This theater, unfortunately, is now closed, as of last month. It narrowly avoided closing last September, but a local attorney and other investors stepped in to help keep it open, but negotiators were unable to come to a deal to keep it open. Here’s a brief article from a local TV station: https://mynbc15.com/news/local/the-final-curtain-has-fallen-on-downtown-mobiles-crescent-theater
He and his twin brother, John Heustis King, owned/operated several theaters in Mobile’s black community, including (in addition to the Lincoln and the Pike) the Booker T., the Ace, the Harlem and the Roosevelt, as well as white theaters the Crown and the Azalea. Earlier in their careers they also managed or owned several theaters in Biloxi, MS. Charles B. King was my maternal great-grandfather. He died in 1952 and Uncle Heustis died sometime in the ‘40s. They got started in the movie theater business in the 1910s.Before that, they both worked as streetcar conductors.
The Azalea was owned by the King brothers, Charles B. King and John Heustis King. It was designed and built by C.B. King’s son-in-law R.G. Ward, my maternal grandfather. The Kings also owned the Crown Theatre on Dauphin St. and several theaters in Mobile’s African American community (the Booker T., the Pike, the Lincoln and others) as well as theaters in Biloxi, MS. The twin brothers died in the 1940s/50s and Charles King’s eldest son ran the business for awhile, but the family was pretty much out of it by the 1970s. I’m too young to remember the Azalea (it closed in 1956, the year I was born, 4 years after my great-grandfather died), but I remember when it was Skateland very well.
This theater, unfortunately, is now closed, as of last month. It narrowly avoided closing last September, but a local attorney and other investors stepped in to help keep it open, but negotiators were unable to come to a deal to keep it open. Here’s a brief article from a local TV station: https://mynbc15.com/news/local/the-final-curtain-has-fallen-on-downtown-mobiles-crescent-theater
He and his twin brother, John Heustis King, owned/operated several theaters in Mobile’s black community, including (in addition to the Lincoln and the Pike) the Booker T., the Ace, the Harlem and the Roosevelt, as well as white theaters the Crown and the Azalea. Earlier in their careers they also managed or owned several theaters in Biloxi, MS. Charles B. King was my maternal great-grandfather. He died in 1952 and Uncle Heustis died sometime in the ‘40s. They got started in the movie theater business in the 1910s.Before that, they both worked as streetcar conductors.
The Azalea was owned by the King brothers, Charles B. King and John Heustis King. It was designed and built by C.B. King’s son-in-law R.G. Ward, my maternal grandfather. The Kings also owned the Crown Theatre on Dauphin St. and several theaters in Mobile’s African American community (the Booker T., the Pike, the Lincoln and others) as well as theaters in Biloxi, MS. The twin brothers died in the 1940s/50s and Charles King’s eldest son ran the business for awhile, but the family was pretty much out of it by the 1970s. I’m too young to remember the Azalea (it closed in 1956, the year I was born, 4 years after my great-grandfather died), but I remember when it was Skateland very well.