La Scala and beyond... Sauchiehall Street

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La Scala and beyond... Sauchiehall Street

Postby ColonelCrow » Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:36 pm

Hello. Remember me...probably not, anyway I'm just a keen young man interested in finding out more obscure things about Glasgow and thought I'd chime in again. :D

I am really interested in finding out as much as I can about 153 to 157 Sauchiehall street, what is now a bookshop.

I've seen this site (and another)...
http://www.glasgowcinemas.co.uk/lascalacinemagla.html

Does anyone know where the three screens would have been located? I can't find many interior pictures of the La Scala. Would I be right in thinking the big screen would have been in what is now the basement level of the store?

How far did the La Scala go along the road...in The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow, it says 147 to 163...is this a mistake (as 157 is the end of Wellington Street).

Apparently Laurel and Hardy made an appearance there in the 1930s...any other big names you can think of being there?

What about the supposed ballroom and tearooms? There are pictures of a small confectioners in what is now the window to the right of the main doors to the shop.

What else was the building used for after the La Scala closed down? Some club called Ultrateque, and a cheap clothes store? Im not local so have only known it as a bookshop.

Cheers anyway...any info would be great, I'm mainly interested in the layout though.

TTFN,

Crow
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Postby Maryhill Lad » Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:04 pm

Now the memory could be playin up here, but the La Scala was one of my favourites when I was a kid. I remember the big auditorium...you entered it at 1st floor level and from the side. Looking at the front of the building on Sauchiehall St the auditorium sloped from right to left with the screen being down the hill towards Hope Street. Vaguely recall that when it converted to 3 screens, one was upstairs ( towards what would have been the rear of the original auditorium ), and the other at either ground or basement level.

The Mitchell holds a set of plans called Goads Plans. These were made for surveyors and insurance companies in the past and have very detailed plans of the city centre including the La Scala. Worth having a look at them.
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Postby gap74 » Wed Jan 19, 2005 2:07 am

Info compiled from Bruce Peter's "100 Years of Glasgow's Amazing Cinemas" and T. Louden's "The Cinemas of Cinema City" - both out of print, sadly, cos mine are falling to bits!

Opened 17/10/12 by Glasgow Photo Playhouse, architects Neill C. Duff and James McKissack - the latter probably has more surviving cinemas in Glasgow than any other architect, notably the Cosmo/GFT, the Kingsway in Cathcart, the Mecca in Possil and the Vogue/Odeon in Rutherglen.

Originally seating 1,000, the spacious entrance hall had a carved wooden paybox. Unusually, one could dine whilst still being able to watch the films, and there were tearooms for this purpose in both the balcony and stalls. The auditorium was also unusual in that the balcony had column-supported slips running down the sidewalls right up to the side of the screen, which presumably gave poor views to the unlucky punters in the side seats of the stalls below!

A Christie organ was installed in 1928, followed by a redesign in 1936, to the designs of one Alister G. MacDonald, son of Labour PM Ramsey! The end result was more characteristic of a 1930s cinema with streamlined and jazz motifs. Seating was increased to 1,300.

By the mid 50s, only the restaurant in the main foyer was still serving food, and in 1976, by now under the ownership of Caledonian Associated Cinemas, the auditorium was twinned, with the stalls becoming Screen 1, and the Circle Screen 2. Two years later, the foyer restaurant became Screen 3, with the auditoriums now seating 650, 250 and 110 respectively. The tripling was said to be "cheap".

Closure came on May 28th 1984, with Police Academy, Night Moves and Risky Business being the last three films shown. At the time of publication of Bruce Peter's book (1996), present use was described as a Mark One shop.

Sorry it's not too helpful on layout, I don't have any plans for the place, but I've always presumed that the auditorium ran parallel to Sauchiehall St, with the current entrance and escalator being where the main foyer was. The literature also seems confused about where the cafes were - from what I can gather, the foyer restuarant was actually upstairs, perhaps where the stained glass window overlooking the street is now.

I've a few photos of the place over the years, but mostly exteriors, the few interiors I have are mostly the 1936 auditorium.

Here's a pic of it dated late 50s that comes via SCRAN and Scottish Screen - best 20 quid I ever spent, hours of time-killing browsing to be had! By this time, the arched window and sculpted columns of the main entrance had been hidden behind a rather garish piece of 50s modernising!

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Postby mooshimooshisan » Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:13 pm

What is this today? I am having trouble placing it - is the old cinema that they are converting to a bar now? next to burger king and those "fun" pubs? Not placing a book shop on Sausage Roll street at all...
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Postby JayKay » Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:19 pm

it's now Waterstones Bookshop, more or less across from M&S in Sauchihall Street.

I remember it from the early 80s when it had the huge shiny "Scala" logo above the door. Dont think I ever went to see anything there though, but I'm pretty sure it was a three cinema "multiplex" at the time.

Byt he way, the entrance to Ultratheque was at the side of the building, facing the Sauchihall Street Centre. The door is still there (AFAIK) but it's now a fire exit from the basement of the bookshop.
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