Carolina Theatre & Grille
115 North Poindexter Street,
Elizabeth City,
NC
27909
115 North Poindexter Street,
Elizabeth City,
NC
27909
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Love State Theater, Carolina Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Opened in 1946 as the Love State Theater. After a fire destroyed the original Carolina Theater, the owner purchased this theater and renamed it the Carolina Theatre. Closed in 1991 it was a church for several years and vacated in 1997.
In 2001 the current building owners began an extensive renovation of the property with the idea of preserving the building. I was then approached with idea of opening the theatre. My wife and I began construction of a state-of-the-art first-run dinner theatre and adjoining restaurant. We opened May 31, 2002 as one of only 12 first-run movie/dining theatres in the country, and the only one I know of with a separate full service restaurant,and have enjoyed great success ever since.
The Carolina Theatre & Grille was closed April 11, 2010.
Contributed by
Bryan Edge
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
This article puts the Carolina in Virginia, but that’s wrong, obviously. There are references to some other theaters in the city as well:
http://tinyurl.com/245hwk
The opening text mentions that the original Carolina Theatre was destroyed by fire. Various Film Daily Yearbooks that I have;1941-1950, list the original Carolina Theatre at Main Street, Elizabeth City, NC with a seating capacity of 900. So the fire must have been after 1950.
The Carolina Theatre & Grille abruptly closed on April 11, 2010; story here: View link
Story long gone.Limited number of customers most likely lead to closing.These theatres seem to do okay in Larger cities.
See my general ramblings about Elizabeth City theaters in the Alkrama Theater comments section. I am glad to see that the Love State/new Carolina had a good run in its revival. It is sad to see news of its second closing. Elizabeth City is a shopping destination for a wide radius of rural community and one can almost place bets that the price of gas had a major role in its closing as well. A lot of changes have happened in the area such as moving and 4 laneing U.S. 17 thereby bypassing the city and moving shopping even further from downtown.
thanks David.
I managed to snag a retrospective page from The Daily Advance (newspaper)published Apr 27, 2008 concerning the March 1, 1967 fire that destroyed the Carolina building and the contained Carolina Theater. The building burned for several days and was a total loss. The building contained a variety store, a fashion store, a pharmacy, the Carolina Theater, and a variety of other businesses, and a multitude of profession offices on the upper floors.
Somewhat ironic that “Funeral in Berlin” starring Michael Caine was displayed on the marquee when this destruction occurred.
Here’s one David, When the DREAMLAND THEATRE burned in Augusta,It is on CT; on the marquee,“SMOKEY TRAILS”,can’t make it up.LOl.The movie is not the marquee in any picture that have,just the way i worded it.
I was born and grew up in Elizabeth City, NC, and I remember the 1967 fire at the Carolina Theatre! My father was the editor and publisher of the Daily Advance, and we lived a mile or so from downtown. I remember seeing a HUGE pillar of dark smoke in the sky where the fire was happening downtown, and I remember them tearing the building down, and piles of brick, even the traffic light at a nearby intersection was destroyed. I saw OLD YELLER and THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN at this theatre, and probably other movies (I was only 6 in 1967).
Sun March 25, 2012 Daily Advance headline states that the Carolina Theater Elizabeth City’s only downtown theater has a suitor. I don’t have a subscription so further info was unavailable. I would guess that the deal to reopen would be close to realization prior to tipping off any competition.