Nam Cheong Theatre / 南昌戲院 [1975-2000]

Seating capacity: 1,462, renovation in 1987 reduced the capacity to 1,000.

Address: 223-237 Nam Cheong Street, Sam Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong.  Currently, a residential building stands between the theatre and Nam Cheong Street, hence the theatre is likely more accessible from the rear street called Wai Chi Lane.  The opening date of the theatre was on October 1, 1975.  It was reported to have closed sometime in late 1999 or early 2000.  For the purpose of this page, the closing date is estimated to be January 2000.

During the 1987 renovation, the seats of the front stalls were removed to allow a new stage to be installed, reducing the capacity to 1,000.  One reader's comments from the source below read: "..... the front-stall used to fitted with wooden seats with no cushions. It was painful to watch a film for 2 hrs sitting on “planks” even when I was a kid." This reminds me of my experience sitting on the first front row at another theatre - Ming Sing on Lai Chi Kok Road.  There, the line of sight to the centre of the screen was about 45 degrees off the level ground.  But for 20 cents a seat in the 1950s, it was still a tolerable enjoying time for a boy who was fortunately too young to get a "pain in the neck".

Either for nostalgic or business reason, I noticed that some re-developments retained the theatre's name when naming the new building.

Sources:

• Cinema Treasures: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/31693; http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/31693/comments
• Hong Kong Theatres Association Limited: http://hktaorg.com/en/cinemahistory.php