A 'Perfect Circle' in the Park

When it opened in 1962, the Cooper Theater auditorium was described by the Star Tribune as “a perfect circle without a quivering piece of hardware.”

That was the beginning of a nearly 30-year run for the St. Louis Park theater, which was one of the first in the country to be specially outfitted for Cinerama, a style that used three film projectors synchronized to make a panoramic image.

Opening night featured a showing of "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," and then-U.S. Sen. Hubert Humphrey and his wife, Muriel, were among the people on the guest list, according to the St. Louis Park Historical Society.

The Cooper, located at 5755 Wayzata Blvd., cost $1 million to build and could seat 800. Eventually, a second, smaller theater—called the Cameo—was added onto the building, but the main room was not divided.

Movie-goers enjoyed the immersive Cinerama experience, but over the years, new movie technologies debuted, and the Cooper slowly became outdated. As the building fell into disrepair, efforts were made to designate the Cooper as a state historic landmark and save it, but because the theater was not yet 50 years old, this failed.

The last film shown in the main room was “Dances With Wolves” on Jan. 31, 1992. In September of that year, the Cooper Theater was torn down. The site is now home to .

While the Cooper Theater is no longer around, its name does live on in the area. , which opened in 2009, took its name in part from the cinema that would be right down the street if it were still open today.

If you have St. Louis Park history you'd like to share—including text, photographs and possibly video—please email local editor Michael Rose at michael.rose@patch.com.