How’s this for a kwinkeydink: I went on my first double date to see the movie playing at the Paramount pictured in the postcard, THEM. 1954. I was 14. My mom drove me and my friend and our dates downtown, and picked us up afterwards. Doesn’t seem like much now, but it was a big deal at the time.
Got to thinking about the location of the Biltmore which is listed above at 151 NE 40th St. I vaguely remember going there once or twice but couldn’t come up with an image. A look around the street on Google Earth didn’t help. The buildings at that address don’t really reveal much about their earlier form or appearance, which is right in the middle of what has become the Design Center area. Miamiguy’s telephone book listing posted on the Town Theater page lists the address as 151. But I recently uncovered my sister’s membership card in the Mickey Mouse Club at the Biltmore Theater at 143 N.E. 40th Street. My sister was born in 1925 and must have been in the Mickey Mouse Clubwhen she was 10 or so, dating the card to about 1935 . Don’t know if this is important, but wanted to share the info.
Miamiguy’s posting on the Town Theater page has a link to a list of theaters in Miami and Miami Beach from the August, 1949 Southern Bell Telephone Book. It lists the Strand as being at 3033 N.W. 7th Avenue. Stage Manager was closest at 29th St., Louis of Pompano Beach next at 33rd St. I was way off at 24th st. Looking back at my previous comment, I guess I meant shouldn’t there be a Strand page?
The unique thing I remember about the Royal was that the end seats of every other row of the two side isles was a double seat. I remember taking a girl on a date to the Royal and sitting in one of these “love seats.” Of all the theaters I went to in Miami, it was the only one that I remember with that kind of seating. I was sorry to see it go, and it’s smaller next door neighbor, the Embassy. Right around the corner on SE 3rd Ave. a couple of doors south of Flagler Street, was Jahn the Magic Man’s store full of all kinds of magic tricks and model trains. To the east and across the street, at the corner of Biscayne Blvd. was the Mayflower Restaurant and doughnut shop.
Hmmmm… Where was the Strand? Stage Manager puts it south of NW 29th St. Louis of Pompano Beach pegs it at NW 33rd St, and my memory puts it at NW 24th St. I went to Robert E. Lee Jr Hi on NW 5th Ave at 31st and occasionally hung out at a candy store which, now that I think more about it, wasn’t too far from Lee, which would tend to support the 33rd St location. I haven’t been in Miami in about 15 years, and then didn’t get anywhere near this part of 7th Ave. So, has anyone IDed the Strand in a recent drive-by? And should we continue this thread on the Strand page?
Sounds about right, Al. I’m Clay, and a newbie contributor on this site, which I’ve been watching for awhile, and sure do appreciate your vast knowledge of the Miami cinema scene. I’m a native, born in 1940, of a pioneer, though far from prominent Miami family. Movies were my life in those days and I have many memories to share. Only hope I don’t become a nuisance. Check out my addition to the Mayfair page. More later, I’m off to see The Reader.
An address of 69 E Flagler tells me that it would be east of Miami Ave, but if it was a corner property with the number of 69 it would have to be west of Miami Ave. Odd numbers on the north side of Flagler, even numbers on the south side. Addresses got larger going west from Miami Ave, and got larger going east. The State was a favorite starting point for Sat. morning movies when I was old enough to go downtown by myself (about ‘52.) Five cartoons, a serial, and a double feature for $.50, was a great bargain. My memory, and it’s address puts it on, or very near the corner of Miami Ave and W. Flager Street.
In re Stage Manager’s question about the Strand, it was a neighborhood theater on NW 7th Ave between about 21st & 24th St. I can’t pin it down any closer than that (alas, memory fades.) It was on the east side of 7th Ave opposite the old Seaboard RR station which was at 23rd St. To the south in the same block, was Dexters Roller Rink. Nearby was The Shrimp Place (the best fried shrimp in Miami!) and a Royal Castle, where I learned to be a breakfast grill cook. It was a rough neighborhood, even in the 50s, but they had a Sat AM kids show (5 cartoons & a double feature.) Total mayhem inside, but cheap. My bike was stolen from out front one Sat.AM.
The Regal Beer brewery was on NW 20th Street just east of 7th Avenue. About where I-95 crosses 20th Street now. We passed the brewery often on the way to my father’s business near the old produce market on 10th Ave. My dad used to tell a story that during the Depression Regal had a beer tap at the NE corner of the building on 20th Street where they would give away free beer for an hour. With pails and pitchers in hand, the line would form early, but hour always ran out before the line got their free beer. In the late ‘40 and early '50s you could still see the pipe they plugged the tap into sticking out of the building.
I share with Al Alvarez a ‘favorite theatre’ of my youth affection for the Mayfair. If you went out the front door of the Mayfair and walked directly west 2 blocks you would walk into the back door to my house on NE 1st Court. Mom took me to see Great Expectations there in ‘46 (my first adult movie.) In my teens I was often able to get around the 'adult only’ restrictions because I was such a regular. Saw just about every foreign/art film that played there until I went away to college in ‘58. Met and got to know Gloria DeHaven (at the time married to Dick Fincher the Oldsmobile dealer at 16th St & NE 2nd Ave) who was a regular matinee maven like me.
The 22nd Ave Drive-in was a regular stop on our drive-in circuit 1950-55, and was in fact a segregated operation, with whites entering from the west off 22nd Ave, and blacks entering the Liberty City Drive-in from the east (21st Ave or 21st Ct.) One screen at the north end with a tall wooden fence bisecting the parking and concession areas. Neither side could see or have contact with the other, but if you sat in the outdoor seating area in front of the concession building you could hear folks on the other side. It was weird even for Miami in the 50s.
How’s this for a kwinkeydink: I went on my first double date to see the movie playing at the Paramount pictured in the postcard, THEM. 1954. I was 14. My mom drove me and my friend and our dates downtown, and picked us up afterwards. Doesn’t seem like much now, but it was a big deal at the time.
Got to thinking about the location of the Biltmore which is listed above at 151 NE 40th St. I vaguely remember going there once or twice but couldn’t come up with an image. A look around the street on Google Earth didn’t help. The buildings at that address don’t really reveal much about their earlier form or appearance, which is right in the middle of what has become the Design Center area. Miamiguy’s telephone book listing posted on the Town Theater page lists the address as 151. But I recently uncovered my sister’s membership card in the Mickey Mouse Club at the Biltmore Theater at 143 N.E. 40th Street. My sister was born in 1925 and must have been in the Mickey Mouse Clubwhen she was 10 or so, dating the card to about 1935 . Don’t know if this is important, but wanted to share the info.
Miamiguy’s posting on the Town Theater page has a link to a list of theaters in Miami and Miami Beach from the August, 1949 Southern Bell Telephone Book. It lists the Strand as being at 3033 N.W. 7th Avenue. Stage Manager was closest at 29th St., Louis of Pompano Beach next at 33rd St. I was way off at 24th st. Looking back at my previous comment, I guess I meant shouldn’t there be a Strand page?
The unique thing I remember about the Royal was that the end seats of every other row of the two side isles was a double seat. I remember taking a girl on a date to the Royal and sitting in one of these “love seats.” Of all the theaters I went to in Miami, it was the only one that I remember with that kind of seating. I was sorry to see it go, and it’s smaller next door neighbor, the Embassy. Right around the corner on SE 3rd Ave. a couple of doors south of Flagler Street, was Jahn the Magic Man’s store full of all kinds of magic tricks and model trains. To the east and across the street, at the corner of Biscayne Blvd. was the Mayflower Restaurant and doughnut shop.
Hmmmm… Where was the Strand? Stage Manager puts it south of NW 29th St. Louis of Pompano Beach pegs it at NW 33rd St, and my memory puts it at NW 24th St. I went to Robert E. Lee Jr Hi on NW 5th Ave at 31st and occasionally hung out at a candy store which, now that I think more about it, wasn’t too far from Lee, which would tend to support the 33rd St location. I haven’t been in Miami in about 15 years, and then didn’t get anywhere near this part of 7th Ave. So, has anyone IDed the Strand in a recent drive-by? And should we continue this thread on the Strand page?
Sounds about right, Al. I’m Clay, and a newbie contributor on this site, which I’ve been watching for awhile, and sure do appreciate your vast knowledge of the Miami cinema scene. I’m a native, born in 1940, of a pioneer, though far from prominent Miami family. Movies were my life in those days and I have many memories to share. Only hope I don’t become a nuisance. Check out my addition to the Mayfair page. More later, I’m off to see The Reader.
An address of 69 E Flagler tells me that it would be east of Miami Ave, but if it was a corner property with the number of 69 it would have to be west of Miami Ave. Odd numbers on the north side of Flagler, even numbers on the south side. Addresses got larger going west from Miami Ave, and got larger going east. The State was a favorite starting point for Sat. morning movies when I was old enough to go downtown by myself (about ‘52.) Five cartoons, a serial, and a double feature for $.50, was a great bargain. My memory, and it’s address puts it on, or very near the corner of Miami Ave and W. Flager Street.
In re Stage Manager’s question about the Strand, it was a neighborhood theater on NW 7th Ave between about 21st & 24th St. I can’t pin it down any closer than that (alas, memory fades.) It was on the east side of 7th Ave opposite the old Seaboard RR station which was at 23rd St. To the south in the same block, was Dexters Roller Rink. Nearby was The Shrimp Place (the best fried shrimp in Miami!) and a Royal Castle, where I learned to be a breakfast grill cook. It was a rough neighborhood, even in the 50s, but they had a Sat AM kids show (5 cartoons & a double feature.) Total mayhem inside, but cheap. My bike was stolen from out front one Sat.AM.
The Regal Beer brewery was on NW 20th Street just east of 7th Avenue. About where I-95 crosses 20th Street now. We passed the brewery often on the way to my father’s business near the old produce market on 10th Ave. My dad used to tell a story that during the Depression Regal had a beer tap at the NE corner of the building on 20th Street where they would give away free beer for an hour. With pails and pitchers in hand, the line would form early, but hour always ran out before the line got their free beer. In the late ‘40 and early '50s you could still see the pipe they plugged the tap into sticking out of the building.
I share with Al Alvarez a ‘favorite theatre’ of my youth affection for the Mayfair. If you went out the front door of the Mayfair and walked directly west 2 blocks you would walk into the back door to my house on NE 1st Court. Mom took me to see Great Expectations there in ‘46 (my first adult movie.) In my teens I was often able to get around the 'adult only’ restrictions because I was such a regular. Saw just about every foreign/art film that played there until I went away to college in ‘58. Met and got to know Gloria DeHaven (at the time married to Dick Fincher the Oldsmobile dealer at 16th St & NE 2nd Ave) who was a regular matinee maven like me.
The 22nd Ave Drive-in was a regular stop on our drive-in circuit 1950-55, and was in fact a segregated operation, with whites entering from the west off 22nd Ave, and blacks entering the Liberty City Drive-in from the east (21st Ave or 21st Ct.) One screen at the north end with a tall wooden fence bisecting the parking and concession areas. Neither side could see or have contact with the other, but if you sat in the outdoor seating area in front of the concession building you could hear folks on the other side. It was weird even for Miami in the 50s.