The aim of the Going to the Pictures Project has been to help preserve a part of our local cinema heritage by collecting and recording memories from people who used and worked in the local picture houses from the 1930′s to the 1960′s.
Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.
Program for the Odeon Bootle 1963, as well as showing what films were on some interesting adverts can be found within the pages of the cinema memorabilia which tell a part of our social history.
The cinema during the war years played an important role in keeping up morale and finding out news and information. It also was a place to escape for a few hours and get lost in the land of film.
A fantastic book about the Picture Houses of Liverpool has been a great source of information for the project and has in some cases worked as an aid memoir in collecting and helping jog memories. […]
The beautiful building was demolished and now shops stand in its place
“The Plaza opening was on 2nd September 1939 and closed by the 3rd September 1939, owing to the war. I had a ticket for the opening, I can’t remember what the film was. My favourite […]
The Liverpool Echo would list over a 100 cinemas each night. I would travel all over Merseyside to watch certain films.
In 1933/34 I went to “The Pictures” for the first time, but I was not impressed. The black and white film was very old and scratched; it looked like driving rain to me. A few years later I went again and paid a penny to get in with a penny for ice cream in the interval.