Dispatch #382: Tucson's Century Park 16

 

Tucson's Century Park 16 multiplex

  In May of 1999, The Phantom Menace—the first new Star Wars film in 16 years—debuted on movie screens. I had moved to sunny Tucson, Arizona the year before but outside of work, I still didn't know many people in the city at that time. 

  I suppose that's one of the reasons I remember attending the opening day screening so fondly. Eager to see the earliest showing that day, I headed out to the Century Park 16 multiplex at 1055 West Grant Road, just east of 1-10.

  As one might expect, a sizeable contingent of Star Wars fans lined up outside the box office that morning. Fortunately—given Tucson's omnipresent sunshine and May temps averaging in the high 80s—the space outside the box office was covered by a shady arcade (with its multiple domes, the theater wouldn't have looked out of place in Theed, the Naboo capital city seen in the film)

  As I stood (and eventually sat) in the cool shade of that arcade with my fellow moviegoers, I struck up a conversation with some of them—and although complete strangers—we quickly bonded over our love for George Lucas' space sagas. 

  Once the doors opened, my new friends and I filed into the auditorium and sat together, remaining in our seats to hear Darth Vader's spooky breathing during the end credits. Episode One eventually had its share of online detractors, but I—and the people sitting with me that day—loved it.

Demolition of the theater complex in February 2023

  That May 1999 screening is a pleasant memory, so it was a little sad when the Century Park 16 closed for good in 2011. After sitting idle for over a decade, the theater complex was finally demolished in February 2023.

  The cineplex had opened October 6th, 1989, on the former site of the Tucson Five Drive-In. The land itself, of course, was historically associated with the region's Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which—through an act of Congress—they eventually reclaimed.

One of the cineplex's iconic domes is still visible on the right.

  The tribe has plans for a large casino on the site, with groundbreaking scheduled for late 2024. 

  Tucson has plenty of movie theaters, and during my 15 years there, I don't think I ever saw another film at the Century Park 16 other than that one time in 1999. Even so, it's a very happy memory of my early time in the Old Pueblo—and the camaraderie of Star Wars fandom, too.

 There's more to come in the next dispatch.

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