Meg Hibbert
Contributing writer
Fifty years of movie memories ended April 9 when the screens of Salem Valley 8 went dark.
The movie theatre closed with only a few hours of warning, and longtime fans had little time to see one more movie.
“The closure is heartbreaking,” said Alexander Sampeang, who was a ticket taker there from 2009 to 2014. “To have such a legendary theatre with so many memories involved, it is very disappointing that it would be closing.”
Sampeang recalled he theatre hosted the first “Star Wars” He said Salem Valley 8 always “had the Hollywood feel. It hosted so many memories.”
Among his duties were being the doorman who took tickets, an usher and maintaining the cleanliness of the theatres. “I also made sure there were no flying objects from unruly customers.”
In 2010 when a Marvel movie premiered there, his mother, Lynda, sewed a Marvel industries logo on his work vest.
Before coming to the Salem theatre, Sampeang said his boss, manager Dean Mills, brought him over from the Tanglewood theatre. “We had a bunch of younger employees. We turned the whole theatre into a fun-loving experience.”
He recalled during a snowstorm in 2009, employees stayed at the theatre overnight.
Some of his favorite memories were theme nights for movie openings. “We did that when we showed ‘Fame’, and ‘How to Train your Dragon’. In 2011 we dressed with a pirate theme for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. We gave our customers a whole larger experience.”
Sampeang continues with his love of movies. Working for Salem Valley 8 “gave me a chance to see a whole bunch of art. I felt like a kid in a candy store.”
The 40-year-old continues to use his people skills, greeting customers as he helps his mother in her bridal alterations shop, Alterations by Lynda, in Southeast Roanoke.
His love of movies dates back to infancy. He said his dad taped movies and showed them. “The first movies I watched were ‘Star Trek 3’ and ‘The Goonies’.”
The theatre was a favorite place for teenagers, families, first dates, children’s birthday parties and afternoon movie matinees.
On Facebook, fans shared their memories. Amy Spickard wrote: “My husband and I had our first date there. We were married seven months later, and he just passed. I have lots of memories at the theatre as a teenager and young adult.”
Salem Valley 4 opened in 1976 adjacent to Lee High Drive In, which was torn down in the early 1980s.
On Facebook, Mark Hoskins, who worked at Salem Valley 4 from 1984-1987, recalled his father, Ralph Hoskins, was the first manager of Salem Valley 4 until he retired in 1991.
“I’m so blessed to have had such a wonderful time there growing up,” he wrote.
Fan Stephen Stutsman wrote that even though the theatre was older and seats didn’t recline like more modern theatres, “I always found the staff friendly, accommodating and professional in how they treated and respected their customers.”
As to why Salem Valley 8 was closed, in a media release spokesman Cassie Kennard, manager of media relations for AMC Theatres, said “Decisions were based on what will strengthen the company going forward.”
She thanked Salem Valley 8 customers for their patronage in the past and encouraged them to continue going to AMC Classic Roanoke 10.
Before Salem Valley 4 was built, people could watch movies from the comfort of their cars at Lee Hi Drive In. The only other sit-down theatre in town was the Salem Theatre on Main Street, opened in 1930 in downtown Salem. In its later days it showed adult movies.
It was renamed Towne Theatre in 1975. According to a Jan. 7, 1975, article by Charles Stebbins in The World-News, sister paper of The Roanoke Times, the newly re-opened theatre specialized in family movies. It still showed R-rated movies, but with a children’s feature at a different time.
W. R. McCoy, who had managed the theatre for years, said lines of people were waiting to get in for family movies. A photograph in that same newspaper issue showed dozens waiting to get in.
