Manly Needs A Cinema

It's 5 years since the popular Manly Cinema closed, and it has been empty since.

 

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The original cinema on the site, The Embassay, was built in 1933.                Manly Twin Cinema closed in 1913.

​Manly needs a cinema, according to Northern Beaches Councillor Candy Bingham. She is taking action to see what can be done to reinstate the Manly Cinema, which closed in 2013 and has sat vacant ever since.
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Cr Bingham is asking Council to clarify if it was a condition of consent that a cinema is part of the new high-rise development built in 1988, and whether there is any action Council can take to reinstate a cinema in Manly.
 
According to Councillor Bingham, the owner of the premises lives overseas. Although there are business people wanting to operate the cinema various attempts to contact the owner have not been successful.
 
“Manly is more than beaches and restaurants.  We need to provide other forms of entertainment and things for people to do, particularly for our youth.
 
“Locals are always asking me when is the Cinema reopening – it’s time we did something about making that happen” Councillor Bingham added.
 
For more than 82 years there was a cinema screening movies at 45 East Esplanade.  The first was the Embassy built in 1933. This was later closed for renovations and reopened in 1960 as the Odeon following the closure of the original Odeon Cinema in The Corso.   The ‘new’ Odeon was demolished to make way for commercial premises and apartments.  Manly Twin Cinema became part of that new development and opened in 1988.

What are your memories of the Cinemas in Manly?  Do you remember the Odeon?