New Year's brings a season of turning over new leaves and starting
fresh. But this year, few can claim to be starting fresher than Vishu
Mandava, owner of the Hollywood Cinemas 7 movie theater in LaPlace.
This past week, crews have completed the installation of hundreds of
new high-back, rocker-style seats in the theater's seven auditoriums.
And with that, Mandava -- who bought the then-neglected facility a year
and a half ago -- will put the finishing touches on months' worth of
renovations.
"Everything is new," Mandava said during a recent tour of the theater
in which he showed off the upgrades. "We've replaced almost everything"
over the past 16 months.
That starts with a renovated lobby, which Mandava connected to the
Baskin-Robbins ice-cream parlor next door -- which he also owns -- to
allow patrons to bring ice cream into the theater. It also includes the
two new digital projectors recently installed so the theater could offer
3-D films, as well as a number of smaller touches, such as fresh paint
and the like.
With the installation of the new seats -- which include leather headrests and cup holders -- the overhaul is complete.
"People used to have to go to (the AMC) Clearview (Palace) or to
Baton Rouge to see 3-D movies," said Mandava. "Now they can come here."
Mandava, who also runs the Hollywood Cinemas 9
theater in Kenner, said renovation plans there have been shelved until
he learns whether the locally owned Southern Theatres chain intends to
go through with its plans to build a competing multiplex in the
Jefferson Parish city.
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