New local history article every Monday.
I don’t have any personal memories of Cherokee Plaza and Cherokee Theater along Peachtree Road. I grew up not far from there, but I was closer to Briarcliff Village where LaVista Road and Briarcliff Road come together and across from Northlake Mall, so that was where I saw many movies.
Today, Cherokee Plaza is a shopping center with Kroger, a few small restaurants and other businesses, plus a Starbucks in the front part of the parking lot.
Cherokee Theatre first opened in 1963 at 3861 Peachtree Road, just one year after the Brookhaven Theater down the street on Peachtree Road had closed. The first film shown at Cherokee Theater was the three hour film “55 Days at Peking.” The film starred Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner.
The theater was a single screen theater with a capacity of 900 people. An Atlanta Constitution article, “New Cherokee theater opens with epic film,” dated June 26, 1963 praised the theaters’s “latest innovations in projections and sound, comfortable deep-seated chairs, and floor-to-ceiling drapes.” The screen was 50 by 20 feet in order to show Cinemascope films. Jack Brown was the architect of the 10,000 square foot space.
The theater opened during the time that Brookhaven was trying to establish itself as North Atlanta. The Mayor of North Atlanta Cicero Johnson and owner of the theater H. B. Meiselman both were there for opening day.
A 1966 Atlanta Constitution article advertises the premiere of the film “Not With My Wife, You Don’t” on November 18 at Cherokee Plaza. The film starred Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi and George C. Scott. A photograph at cinematreasures.org shows the marquee advertising “Thunderball” and “ You Only Live Twice” as the films being shown.
According to cinematreasures.org, Cherokee Plaza started out strong but became run down in the 1970’s and closed as a movie theater in 1977. The future of movie theaters made the large single screen theater less popular.
The website also tells of a brief history of the theater becoming a location for The Great Southeast Music Hall, between 1978 and 1979. The primary location of the Music Hall was at Broadview Plaza on Piedmont Road. I remember seeing Steve Martin, Cheech and Chong, and Kiki Dee at the Broadview Plaza location.
Cinematreasures.org is a great place to read about movie theatres, whether they are still in existence or gone. If you have a theater you are curious about, go to the website and see if it is included.