Although Woodland Hills has owned The Plaza Theater since 2001, the theater has been a part of the East Metro since 1967. As we prepare to re-open and celebrate The Plaza’s future, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at its past!
The Plaza’s story begins on August 28, 1967 when Connie Nystrom, “Miss Maplewood,” stood in front of a crowd of moviegoers and snipped a length of film strip, officially kicking off a two day open house which showed free films every hour on the hour, from 10am to 10pm.
Charles W. Winchell, president of the Minnesota Amusement Co., told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “We are extremely proud of the Plaza, a handsome, modern and extremely comfortable theater into which we have installed the latest advances in motion picture presentation.”
Winchell was particularly proud of the 700 plush foam-rubber seats with generous space and “ample stretch-out room … to avoid inconvenience when someone wishes to leave his seat.” (As you read on, you will see that for some reason seats have always been a big deal at the Plaza!)
Two days later, on August 30, The Plaza showed its first full-length feature film: Hawaii, starring Julie Andrews. Tickets for adults were $1.30 for matinees and $1.55 in the evenings. Kids watched for 55 cents!
In 1973 Plitt Theaters took over, and those prices inched up to $4, but in February 1981, The Plaza counterintuitively returned to $1 tickets and, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “…the movie house attracted 13 times the number of customers at a buck a seat!”
The next big change came on April 15, 1983 when The Plaza became a two screen theater. At the grand opening of its double screens, it showed 48 Hrs. and The Man from Snowy River. Restructuring from one screen to two meant the number of seats dropped from 700 to 662, but tickets were, you guessed it, still $1! Ah, the good old days!
In 1985 Cineplex took over from Plitt theaters until The Plaza temporarily closed in February 1990. The final showings under the Cineplex run were: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Look Who’s Talking.
The Plaza reopened in June 1991 under Classic Theaters Corp. But before it could get back to operations, owner Bob Moen prioritized fixing up the seats. The foam padding had worn away on so many of the seats that customers had started bringing their own cushions!
Early showings included: Home Alone, Robin Hood, Bill &Ted’s Bogus Journey, Drop Dead Fred and Thelma & Louise. Tickets were now $1.50 and a box of popcorn came in at $1. Throughout the 90s it remained cheaper to catch a movie at The Plaza than to rent it at a video store. (Remember video stores?!)
In 1998, Classic Theatres Corp. provided the financial backing for movie buff and theater manager Nathan Block to take over.
Besides upgrading the sound system, the number one issue was—once again—the seats, after The Plaza landed itself at the bottom of a newspaper list for uncomfortable theater seats! Block tracked down, reupholstered and installed 474 rocker-back seats from a Chicago theater. He told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that this was now top-of-the-list seating and, “We have more legroom than any theater in the Twin Cities.”
In 2001, Woodland Hills came into ownership of The Plaza. How does a church become the owner of a movie theater? Well, when we bought the old Shoppers City building next door (that is now our church building), The Plaza came with the property. Our leadership teams decided to continue leasing the theater to Block, who stayed on to run The Plaza.
A unique chapter began in 2013 when our leadership teams decided to not renew Block’s lease and instead, use the theater building in a way that was more aligned with Woodland’s priorities and momentum to provide resources for the community. We began managing The Plaza, and partnered with The Lift, an East Side nonprofit, to staff it through an at-risk youth job-skills program. Teens and young adults gained work experience and training, as well as being mentored in things like financial literacy, leadership skills, healthy relationships and emotional intelligence. For many of them, The Plaza was their first job, and their presence brought a fresh energy to the theater.
But before we brought the job skills program in, we took some time for renovations! With the help of over 50 volunteers, Woodland overhauled the building. Soon The Plaza had fresh paint, new flooring and carpeting, an updated lobby, new sound panels and more.
And of course, what would new management be without new chairs? The years had taken their toll on the latest batch, so it was time yet again. Scoring a deal of just $10/seat, Woodland was able to recycle 460 seats from the Marcus Oakdale Cinema. An army of volunteers pulled out the old seats and installed the new ones. The first films that moviegoers saw from the comfort of these new chairs were: Rush, Elysium and Smurfs 2. The next year, 2014, Woodland also invested in an upgrade replacing 35 mm film with digital projectors.
The Plaza plugged along until 2020 when the COVID-19 Pandemic shuttered theaters around the world. The Plaza’s final 2020 showings included, Little Women, Knives Out, Frozen II and Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker.
In the years since that time, the film industry has changed dramatically, and it’s not been clear whether The Plaza can survive. Movie lovers can stream films at home shortly after they’re released in theaters, which makes a second-run model uncertain. But The East Side’s love for this local landmark has not faded one bit, so it brings us joy to finally say, “Yes!” to everyone who has asked, “Are you going to open again?”
What’s next? We will be re-opening this fall, offering second run and retro films at an affordable price (plus a heaping of popcorn on the side)! We will lean heavily on volunteers to run the place for a while—there’s not much money in second-run theaters, but because this is such an important part of our community, our goal has always been to provide affordable movie entertainment for the neighborhood and at least break even to keep the place running!
In the coming months, we plan to return to partnership with another at risk job-skills program, because we believe in the importance of investing in the youth in our community. Not only will they be gaining job skills, but also life skills, preparing them for whatever they do next!
We look forward to an exciting future and can’t wait to see you there. (Also, don’t worry, the seats are still in excellent condition).
This is excellent news! Praise God! I love the fact that the Plaza will be once again helping at risk youth learn job skills. I believe God will open doors for the re birth of a community mainstay that was a huge part of the Maplewood and St. Paul community.
Yay God! Thank you, Woodland Hills Church for investing in your community!!!
So excited to see this theater open again. It has been a staple of the East side for years.