By Bruce Kennedy
CNN Interactive

Another piece of America's cultural landscape was shuttered in early April when the Plaza Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, open since 1928, closed its doors for good.

The Plaza, with its Spanish tiles, working fountain and detailed murals, was a relic from a time when theaters were palaces of escapism and fantasy.

Moviegoers would enter Egyptian tombs, stroll through Spanish courtyards and cross Chinese bridges over goldfish-filled pools as they left their everyday lives behind on the street outside.

Movie palaces had their heyday during the economic boom of the 1920s. But they gained significance during the Depression years when, more than ever, Americans needed a break from their bitter realities.

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought hard times for movie theaters. There were about 20,000 movie theaters in the United States in 1929 -- but just over 14,000 by 1932.

Films became a luxury for many hard-pressed families. Hollywood, however, went out of its way to soothe Americans -- and stay in business -- by producing a variety of light-hearted musicals and comedies.

"A lot of fluff was coming out at the time," says Richard Sklenar, executive director of the Theatre Historical Society of America in Elmhurst, Illinois. "It was diversion because movies were cheap entertainment."

The movie palaces also tried to keep customer loyalty with promotions such as Dish Night -- where audience members would receive a different piece of a china place setting every week until they had the complete set. There was also Bank Night, when lucky customers would get cash if their ticket stub numbers were picked, or Grocery Night -- when bags of groceries were distributed.

Many of the movie palaces were worlds unto themselves. The architecture, often done at tremendous cost, conjured up images of the Far East, Asia or other locales considered exotic by Americans. Some had clouds projected onto their dark blue ceilings imbedded with twinkling lights to give audiences the impression of being outdoors under a night sky. At least one featured a kennel where customers could place their pets while watching the show.

They also employed armies of smartly uniformed ushers, who used special hand signals among themselves to keep their customers moving.

"Part of the experience was to have a service, and that's where the uniformed staff came in," says Sklenar. "With continuous performances you'd have 1,000 people standing in the lobby, 1,000 people going in, 1,000 people directed to the exits. You had to have traffic patterns and ushers getting people into their seats."

The palaces went through a revival during World War II -- although lobby advertisements were often set aside in favor of war bonds promotions.

But the postwar years ensured the decline of the movie palace. Television and the creation of suburbia kept many Americans at home and away from city centers. By the 1960s, the concept of urban renewal placed many of the palaces directly in the path of the wrecking ball -- to be replaced by office buildings or parking lots.

During the past few decades, the growing revival of America's cities, as well as the desire to preserve a vanishing part of U.S. culture, has brought new life to many of the old movie palaces. Some have been converted into performance centers. But the trend toward cinema multiplexes, with their array of utilitarian theaters showing up to several dozen movies simultaneously, has brought an end to the use of the old palaces as first-run film venues.

For his part, Sklenar mourns the fact that most Americans have never had the experience of sitting and watching a movie in one of the palaces.

"There is a tremendous difference between sharing an event with 1,000 people and sitting in front of your TV," he says. "In the old days you could look at the stars, the clouds, the faces on the wall. Modern audiences are missing that enrichment experience."