A recent study conducted by AAA State of Play showed the start times for elementary, middle, and high school for schools across the United States. Who ever made the rule that school starts earlier than the average 9am work day? Many students, as well as teachers and working parents, will say that school comes with not so ideal start times. According to State of Play, the average school start time has always been early and has always been prior to the average start time for work. The United States average school start time is 8:03am.
Delaware ranks 2nd earliest start time for middle school, out of the entire United States. The start time for Delaware middle school is 7:40am, which is 3 minutes past the first earliest star time in America at 7:37am. This average start time for Delaware middle schools is even earlier than high school.
Furthermore, the National Sleep Foundation found that “59% of middle schoolers get less than the recommended amount of sleep daily on school nights.” One of the biggest reasons for having school start at the time it does is because of working parents’ scheduling conflicts.
Should Delaware change their start times? Might be hard to do so…
Inside the Abandoned Cine'Mart Theater in Wilmington Delaware
In the late 60s and early 70s, movie theaters, drive-ins, and strip mall cinemas were popping up all over the nation. They were the new craze. Branmar Cinema had just opened their doors, along with Tri State Mall’s old theater and then came the Cine’Mart Theater on Governor Printz Boulevard in Wilmington, Delaware. The first date of the box office opening at the Cine’Mart was January 20th, 1969.
According to the credited research that Edwin Graf Diemer contributed to Cinema Treasures for this story, “The shopping center [across the street from Cine’Mart] was built just following World War IIÂ and quickly became the most popular shopping destination in Wilmington.” The theater seated 984 people and there was only 1 screen, similar to Branmar Theater just a couple miles away. A newspaper released at the time of the closure stated, “The CineMart, Northern Delaware’s largest motion picture theater was closed over the weekend. Employees of the 984-seat theater on the Governor Printz Boulevard said they were notified of the closing just hours before it was shut down.”
The theater was steadily losing “$50,000 to $60,000 a year” and fell behind on rent. The owners did ask the owners of the Merechandise Mart to twin the theater, but they declined. At the same time of the CineMart closure, the Edgemoor Theater, which was only a few hundred yards up the road, would close when their lease expired.
Edwin cited that “The auditorium was completely in gold with wide rocking chair seating. The front was deeply curved to allow for the screen, with curtains that went to the rear of the auditorium.” According to local WJBR listener, Gary Rauso who has been to the Cinemart as well as Branmar Cinema, stated “It was the first theater in the area to have surround sound.” This theater, along with many others across America, actually were booking shows ranging from G-rated to explicit pornographic films. The theater was originally built to operate solely on X-rated pornographic films, but the Budco company acquired the theater from Hallmark Theaters of Massachusetts and started showing all varieties of films. The first film ever shown at the Cinemart was in 1968, “The Odd Couple”. The last ever film shown there was “The Exterminator”.
The downfall of the Cine’Mart was actually the Concord Mall on Route 202 in Wilmington. The Mall had been built with a theater of its own and sucked the life out of the Cine’Mart. This also resulted in the abandonment of the entire Merchandise Mart. Today, the Cine’Mart is fully abandoned, but remains standing with boards up on every possible entrance.
For a more-in depth read of the history of the Cine’Mart, I highly recommend reading Edwin’s full contribution on Cinema Treasures.
Branmar Plaza Shopping Center in Wilmington Used to Have a Movie Theater
Branmar Plaza, owned by Capano Management, in Wilmington, Delaware is home to many great establishments. From El Diablo, to Branmar Wine and Spirits, Acme, and now a brand new Kid Shelleen’s. Located on Marsh Road and Silverside, the shopping plaza frequents many shoppers all hours through the day. The exterior of the storefronts are currently being renovated to match the aesthetic of the new Kid Shelleen’s, Branmar Wine and Spirits, and the Walgreens on the opposite corner.
In the early 2000’s two video rental stores were in business, but ended their lease when Netflix and streaming services came about. But what came before those video rental stores was something only some Wilmington residents remember. The Branmar Cinema.
The Branmar Cinema was located at 1812 Marsh Road, right in Branmar Plaza. It was in the back corner, right around where the current Karate storefront is. It was a strip mall movie theater, which were very popular in the late 60s and early 70s across America. The Branmar Cinema opened on August 12, 1970 and hosted only one screen. According to Jordan Lage of Cinema Treasures, “From the entrance, it had a modest-sized lobby with concession stand attached to the main auditorium, resulting in an L-shaped layout. During its life it was operated by Budco and AMC Theatres.” 10 years after opening, the theater was twinned on March 14, 1980, yet closed some time in the 90s. Apparently, for some time, the theater posters that once were plastered to the windows could still be faintly seen in the correct light. The windows have probably been replaced.
10 Best Places For Bagels In Wilmington
10 Best Places For Bagels In Wilmington
What’s better than a fresh bagel with a cup of coffee to get your morning started?  Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  Sandwich bagels, pizza bagels, lox and cream cheese, just butter, there are endless options when it comes to topping them off. And don’t even get me started on all the different types of bagels and all the flavors of cream cheese. So many to choose from.
National Calendar Day says that Sunday, January 15th is National Bagel Day. To give you a little history, they go on to say that Polish-Jewish immigrants introduced the bagel to the United States. Throughout New York City and the surrounding boroughs, they grew thriving businesses. This is still true today. Some say no bagels are better than a New York Bagel. I think it has something to do with the water there.
So, naturally with National Bagel Day only a few days away, we wanted to know where to best places to grab a bagel are in Wilmington. To do this, we took to the drew over at YELP, who determined this based on user reviews.
Here are the 10 best places for bagels in Wilmington for National Bagel Day
Hollywood Kyle is the Digital Content Producer and Production Director of Mix 99.5 WJBR. Being a Delaware local, Kyle takes pride in his hometown and has had a love for music since a young age. Hollywood Kyle joins the Mix Morning Show for abstract thoughts and ideas during "Hollywood Kyle" segment around 9:40am Monday thru Friday.
