Valhalla Cinema
(Jump to Encore Cinema and various other ephemera)
Sitting on Glebe Point Road at the corner of Hereford Street, the Valhalla was I believe the biggest and best of the arthouses in Sydney, at least by the eighties. Their colourful posters were an icon, you can see one on the fridge in period sitcom Hey Dad and indeed date the episode by the colour of the poster. It was a long train and bus ride from where I lived in the eighties, but in the 90s I moved to a warehouse on Hereford street a block from the corner, whereupon I proceeded to get into computers and neglect the old friend which was now on my doorstep. Sadly the old lady was shut down in the early 2000s and turned into office space. I believe the old Craven cafe is still running next door.
Encore Cinema
The Encore on Devonshire Street was about as close as Sydney came to the New York grindhouse experience. Actually it was a pale shade of the reality described in Sleazoid Express, but it was what we had. A small cinema, wooden seats, disgusting septic snack counter in the foyer, and a bill of old favorites and occasional surprises. For the former, the Robot Monster / Plan 9 double bill was always full. For the latter, Flesh For Frankenstein in polarized 3D was amazing.
Rumours abounded. The manager was supposed to be an amazing pervert and a danger to the kiddies. He was said to posses a huge collection of valuable celluloid and make most of his money not from tickets but from supplying historical footage to film makers and TV producers.
Various Cinema Stuff
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Govindas Cinema Restaurant May 1994 Govindas is still operating! A Hari Krishna prasadam restaurant in Darlinghurst with an attached cinema legendary for the seating which took the form of reclining couch pallets. Download High Res JPG Download High Res PNG Download Ultra High Res PNG |
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Protagoras Cinema X at the Evil Star June 1990 The Evil Star was a basement club of the Evening Star hotel in Surry Hills, catering to the goth tribe. Sometimes one Protagoras would screen 16mm art films for the lucky mutants. Download High Res PNG |
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A Night of Horror 5th Annual Film Festival 2011 A Night of Horror is a travelling film festival specialising in shorts and independant produced horror films. Download High Res JPG front side Download High Res JPG back side side Download High Res PNG front side Download High Res PNG back side side Download Ultra High Res PNG front side Download Ultra High Res PNG back side side |
