Roxy Theatre
38 W. Forsyth Street,
Jacksonville,
FL
32202
38 W. Forsyth Street,
Jacksonville,
FL
32202
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The Roxy downtown closed in 1946.
Grand opening ads posted.
In Jacksonville, there were two Roxy theaters. The first one originally opened as the Republic Theatre on November 14th, 1914. Unfortunately, it closed its doors in 1931. However, it was given a new lease on life when Spark’s Theatres reopened it on December 1st, 1935.
The other theater that Mr. Lewis photographed in 1984 was the Roxy Theatre located at 2412 West Beaver. This theater had a different vibe—it opened on June 18th, 1966, specializing in adult movies.
Not sure.as to which of these two addresses is but nothing resembling the photo above appears at either address. The status should be changed to “Demolished”.
Woops 32209. The theatre it self was only 45 feet wide by 200 feet long. The two buildings to the right of it used to be a motion picture production lab back in mid to late 60’s.It was American Productions inc. and they shot and edited movies such as “Fireball Jungle” starring John Russel.
32299
The correct address for this theatre is 2412 W. Beaver St.
It was very common for patrons to complain that a woman would sit beside them out of thin air and start talking about old movies that played there. I prescreened a movie one late night with witnesses and we had the same problem on a constant basis. Did she die there?
When I quit threading the projectors at night before closing up and going home it all stopped but before opening up the next day,you could hear conversations through the door before opening up. When you put the key in the door you could hear a womans voice say Shhhh.
I will never get over the fact that before we entered the building to start the day at about 12:00 noon,we could hear the movie running but when we entered it would shut down. Checked all doors,all is well. Go figure…..
The scariest thing that ever happened at The Orange Park Five where I worked, was a hold-up and the dead woman they found in the bathroom (supposedly related to someone with the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band). In the robbery, they tied up the managers, two teenage girls who were cashiers and the maintenance/cleaning guy (he walked in on the holdup). The assistant manager literally ‘messed’ in his pants. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. They never arrested anyone for it. I don’t remember the details of the dead woman, but it freaked everybody out that she died in the women’s restroom at the theater. I believe that she had a heart attack.
I think vaughn does.Me and vaughn worked at the midway d.i.together.I think thats when that ghost went through him.
That’s creepy. Troy, do you have any pictures of the Roxy or any of the other theaters and drive ins you worked at? And more stories? Maybe Vaughn can get in on this too. What happened on the last day?
Lady Jester, where did you read the story? I’d like to find a copy of it.
I hated so badly to stay there at night all alone when I had to build up and break down movies.Beleave me I had every light on in the joint but anyway I was there one night and closed the place down to lock it up say oh about 1:00am and went in the booth and locked myself in to get things done and get the heck out of there and all of a sudden something or someone was trying to jimmy the booth door open but to no avail.This went on for about 5 minutes and they would not say anything and I ha about enough of this so I opened the door and no one was there.I checked the whole building (with a baseball bat) but to no avail.They sure did seem to be ticked off about it.
Hey Harv Troy here….I got got things to tell you that would make you change your religion there at the roxy,I will get back to ya!!!!
So do I have to beg you guys to tell more stories about the haunted Roxy?
This place sounds fascinating. I looked for it once in the mid-90’s but it seems to have been razed.
Oh yea I remember when I worked there in the early 80’s and it was one of the most creepy theatres that I had worked.All the storys of the roxy are true.You could feel someone there in the booth or looking out the projection port holes at you but we could never explain how the projectors and lamphouses would be hot when we would open the next day and the movie would be already half way ran through and before we put our key in the front door to open for the day you could hear the movie playing and there was only one way in & out of the booth. I would have to put in new carbon rods & rewind the movie before the show despite the impatient customers.
The Roxy Theater was located on Beaver Street,not Forsythe.It was near the intersection of Beaver and McDuff.I worked there during the Summer of 1977,the haunting stories are true.I experienced the door slams and voices as well as a really freaky thing that happened on my last day.
My ROXY photograph in Jacksonville View link
The Roxy opened as the Republic around 1925 and was located at 38 W Forsyth St in Jacksonville.
The Roxy was known as the “Roxy Follies” in the early 70’s when it was a porn theatre. This is the one the brought “Deep Throat” to Jacksonville. It was located fairly close to the Farmers' Market. The old A&P bakery and coffee roasting plant was also nearby.
If it’s the theatre I’m thinkng of, I read a story about hauntings there. There were reports of bathroom doors slamming, whispered conversations in the editing room that was off of the projection room(which in its self only had on door leading into it and no window for voices to carry up to from the street below)and gunshots followed by screams being heard. I’m not sure if the stories are true, but I do know that this theater has a lot of history.
It was at one time a place for singing acts, then it showed the latest movies then eventually turned into a place for pornos in the 1950s or 60s. In the back there were eight booths for peep shows. You know, the old classic ones where you have to keep putting quarters if you want to see more, but you only got to see movies, not real girls. It was also said to be a hide out for gansters in the 1930s. That would probably explain the gun shots and screams.
The Roxy Theater is listed in the 1941 Film Daily Yearbook with a seating capacity of 500 seats. It was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc through the subsiduary group of E.J. Sparks.