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Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom. Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry our successes and zest for living to future generations.

New Cinema 12 on Way to Slidell

  1. By Paul Bartels
  2. November 15, 1998
  3. Source: The Times-Picayune

Covington theater to add 2 screens

By this time next year, St. Tammany Parish residents may not have to drive across the lake for a movie with the state of the art sound and picture found in a handful of the better theaters in East Jefferson.

Add Slidell-based O’Neil Theaters to the growing list of companies planning to build movie megaplexes or add screens to multiplexes in the New Orleans area.

In fact, company president Tim O’Neil plans to have two of them, one on each end of the parish.

In east St. Tammany, O’Neil has chosen a high-visibility Oak Harbor East site along the Interstate 10 service road north of the Oak Harbor-Eden Isles interchange for a new 12-screen complex south of Slidell, said Larry Haik, a real estate businessman working with O’Neil on the project.

O’Neil is shooting for a fall 1999 opening date to take advantage of the big holiday-movie season. The Cinema 12 will resemble the 20-screen Palace – the New Orleans area’s first megaplex – in the Elmwood area near Harahan.

In west St. Tammany, O’Neil Theaters director of operations Steve Moss said, the company will add two screens to its Holiday 10 theater in Holiday Square shopping center off U.S. 190 south of Covington in an area packed with retail stores, restaurants and other businesses.

Both projects will feature stadium-like luxury seating, high-back chairs with cup-holders and digital surround sound to go with the big-screen picture, he said.

The Covington area additions are schedules to open in the spring, after which six more of the original 10 screening rooms will be converted in the same manner, Moss said.

The new Slidell area cinema is still in the design stage but will have the capacity to expand to 18 screens, Haik and Moss said.

“We’ve wanted to do this for Slidell for many years, but it just wasn’t big enough,” Moss said. “This (project) still may be a little premature, but I think we’re going to do well.” The 9-acre tract purchased from Covington area businessman Jack Blossman has room for other developments in the future.

Once completed, it will be near several major new developments in the works for the vacant land, a ritzy waterfront residential area to be known as Lakeshore Estates, a new Holiday Inn, a multipurpose events center, an office-industrial park and other commercial facilities.

Like The Palace, Haik said, the new megaplex also is expected to draw crowds from a much larger area than more traditional multiplexes such as O’Neil’s eight-screen The Movies! in Slidell’s Northside Plaza shopping center.

It will not be without competition. Eastern New Orleans, a short drive for Slidell area residents, already has two multiplex theaters. And two megaplexes are planned for the same general area. Not all are likely to survive.

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