Moviegoers say goodbye to iconic Atlanta theatre closing after nearly 55 years

Sonya Golub says she’ll never forget the first time she saw a movie at the Tara Theatre.

“I was by myself. I always come by myself during the day,” Golub said.

“I’ve been coming here a long time. I like the fact that they carry artistic movies,” Linda James said.

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The theater is named after the fictional plantation from Gone With The Wind. After nearly 55 years and thousands of independent films along Cheshire Bridge Road in northeast Atlanta, the cinema is gone too.

“It’s a shame that it’s a victim of the pandemic and I guess that old, nasty thing called streaming,” moviegoer Joe Dew said. Joe has been coming here for 30 years. He and Barbara Brown live very close by.

“Our neighborhood has changed so much. I’m very sad to see this one go,” Barbara Brow said.

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Sad to see the popcorn go too. Some folks would drop in just for that. Golub says she prefers candy with an artsy film. When she heard this would be the last picture show, she was not about to miss it.

“It was sad. I woke up this morning and was having coffee and saw the news. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to go one more time,’” she said.

Regal Cinemas has owned the Tara for the last 20 years. The company says the closure is part of what they call their real estate optimization strategy.

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