Zion Cinema

Located at the intersection of Jaffa Road and Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, the Zion Cinema was the namesake of its location, Zion Square.

Early Operation
The Zion Cinema first opened in 1917. Formerly used as a Greek Orthodox Church, it was a tin shed that showed silent movies. Heavy snowfall in 1920 cause the roof to collapse, and the building was replaced with a 600 seat theater, including a stage for the performance of live plays and operas, in addition to the screening of movies.

Later Days
The theater's first talking picture was shown in 1931. (Possibly Al Jolson, in blackface, in "Big Boy".)

In 1934, the proprieters of the Zion - along with the owners of other cinemas in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv - appealed to Israel's film distributors to impose a ban on the screening of German films. This was in response to Gottlieb Bohrie, a resident of Jerusalem's German Colony (which had instituted the Third Reich's anti-Semitic laws, though he refused to participate), who owned the Orient Cinema in Jeruslam. The other cinema owners claimed him to be an "Agent of Hitler", which Gottlieb refuted through his (Jewish) attorney. The management of the Zion immediately apologized:

"'We hereby inform His Honor that we never thought to insult anyone, and Mr. Bohrle in particular, whom we do not know at all; and it is only from the above letter that we learned that the aforementioned person runs a cinema in Jerusalem. In our opinion, the expression 'an agent of Hitler' is not a term of insult, and if Mr. Bohrle is offended by this expression, then we greatly regret it and ask his pardon.'"

In 1936, a five-story office building was built up above the theater, with the owner, Israel Gut, living in the upper floors.

In October of 1967, three Palestinian youths planted a bomb in the cinema, however the bomb did not detonate The theater closed in 1972, and was demolished in 1979.

Legacy
In its time, the Zion Cinema served as a gathering place for the residents of Jerusalem. Prior to the division of the city, Jews and Arabs alike co-mingled on Saturday night showings:

"'Fezzes and hats sat next to each other calmly and comradeship. It was a sort of motion picture Club Jewish-Arab.' - translated from Hebrew, jerusalem-love.co.il" Many past reminscings identify the cinema as the anchor of Zion Square, and lament that since its closure, business in the square has diminished.