Paramount Theatre
257 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
257 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 54 comments
According to one of Linda Lovelace’s many contradicting memoirs, this performance never happened.
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I blew up this picture several times. I think that right under Boyd’s it says “shoe store” or “shoe” something. The building to the east of the State appears to be a separate structure, when I blow this up it seems there is an alley way there, the buildings are definitely separated, they are not one. This would explain why the State may have ended up as a corner building.
Sam’s Dulce Cigar Shop is part of that structure. The architecture of the building with the cigar shop is totally different from that of the building where the State theatre is. The angle of the post card makes it difficult to separate, but if you blow it up, I think you may see what I see. I tried sharpening the image as much as possible, and as far as Boyd’s goes the word shoe is in there. I assume it was a shoe store between the State and the building next door, probably on an alley. Downtown Miami had a few alleys here and there, I remember seeing a few of these when I was a kid growing up. Most, however, were service alleys, garbage pickup, etc.
Here’s a post card that shows the State Theatre at least one building from the corner. No date available for the card, though.
(Also notice the marquee appears to say “Boyd’s”)
I suspect there was a small shop on the corner past the entrance of the Fotosho and that the trolley in that last photo is reaching an intersection that crosses both ways.
Al,
I also think the Hippodrome was advertising their movie. Given the movie poster, I find it weird that they just hand wrote the dates, that looks funny.
According to the map Miamiguy posted the State was on a corner. All of the pictures of the Fotosho show it to have other establishments on each side. I was questioning this because when you look at the pictures of the State and now the Fotosho, they appear to be in the same location, but the map depicts the theatre to be on a corner.
Although hard to tell, this picture of the State at night, http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc11243.jpg, also seems to suggest that it was on a corner, if you look at the right side (East) of the picture, the building seems to end.
The movie playing at the time was Whoopee with Eddie Cantor, which was released in 1930.
Yes, it is June 1926 and it is from the book MIAMI, THEN AND NOW.
Very nice!
Did that Fotosho shot happen to have a date attached to it?
Two more shots of the Paramount marquee.
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Miamiguy, since the two theatres co-existed I assume the Hippodrome was advertising above the Fotosho.
This photo places the Fotosho on the site of the State, next the Seminole and McCrory Hotels and therefore across from Kress.
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Well, here’s another brain-twister for you. The Fotosho Theatre in Miami. I’ve been trying to research this one, but I have no idea what to make of it.
The photo is from 1921.
The theatre was listed as being located on “East Flagler Street."
It has that billboard on top that’s advertising a Paramount film.
But, it also says "Hippodrome” on the billboard. So, does that mean the Paramount film is playing here at this Fotosho Theatre, or over at the Hippodrome?
Good luck with this one…I’m totally stumped.
That interior pic is the Paramount. I remember the balcony seating. The 1924 photo referenced above is probably the original Fairfax Theatre, notice that on the marquee it states “all talkies” so, the 1924 pic above must have been when it was a silent theatre.
Al, I guess the “all talkies” sign answers the question regarding when the silent movie era ended in Miami.
Thanks Miamiguy. I guess the yearbook may have not caught on to the name change.
Since the Hotel was still there in later years, there must have been another major remodel in the late thirties to the Paramount we knew in the seventies.
Something else interesting…notice the difference in the marquees between the top photo (1929) and the second photo (1922).
I’ll bet the hurricane of 1926 blew off the 1922 ornamentation and vertical “Fairfax Theatre” sign, and they replaced it with a hurricane-proof design where the “Fairfax Theatre” part was built in to the marquee itself.
Al, actually you were right on the money!
I found this photo of the Fairfax Theatre Miami in the state archives. Notice that the theater entrance is right next to the Fairfax Hotel entrance.
And if you look at that map I posted earlier, you can see that it lists the Paramount in that location next to the hotel. So, you were correct —the Fairfax became the Paramount.
Hmm…I don’t guess it gives addresses for them, does it?
“The Fairfax was renamed the Paramount”
Miamiguy, I am having second thoughts about this comment since my 1924 Film Year Book list both.
“The Fairfax was renamed the Paramount”
Al, that’s exactly what I was wondering as I was reading down through these comments.
Maybe this will help shed some more light on it: Here’s a map of downtown Miami businesses from the 1930s-1940s(?). Miami Map
The top of the map is west, and the bottom is east toward Biscayne Bay. About half way down you can see the block that says…
Paramount Theater
Fairfax HOTEL
Miami Theater
And here’s the Fairfax Theater, Miami, Florida
I figure this photo was taken in the 1920s because of the marquee’s “The Four Horsemen” (of the Apocalypse) which was a silent movie from 1921 by Metro Pictures.
(Also notice the REX Theater toward the west end of that block. I’d never heard of this one before.)
The Fairfax was renamed the Paramount. This Paramount in 1938 is either a major remodel or a complete reconstruction.
Vaudeville at the Paramount?
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Apparently a SPARKS' theatre in 1932 before being extensively remodeled.
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Also known as the Pussycat, the Paramount in its later years as a porn palace, had some live shows.
LINDA LOVELACE was advertised as appearing at the Paramount in the mid seventies. In one of her many contradicting biographies (ORDEAL) she claims the event was cancelled in advance as it was never financed once she ran away from Chuck Traynor and she was sued for over $30,000 for cancelling. If this should happen to be true, the Miami Herald ad implies that she:
a)cancelled at the last minute.
b)the ad was placed to set her up for the suit for not showing up.
The caption said Paramount Miami FL. There could have been another theater with the same name, but given the monopoly held by the studios in the 20s and 30s, I doubt they would have been in business very long.
Al,
I agree, the Paramount was huge inside. As I remember it. There was a balcony also. If that is a pic of the theatre at one time, it must have been completely rebuilt.
The Paramount I remember had a huge screen and no columns in the auditorium so if that photo above is the same theatre it must have been extensively remodelled by the sixties.
This is a 1924 interior photo, assuming that there was only one Paramount in Miami at that time:
http://tinyurl.com/gxkzd