After 27 years of presenting a wide variety of
well-made, intelligent films -- from re-released classics to
underground, independents to international -- the Camera Cinemas have
become an important institution in the local film community. Over the
years, the Cameras have made vital contributions to the cultural life
of San Jose and have come to represent the best of what Downtown has
to offer. More importantly, they've become a symbol of the very loyal
and committed support of their audiences, people like you. After all,
27 years wouldn't be possible without you, thank you very much!
In fact, the people who started the Cameras are very
much like the film buffs who support the Cameras today, except that in
the early 1970s there was no place in the South Bay to see quality
independent or international films. James Zuur, Jack NyBlom, and
Dennis Skaggs, aspiring filmmakers and major film fans, used to make
the long drive to Berkeley several times a week to see movies like
Children of Paradise, 400 Blows and Casablanca. But after a
few years the drive became a bore, and in 1975 Jim, Jack, and Dennis,
along with two other partners, opened Camera One in downtown San Jose.
Since then, they have gone on to open four more theatres--Camera 3,
also downtown; the Towne 3, on the Alameda near the Rose Garden; the
Los Gatos Cinema, in lovely downtown Los Gatos; and Camera 7, our
newly-opened state-of-the-art multiplex in Campbell's Pruneyard
Shopping Center. They have also developed, designed and built the Osio
Plaza six plex in downtown Monterey, which they sold to Resort
Theaters of America in 1999
