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THE CINEMA AND THE CITY: AN ANALYSIS OF MOTION PICTURE THEATER LOCATION IN SELECTED UNITED STATES URBAN AREAS
Abstract
Decentralization--that situation where expansion of a city's periphery is more rapid than growth of the center city's population--is credited with the relocation of business activities located across the urban landscape over the twentieth century. It is the contention of this study that the same phenomenon has also had a strong influence on cinema location. This analysis examines the evolution of motion picture theater location in selected United States urban areas with regard to four variables recognized as indicative of population decentralization--city size, city age, regional location, and retail activity--during four time periods--1910, 1930, 1960 and 1980. Cities examined were Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boston, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; Phoenix, Arizona; Providence, Rhode Island; San Diego, California; and Akron, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. Pearson's Correlation Coefficients were computed to assess relationships between the independent variables size, age, region and retailing, and the dependent variable, cinema location. A large number of statistically significant (P = .05) correlations were found for three--size, age and retailing. Only region seems to have been infrequently related with theaters in the test cities. What the study shows is that motion picture theaters, generally, have not escaped the tendency toward decentralization. Further, suburbanization of film theaters appears most pronounced in larger and older frostbelt cities, except in 1980, when many younger (often sunbelt) communities displayed patterns characteristic of older ones. By 1980, movie theaters commonly were found between 3 and 15 miles from the principal city center. The exact distribution varied considerably by urban area, however. Finally, retail activity of CBD, city and SMSA seem to have had a marked relationship with city and downtown cinema locations, mostly in 1960 and to a degree in 1980. Of all nine cities studied, only Boston showed renewed promise for downtown theater location in 1980, possibly the result of historical and regional differences Boston enjoys over the others. This suggests that as cities grow larger and older, their downtowns may again be revived as centers for social and cultural activity. This may also mean the revitalization of the downtown as an attractive location for film exhibition.
Subject Area
Motion Pictures
Recommended Citation
VINCENT, RICHARD CHARLES, "THE CINEMA AND THE CITY: AN ANALYSIS OF MOTION PICTURE THEATER LOCATION IN SELECTED UNITED STATES URBAN AREAS" (1983). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8401110.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8401110