Hamerkaz Cinema, 1956-2004
Located close to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, on Neveh Shaanan Street at the corner of Hashomron Street.
The Hamerkaz Cinema was opened on September 11, 1956 with Gerard Philipe in Les Grandes Manoeuvres.
The Mondrian style building was designed by architects Avraham Yaski and Shimon Povsner.
The theater was equipped with CinemaScope and air condition.
It was soon screening the latest American and European box office hits, and action movies.
By the 1970s, it had become an adult theatre that screened porn movies, such as “Deep Throat, which played for months at a time.
It remained an adult cinema until it was closed in 2004.
In April 2006, the interior was destroyed and the facade badly damaged in suicide bomb attack. The ground floor (foyer) had been in retail use.
In February 2012, plans were proposed to convert the building into 20 residential units.