Almost in the center of Paris, the seventh arrondissement hosts the Eiffel Tower; for the tourists, it symbolizes Paris. It is one of the quietest, and also one of the wealthiest. Many state offices and embassies can be found there.
After the nineteenth arrondissement, the seventh became the second arrondissement with no movie theaters when the Pagode closed down. Fortunately, this cinema has re-opened.
None of these theaters would outlive the eighties. The Saint Dominique closed down in 1980, to be replaced by a clothes store. The Studio Bertrand (left), opened until 1985, is empty, its sign still visible; could it re-open some day?
Theater 2 (below) is more ordinary, but rather pleasant. Its 177 seats go down a shallow rake toward its 17ft screen. The sound is mono.
The Studio Bertrand and the Saint Dominique
These two theaters played art movies, each of them could accomodate about two hundred viewers. The Saint Dominique was listed twice in the schedule magazines, since it became the "Petits Poucets Dominique" when it played children movies.
The Bosquet
Known as the "Gaumont Bosquet" for a while, this single-screen theater played popular French movies. It closed down at the end of 1978, and was replaced by a television studio.
The Pagode
Maybe the most original movie theater in Paris, the Pagode was born in 1895, when the owner of the "Bon Marché" department store had it built for his beloved. It is a superb reproduction of a Japanese pagoda. It became a movie theater in 1931, and started playing art movies. In 1973, a second auditorium was built in the basement, right below the first one.
The garden is very exotic (left picture)...
...
... and so is theater 1 (left, before remodelling started), one of the most beautiful in Paris, with its walls and ceiling beautifully decorated. Before remodelling, it had 210 seats and a 17ft flat screen (1.85), located a little too high, and Dolby SR.
In December 1997, theater 1 was in bad condition, and some parts of the ceiling threatened to fall off; the police had the place close immediately. It took a long time to the owner and Gaumont to find an agreement on the re-opening of the theater; the fact that the building was listed as a historic monument couldn't even reassure moviegoers. At long last, some safety works were done, walls were hidden behind a scaffolding and a false ceiling was put over the viewers' heads, as seat rows were removed (reducing the number of seats to 173, theater 2 becoming the largest auditorium).
Left, the projection booth for theater 1