North American Cinemas is a movie theater chain in California.
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Company history
The Tocchini family’s long involvement in the Western states’ film entertainment stretches back to 1926. At that time, Dan Tocchini, Sr. constructed one of the first movie theatres in Santa Rosa, known as the Strand Theatre. The Strand Theatre showed the first “talkies” in Santa Rosa. Dan Tocchini Sr. developed and operated an impressive circuit of theatres throughout Northern California, including the Rose Theatre, the Empire Theatre, and the Roxy Theatre in Santa Rosa; the El Rey Theatre and the Analy Theatre in Sebastopol; and the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma. In 1957, the senior Tocchini shifted control of the company to his son, Daniel F. Tocchini, who added the Cal Theatre and the Parkway Auto Movies in Petaluma.
In 1972, Daniel F. Tocchini first established the theatre company that later became North American Cinemas, Inc. (NACI). North American Cinemas, initiated an aggressive plan to build a circuit of premier multiplex theatre facilities including the Rockridge Cinemas in Oakland and the Lakeside Cinemas in Santa Rosa.