Info from Images of America: New Britain, Volume I. Picture on page 96, close up of the Sullivan (Big) Band. Page 122, a fan with Beatles pins in front of the Palace’s 3-sided marquee.
Images of America: New Britain, Volume II. Page 39, top, removing the chandelier for the Palace in 1981. The refurbishing was halted in 1980 because of fire damage and water damage.
There’s a picture on page 92 of Images of America: New Britain, Volume I of the staircase to the balcony. The lobby is amazing. “Was as grand as that of any New York Theatre” and was considered one of the largest theatres in New England. In 1972, it was demolished.
There’s another picture on page 124 with an overview of Main Street with the Strand on the right with a 3-sided marquee and the stage house is visible.
There’s a nice picture of this theatre in the first photo section of “No Applause – Just Throw Money, The Book that made Vaudeville Famous” by Trav SD.
I just saw this theatre. My grandparents drove me down to Miami Beach for the first time and at his crawl, I was able to look back and forth for theatres. On the way back north I caught this one and memorized the streets. Just mapquested it and then cross-referenced and found it here. Not many theatres or old ones on this strip of A1A/Collins Avenue.
I found it open when I passed by the other day but I only had a chance to glance upstairs at a band rehearsing for the coming service and there were office ceiling tiles above and it just felt like a room. I’m guessing there’s a huge congregation room underneath and I have to go back from a Sunday-Tuesday at 7pm.
There’s a picture on page 74 in Images of America: Bridgeport, but the facade now has changed from when it first opened. The one in the book has tall half circle arches on street level.
This theater opened in 1910 but didn’t last too long as in 1926-1928 it became a Moose Lodge. A picture of the theater is on page 72 in Images of America: Bridgeport.
Passed by it the other day and it’s still under construction, but a nice sign is in the window talking about what will be offered there. I lost my notes but if I recall it was midnight matinees, stuff catering to all film buffs, soccer moms, etc. Documentaries, cult classics, etc.
There’s a picture of this on page 71 of Images of America: Bridgeport.
It seems it had a few more names. It was originally Poli then the State, then the Garden and then Plaza. A dance hall was in the same building on the fourth floor and since the building was slightly on a hill, the feature was the sloping marquee. A picture is on page 58 of Images of America: Waterbury.
The info I have says it opened on December 15, but what the hey, 4 days. 1,200 seats. At the time, it was the largest stage in the country. Pictures are on page 56 of Images of America: Waterbury.
The News-Times did a story about the sign in 2005. It’s confusing because nobody (including the city) knows who the sign belongs to. There’s a crack/loophole that it fell into and now it’s just going to be up for a while.
There are 2 pictures of this theatre (interior and exterior) in Images of America: Waterbury on pages 52-3. They mentioned 1,000 seats including a balcony and private boxes.
It was originally called Hanna’s Opera House and opened in May 1981 with Faust which was the only time the opera was there.
Info from Images of America: New Britain, Volume I. Picture on page 96, close up of the Sullivan (Big) Band. Page 122, a fan with Beatles pins in front of the Palace’s 3-sided marquee.
Images of America: New Britain, Volume II. Page 39, top, removing the chandelier for the Palace in 1981. The refurbishing was halted in 1980 because of fire damage and water damage.
There’s a picture on page 92 of Images of America: New Britain, Volume I of the staircase to the balcony. The lobby is amazing. “Was as grand as that of any New York Theatre” and was considered one of the largest theatres in New England. In 1972, it was demolished.
There’s another picture on page 124 with an overview of Main Street with the Strand on the right with a 3-sided marquee and the stage house is visible.
The Rialto is featured on page 86 of Images of America: New Britain. There’s actually 3 separate books in the series on this city.
There’s another picture on page 83 of Images of America: New Britain #2 of the fire at the Falcon.
There’s a nice picture of this theatre in the first photo section of “No Applause – Just Throw Money, The Book that made Vaudeville Famous” by Trav SD.
I just saw this theatre. My grandparents drove me down to Miami Beach for the first time and at his crawl, I was able to look back and forth for theatres. On the way back north I caught this one and memorized the streets. Just mapquested it and then cross-referenced and found it here. Not many theatres or old ones on this strip of A1A/Collins Avenue.
This is now known as the Lake Worth SwapShop and Drive-In Theatre, by the same owners as the SwapShop (/theaters/10592/)
The website above doesn’t work, but this does. http://floridaswapshop.com/
I’m in Florida visiting folks and saw the ad for this place in a weekly paper. Wow. Apparently, they have one in Fort Worth.
I found it open when I passed by the other day but I only had a chance to glance upstairs at a band rehearsing for the coming service and there were office ceiling tiles above and it just felt like a room. I’m guessing there’s a huge congregation room underneath and I have to go back from a Sunday-Tuesday at 7pm.
There’s a picture on page 74 in Images of America: Bridgeport, but the facade now has changed from when it first opened. The one in the book has tall half circle arches on street level.
A picture of this theater is on page 74 of Images of America: Bridgeport.
This theater opened in 1910 but didn’t last too long as in 1926-1928 it became a Moose Lodge. A picture of the theater is on page 72 in Images of America: Bridgeport.
Passed by it the other day and it’s still under construction, but a nice sign is in the window talking about what will be offered there. I lost my notes but if I recall it was midnight matinees, stuff catering to all film buffs, soccer moms, etc. Documentaries, cult classics, etc.
There’s a picture of this on page 71 of Images of America: Bridgeport.
It cost $1 million to build.
It seems it had a few more names. It was originally Poli then the State, then the Garden and then Plaza. A dance hall was in the same building on the fourth floor and since the building was slightly on a hill, the feature was the sloping marquee. A picture is on page 58 of Images of America: Waterbury.
The info I have says it opened on December 15, but what the hey, 4 days. 1,200 seats. At the time, it was the largest stage in the country. Pictures are on page 56 of Images of America: Waterbury.
The News-Times did a story about the sign in 2005. It’s confusing because nobody (including the city) knows who the sign belongs to. There’s a crack/loophole that it fell into and now it’s just going to be up for a while.
It became the Mini Cinema in 1969 with the LaFlamme brothers.
The Ville Theater closed in 1979. The company who used it for storage was Coyne Textile Services, Inc. who started using it in 1981.
Opened in 1921. Became the Park Theatre in the 1950s.
Was first the Star Theater, built in 1913.
This was known as “Where The Big Pictures Play On The Square”. When it closed it was owned by Roger Mahan.
Opened in 1925.
There are 2 pictures of this theatre (interior and exterior) in Images of America: Waterbury on pages 52-3. They mentioned 1,000 seats including a balcony and private boxes.
Had 1,620 seats.
A picture of this theater is in Images of America: Waterbury on page 51.