guests can enjoy multiple movies. Unfortunately, like so many theaters worldwide in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gateway Cinema announced that it would be shutting its doors. In August of 2022, Paradigm Cinemas took over the running of the cinema, and this architecturally significant theater is now back open to the public.
You can visit them here.
If you think a theater deserves recognition in our “Sacred Houses” series, kindly contact us with details of its name, location, and significance to either you or your community. We’re enthusiastic about backing local theaters and feel they should be celebrated alongside the more renowned historic venues.
The Other Cinema 
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