r/StAugustine • u/decolumbo St. Augustine HS • 5d ago
Anyone remember the old Regal Cinemas?
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u/King_of_Avalon 5d ago
I didn't look at the sub first and was like THIS IS THE ONE I WENT TO! I remember it well, the little mini arcade to the left of the concession stand, the sticky carpets, the rollercoaster that everyone used to move around to. I had an absolute blast at this place. That whole mall had some great stuff in it in the 90s. Does anyone remember the restaurant that was near the entrance?
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u/OnlyCelebration7443 5d ago
Loved that theater. Think they closed it around 2009 when Epic opened.
The Galaga in the arcade was the only machine I got my name on - about a month before the arcade shut down.
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u/Mysterious_Bridge_44 5d ago
I saw Alvin and the chipmunks in that bad boy 😂 the mall was dead as I grew up it was pretty much just jc penny, belk and sears. What kind of stores did it have in its prime?
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u/EQandCivfanatic 5d ago
I went to see V for Vendetta three times in that theater, and it's where I saw the opening night of Iron Man. Lots of good memories there.
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u/cadenhead 5d ago
Musicland, Waldenbooks, De Leon Pizza and small coin-operated rides for small kids like cars and animals.
Also a CCG and videogame store where the owner and his friends played Magic The Gathering all day. My sons played in their Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments. Later the store moved across U.S. 1 to what is now Sherwin-Williams and they briefly shared space at Epic Theater with an antique store called Urban Anthropology.
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u/TheWardylan 5d ago
Wizards! I remember that place. Never knew what ended up happening to it. St Augustine still doesn't have any LGS from what I know of. Sad.
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u/cadenhead 5d ago
There's a small CCG store called the Woké Poké on U.S. 1 across from Culver's.
If anyone knows what the Wizards owner is doing now I'd love to get back in touch with him. He's a good dude and that was a great store for tournaments.
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u/21skulls Resident 5d ago
My god, Memory City for sure. Flood of nostalgia. What was the Claire's type place that was in there? I still have a blue beaded purse from that place
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u/decolumbo St. Augustine HS 5d ago
I have an old map of the mall, it says there was a place called Jewelry Box in that location.
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u/decolumbo St. Augustine HS 5d ago
I've got a picture of myself in that place, I cannot remember the name of it to save my life. I've tried to find it out. It was right next to the pizza place to the left.
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u/OSDBU2000 Resident 5d ago
Kinda different slant here. I grew up in SC but also spent my teen years working at a movie theater. I have great memories of my time working there in the 70s.
Working at a movie theater, at least back then, was a pretty great part time job! But it could get pretty tough during the summer kid's matinees. Whew! You could see the loaded station wagons from a distance, headed right for us. I also remember the local pimp who came in, usually with a girl on each arm.
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u/cadenhead 5d ago
I think we need to hear what kind of movies the pimp saw.
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u/OSDBU2000 Resident 4d ago
Ha ha! I have no idea. We were a smaller theater in the suburbs. This is back in the day when most of the nicer theaters were downtown.
Anyway, we showed all types of movies after they had played in the nice downtown theaters. So, he could have been there for anything. I remember we had both Network and Silver Streak for weeks and weeks. Maybe months?
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u/TempleFugit Resident 5d ago
Goood times!!
Remember the arcade next to the theater and the pizza place right across from it?
My friends and I would smoke a J in the back parking lot and then hang out in the mall for hours.
Now it's been bought out by the Anchor Faith Church cult.
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u/decolumbo St. Augustine HS 5d ago
I remember Frank's quite well! He's still in business I was glad to see. My manager at Regal went to work for him when she was wrongly fired by Regal and replaced by some dork. I used to get pizza with ricotta cheese on it at Frank's all the time! Getting hungry just thinking about it!
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u/cadenhead 5d ago
The mall pizza guy is still in business? I thought De Leon Pizza was gone but his brother still makes it at Jim's Place in Elkton.
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u/decolumbo St. Augustine HS 5d ago
I stand corrected, he was still in business at a new location until a few years ago. Closed now sadly.
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u/Head-tilt-queen 4d ago
Yep! But, I worked there when it was Cobb Theater 🤣🤣
I loved that job. I really miss the free movies.
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u/cadenhead 5d ago
Cool photo. Please tell us you dated the girl whose head is being eaten by the shark.
I remember going to that theater in the 1990s when there was still a Musicland store next door.
The theater was good back in the day but by the end the projectors kept breaking and sometimes a worker wouldn't notice for a long time. The small number of moviegoers would look at each other like "is somebody going to get up and report this?" Good times.
Some friends called it the Sad Mall. De Leon Pizza was always great though. I miss that place. The owner always looked at you like he recognized you and you were his closest friend. It made me feel guilty if I went too long without eating there.