Campaign to save Riverdale's Cinedome 70 movie theater gains fans

RIVERDALE — It was a vibrant place with a lobby full of bright people, which was Allen Glines' favorite part, but now the Cinedome 70 is dark and dreary with plaster peeling from the walls.

The Ogden native wants to save it, or at least let more people know about the theater before it is demolished.

"I think that we need to start respecting history a little more," Glines said. "People have said it's a theater — theaters are businesses, they're not historical. I don't think it's necessary to have a historical event happen at the building as much as the building has to have history."

The 23-year-old writer recently started a Facebook group called "Save the Cinedome 70," which now has almost 5,000 members. He said he created the social networking group after reading a column in the local paper, which explained that the Larry H. Miller Group has plans to build a car dealership where the Cinedome 70 is located.

Rod Nelson, a member of "Save the Cinedome 70," fondly recalls the Cinedome's glory days. He said nothing compared to experiencing a movie on 70 mm film and the excitement of waiting for the usher to call out your movie, then making your way up the winding tunnel into the theater. He said he sees this situation as a great opportunity for the Larry H. Miller group to restore the theater, add IMAX screens and build smaller screens nearby to compete with other multiplex theaters.

He said, "Like we need another car lot when that's all Riverdale consists of is dealerships, restaurants and strip malls. Riverdale city has no sense of history."

Glines said he wants more people to remember the theater, with its two giant, domed auditoriums and 70-foot screens, in case it is demolished. He also wants to do whatever he can to save the building.

The Cinedome 70 opened on May 15, 1970, before Glines was born. The last time he went to a movie there was in 1996 when he was 9 years old and saw "Independence Day." His family moved to Arizona shortly after that experience and didn't return to Utah until after Feb. 5, 2001, when the theater was closed.

"In retrospect, I wish I had gone to more movies. But I couldn't exactly drive myself," he said.

The theater was built by the Tullis and Hansen families in 1970 and was leased to Plitt Theaters in 1985. In 2001, the Tullis and Hansen families terminated their lease with Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. to avoid being pulled into the company's bankruptcy. Since then, the building has remained vacant and is starting to fall apart.