The grand opening was on December 20, 1962 for invited guests and the following day for the general public. The new Wometco Palm Springs Theater was gorgeous indeed and I saw many movies there the first three years of its operation. It cost $250,000 to construct and contained 1,200 seats in the orchestra and smoking loge sections. Although it was built five and a half years after we moved to the Palm Springs section, we welcomed not having to travel to the Essex, Circle, Shores or downtown theaters to see first-run movies.

Ironically, on the reverse of this 45-year old clipping, there is an article about the Hialeah Theater on Palm Avenue reopening that same week after a complete remodeling and a new policy of double features at moderate prices. The article says that the theater opened with "Shane" and "Lil Abner" and that "Elephant Walk" and "Kid Galahad" would start next. It also says that the Hialeah was the latest addition to the Claughton chain of theaters. Further, it says that Hialeah was now the state's 7th largest city and that influenced Claughton to add the Hialeah Theater to their properties.