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THU
THURSDAY 2 MARCH 2006: SUBURBAN DELIGHTSTHURSDAY 2 MARCH 2006: SUBURBAN DELIGHTS
THURSDAY 2 MARCH 2006: SUBURBAN DELIGHTSRSDAY 2 MARCH 2006: SUBURBAN DELIGHTS
Today was to be another day on
the bus. Travelling out to the
West of Sydney, we arrived at the
Read
Reading CinemasReading Cinemas
Reading Cinemasing Cinemas Auburn ten-
screen multiplex. This opened in
September 2000, to coincide with
the Olympic Games, on the site of
a former car sales yard. All ten
screens, with a total seating ca-
pacity of 2,096, are one level off
a pleasant foyer with a starlit The Reading CinemasReading Cinemas logo
Reading CinemasReading Cinemas
night ceiling effect. Two of the
screens have additional seating accessed from the first floor with 20
or so armchair seats known as the ‘Gold Lounge’; light meals and
drinks can be served at your seat and there is a licensed bar. The
local audience includes a large Indian population and first-release
SavoySavoy
Bollywood films are a feature from time to time. The former SavoySavoy Enfield
Getting back on the bus, we next headed back East passing on the
Savoy Cinema Savoy Cinema
way the Sydney Olympic Park. Our next stop was another multiplex, Our next stop was at the Savoy Cinema Savoy Cinema in Enfield, which opened in
Read
Reading Cinemasing Cinemas Rhodes, located inside a shopping mall built on 1938 and closed in 1960. It is now a whitewood warehouse and
Reading CinemasReading Cinemas
reclaimed industrial land in the suburb of the same name. The Rho- painted in rather an alarming shade of pink! It had a small Christie
des cinemas opened in September 2004 and there are eight organ which was rescued in 1958 and is now being restored.
Elite CinemaElite Cinema
screens seating a total of 1,744. The largest of the screens, Cine- Continuing our journey, we came to the former Elite CinemaElite Cinema, which
Haberfield TheatreHaberfield Theatre
mas 4 and 5 have ‘Gold Lounges’ but also, unusually for multi- was once the Haberfield TheatreHaberfield Theatre – a monogrammed HT is still visi-
plexes, have Dress Circles and seven-seat Crying Rooms. Another ble on the frontage. In use from 1925 until 1968, the building is
feature, which we had not come across before was in the ‘bio-box’ now a supermarket. A number of the more enthusiastic members
where, in order to get the projectors above the level of the Dress disembarked from the bus and it continued on its way back into
Circles, the projectors for Cinemas 4 and 5 were mounted on lifts. Sydney to the hotel. After suitable refreshments had been imbibed,
Marrickville Town HallMarrickville Town Hall
They could be brought down to floor level for lacing up etc but were those left behind returned at 7pm to Marrickville Town HallMarrickville Town Hall. A subur-
then lifted up 8 metres to their working positions. Outside in the ban town hall, this is now the home of the 2-manual 10-rank Wurlit-
Prince Edward Theatre in Sydney. The organ
Prince Edward Theatre Prince Edward Theatre
foyers another unusual sight was a waterfall running down over zer previously in the Prince Edward Theatre
rocks. With everything spotlessly clean, including the shining ter- had stopped being used in 1964 and was removed and refurbished
razzo of the floor, we came away most impressed to take our lunch to be opened in its new location in November 1968. Since that time
in the various food outlets in the shopping mall. it has been updated, rewired and extended. We were pleased to
Refreshed, we clambered back on the bus for our journey to the welcome Neil Jensen to give us a concert, including some requests.
Orion Cinema Orion Cinema
next venue, the former Orion Cinema Orion Cinema in Campsie. The cinema Weary but happy, we returned by train to Central Station for a good
opened with 999 seats in March 1939 as an independent but was night’s sleep.
taken over by Greater Union Cinemas in 1953. Greater Union at this
OdeonOdeon
time also operated the Campsie OdeonOdeon (now demolished) further
along the same street. With falling attendances because of TV dur-
OrionOrion
ing the 1950s, the OrionOrion closed in January 1959 and was sold and
converted into an indoor market. It reopened in November 1984 as
a community centre and banqueting hall, which it remains. The audi-
torium was quite plain and rather obscured by white material
draped from the ceiling centre to the walls but some interesting Art
Deco plaques of cinematic subjects could be seen. In 1988, the
Theatre Organ Society of Australia (TOSA) decided that it would be a
Capitol Theatre Capitol Theatre
suitable location for the Wurlitzer organ from the Capitol Theatre Capitol Theatre in
Sydney, which had been removed in 1972 and had been in storage
OrionOrion
for 16 years. During our visit to the OrionOrion, members of TOSA were on
hand to demonstrate the organ for us.
Departing from Campsie in the late afternoon, we embarked on a
number of photo-stops. The first was a Spanish Colonial style build-
ing now in use as a carpet and flooring showroom but formerly the
Croydon Park TheatreCroydon Park Theatre
Croydon Park Theatreroydon Park Theatre. Opened originally in 1922, it had closed in
C
1960. The roof-line rises away from the frontage as the screen was
EliteElite
at the road end of the cinema and a circle at the further end. The former EliteElite Haberfield

Marrickville Town HallMarrickville Town Hall
Ma
OrionOrion
The foyer of the Reading CinemasReading Cinemas Auburn The former OrionOrion Campsie Marrickville Town Hallrrickville Town Hall – interior
Reading CinemasReading Cinemas
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