The history of Patision between 1930 and 1990 is also history movie her. I was standing in front of the Angela, towards the last stop of Patision, at the Klonaridou stop. I did not plan this, it was there that my steps led me when I walked from Agios Loukas to Sarantapora. “Angela” suddenly appeared as a ghost. There was an image of a huge factory that stood there, on the site of the park. It straightened out like a rickety ocean liner. As if he had sails and banners of imagination. Deep next to it, in the foliage, stood the romantic villa of Klonaridis, bathed in burgundy and green. I went to meet her – since I was there – and saw that she was excited about her recovery.

At this point of the Patisia, you can inhale the Patisia deeply into your lungs. Nearby was “Pigal”, the largest cinema Athens. “Angela” and “Pigal” were neighbors. There was nothing left of the Pigalle, but of the Angela her flesh remained like armor. The body of this building, built separately for the cinema, stood with a striped Art Deco coat of arms and a red calligraphic inscription. Behind a monstrously towering apartment building built with foundation upon foundation. Life cycles… Suddenly I was reminded of that day a few years ago when there were shows from 4 to 6 pm. There, on the seats of the Angela, it seems, the fabrics were burgundy …

“Angela” was launched on January 4, 1958, on Saturday. The first film was Blood in the Green Swamp starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming. This is how the 1957 Hollywood film Shootout at the OK Corral was translated. The same work was shown in Astron, Rivoli and Zvezda. That same day, Astor and Radio City were playing Oliver Twist (1948) and Ellie could see Thea from Chicago. That same Saturday, January 4, 1958, the selection of “Duel in the Sun” with Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones played in “Chicken”, “Illysia” and “Maxim” was also to take place, not to mention none for the “Third Man”. with Orson Welles in the elegant Orpheus on Stadiou Street.

But “Angela” was “the big event of the day,” as she advertised herself. The advertisement emphasized that “the most elite light of Athens will gather for a big secular premiere tonight.” The gentlemen will be in jackets and ties, while the ladies will be formally dressed. Heating came from the floor, the seats had a calculated slope. Angela prepared the public well for the opening, saying that “1958 begins by offering the Athenians the most precious gift: the cinema of the ‘atomic age'”. This was the direction of the post-war, bourgeois society.

“Angela” lasted until the early 90s. It may not have been what its creators dreamed of, but it was a good and sweet film. And the building was very elegant. It seems to be today. That is, you can imagine what Angela would have been like in her golden age. It was the design of the architect Konstantinos Kottakis, who also designed some nice apartment buildings in the 1950s. Many cinemas at that time were either independent buildings (Atthis, Attika, Aello, Select, etc.) or housed in newly built apartment buildings.

“Angela” has an Art Deco vibe. It is reminiscent of buildings in Miami South Beach, the birthplace of Art Deco in Florida. The “Angela” shape refers to the Albion or Leslie Hotel, a 1940s American version of 1958 Patision Street Art Deco.