CENTRAL CINEMA RENOVATION MOVES A STEP CLOSER
Long-awaited renovations to Jávea's 'Central Cinema' took a step further towards reality when the council approved a motion to request a grant of 393,000 euros from the Diputación de Alicante for a project which has an estimated total cost of almost one million euros. Once a storehouse for almonds, the 'Central Cinema', which is located right next to the 'Soler Blasco Municipal Museum' in the heart of the historic centre, last opened its doors to the public in 1998 after 43 years of serving as an important hub of social in the town. Now a public building owned by the council, efforts have been made to re-open it for some time and the project received a boost in December 2012 when it topped a public poll for preferred investment in the 2013 Participatory Budget forum.
Councillor Pere Sapena (Town Planning) confirmed that the project will retain the key elements of the building, such as the tosca stone façade, and will have a capacity for 350 people with removable seating to provide new multi-purpose space for all uses. The work is estimated to be costing 930,528 euros which 537,000 euros provided by the town over two years and the rest from a grant from the provincial government.
The 'Central Cinema' was opened by the Ortuño family in April 1955. Formerly owning a baker shop in the town, they spotted a business opportunity to bring big screen cinema to Jávea and, after major alterations to the former warehouse, an eager audience of 740 packed into the new picture house for the opening night, a screening of Cecile B Demille's Oscar-winning film 'The Greatest Show on Earth' starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston and James Stewart. The film played to packed houses for the next week, the public paying the princely sum of 3 pesetas for admission, and proved to be so popular that the box office would open on Sundays after mass so that churchgoers could buy tickets for that evening's performance. Under 16s were not allowed to enjoy the cinema at the time and the police would regularly inspect the seats to ensure that youngsters had not managed to sneak in. And thanks to its stage and excellent acoustics, the cinema also doubled as a theatre and a venue of musical shows and festivals, drawing people from all over the region. Films stopped being shown in 1990 but the building stayed open until 1998 when it was acquired by the local council and subsequently closed.
In order to raise public awareness of the Central Cinema, the spring of 2012 saw the 'El Generador Cultural Association' organise a special exhibition in the nearby Soler Blasco Municipal Museum called 'Central Cinema - Past and Present' in which they displayed photos and memorabilia from the building's glory days as well as exclusive images of the interior of the iconic building in its current state. It is hoped that the long-awaited renovation project will allow the 'Central Cinema' to be returned to those glory days and become once again an important social hub for all the communities of Jávea.
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