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ELVIS CINEMAS - KIPLING
Littleton, CO



Built by General Cinemas in times long past, Kipling Place 6 has seen several owners. Mann Theatres was the longest tennant, purchasing it from GC not tremendously long after it opened. Then a company called Movie One bought it from Mann and turned it into a dollar house. That didn't last too long and then Silver Cinemas took over. Not sure what their problem was, but a new company came in and saved the day along with reorganizing the letters on the front of the building to become the newly crowned Elvis Cinemas, and it is still a discount theater.



The box office to Kipling Place 6 is generally only used on weekends, otherwise tickets are sold at the concession stand. This box office was robbed twice during my tenure there by some dude in a gorilla mask. Well, I hope it was a mask. When your box office brings in millions of dollars each night, it is very attractive to no-good hooligans.



The lobby. As you may notice, this place was built during The Great Cinder Block Fetish of 70's.



Yes, I know this picture is blurry. I'm a human, not a tripod. Anyway I'd just like to point out that the manager's office used to be where those games are. Now wasn't that interesting?



The lobby from the usher's podium looking toward the box office. Concession stand on the left. Cinder blocks all around. I wonder if Elvis liked cinder blocks.



An aerial view of the lobby taken through the manager's peephole that was installed by Movie One. I wish the manager's office was upstairs when I worked here so I could spy on people.



The north hallway looking down towards #1 and #2, which are the two giant screen auditoriums of the complex.



Between #1 and #2 is the old satellite concession stand for serving the massive crowds who chose the Kipling Place 6 giant screens to view their movies. It has been boarded up and is now used for storage, or maybe it is where they keep the food for Elvis himself. You can see the old red tile from the Mann days as well as the white Mann cabinets.



Here is auditorium #2 which is one of the giant screen auditoriums. When this place was built, only house #1 was stereo, the rest were mono. #1's stereo equipment was removed and installed into the Mann Tamarac Square 6 Theater which was to be the first ALL STEREO complex in the state. This left Kipling as the first ALL MONO complex in the state, but it is now all stereo again and even has some digital sound.



Here is a view from the front of auditorium #2, which is one of the giant screen auditoriums. General Cinemas even used cinder blocks for the auditorium walls. And why not? Everyone knows that cinder blocks are acoustically perfect.



Here is the south hallway looking down at #'s 5, 4 and 3 from #6. These are the small auditoriums on this side of the theater. Each auditorium features doors that allows light to shine right on the screen when opened. As a result, it is a crime in Littleton, CO for employees or patrons to open the doors at any time the projector is running, fire or no.



Here is auditorium #5. The floor is still painted red from the Mann days. Motorized masking in every house! Several Mann theaters built after they purchased this place didn't even have motorized masking. It is believed that Elvis sometimes hides behind this screen, but I didn't see him.



Time to go upstairs. Here are a set of stairs. They even painted the handrails and the steps themselves. I'm not sure why they would paint something not in view of the public... unless Elvis demanded it. Maybe he lives under the stairs.



The upstairs hallway. There used to be a timeclock mounted on the right wall at shoulder level above that outlet. But now it is gone. I wasn't able to clock in as a result. I was sad.



This used to be the concessions storage room, but now is used for general storage. As you can see another room was built inside of this one (with a fancy new door which exudes royalty). Behind that door is where the owner commands over his empire of many Elvis Cinemas in an attempt to rule the world. But who is the mysterious owner?



We used to call this room the kitchen. Not sure why. But it was where we took the popper lid to wash at night. Maybe they don't need to wash popper lids any more? Now it is a carpeted party room used only on Elvis' birthday.



Finally, in the booth! Here we are at #5 looking towards #4 and #3. Film rewind benches are on the left.



Century projectors attached to ORC lamphouses. Nice projectors! And as unacceptable as the ORC lamphouses are, they could be much worse. They could be the orange ORC lamphouses. Thankfully they're not!



They moved the Neumade PRT-Ultra rewind bench from the other side of the booth to this one, likely because the one on the left is completely nonfunctional. Up on the shelf is the first media cleaner I ever used... probably with the same media still on it from 15 years ago! Also it looks like there is a Christie MUT for sale. Or maybe the entire booth is for sale?



You would think that a theater like this would be powered by wimpy platters from ORC, Speco or Strong, but no! Christie AW3's are used instead and everyone is thankful. The brains are non-removable, but major upgrades have been made since the Mann days. See the roller on the take-up arm of the middle deck? New.



Here is projector #1 with DTS. 3 of the 6 houses have DTS installed. Oddly, the soundheads are not yet converted for reverse scan LEDs nor do they appear to have "Jaxlights". Curiously, the slide projectors are in a completely different place now than they were when it was Mann. Now they are in the way of the wall-mounted Kelmar automation and just about everything else. Screenvision ensures that all slide projector bulbs are much too dim for the screen.



Here is the sound rack which powers #1, which is one of the giant screen auditoriums. DTS and Peavy CS-400X amps are used along with your standard Ultra Stereo processor with lost front panel (Elvis probably ate it).



A long shot of the booth looking from #3 all the way down to #6.



Here is projector #2, which delivers content to the numerous crowds in one of the giant screen auditoriums. DTS also in this house.



Here's another shot looking at #3 and #4. Lots of room to move around or maybe install a Slip 'n Slide™.



The sound system here in #3 is so powerful that cinder blocks left over from the lobby and auditorium walls were needed to build this sound rack. I'm not exactly sure what the hell is going on with this thing, but it's gotta rock the jailhouse hard! Kelmar block amps used to power the old mono sound system. One for the speaker, one for the booth monitor. They were interchangeable.



And finally here is #6, the third and final DTS house and also the smallest auditorium. Elvis could hide back here because it is dark.


Photos from the Joe Redifer collection.

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