Fifth Avenue Cinema I & II
3150 5th Avenue N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33713
3150 5th Avenue N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33713
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when i lived in st. petersburg in the 70s it was a twin screen.i saw jaws there also many others.it was still open as a movie theater. when i left st/petersburg in 1977
The theater building is still there. It is located at 3150 5th ave n in St. Petersburg. It currently houses the King of Peace Metropolitan Communty Church. The shopping center complex was Central Plaza. At the time it contained A Publix grocery store, a Wards dept store, A Grants Department store and a William Henry Dept store. Not much remains now. The Pubix and William Henry have been torn down. The new YMCA is located there. The Grants building is still there; but I don’t know what is in there. The Wards is a auto supply warehouse.
I attended premire ofthe theater with my grandparents. The movie shown was “Our Man Flint” with James Colburn. I also remember seeing the new version of “Gone with the Wind” in either late 1969 or early 1970.
I moved from St Petersburg in 1970 and do not remember how long it remained a movie theater.
Well, the Loew’s corporation that opened this theatre bought Lorillard tobacco around 1969, then sold off its entire theatre business around 1985. That Loews Corporation still exists, but now has nothing to do with any theatres.
The theatre division eventually fell into the hands of Sony, merged with Cineplex, and went bankrupt in 2001. The resulting Loews Cineplex Entertainment corporation is now about to be merged into AMC.
How they loved opening them…but how they loved shutting them down without allowing the public to assist in their restoration or even stabilization. Any idea if “the parent” corporation still has any real estate? Worth pursuing?
Here’s a link to that 1965 annual report. See pages 7 and 8. You will need to wait for the images to load.
I do not know the theatre’s address, the name of the “shopping center complex” that contained it, or whether it is still operating. Any further information would be appreciated.