Strand Theatre

1234 on April 1, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Actually there were two Strand Theaters. The first one opened on Peachtree Street Just north of Five points in the mid 19teens and remained open sometime to the early 1920’s Still researching this one.
Of course this was the “white Strand”.
The “colored Strand” opened on Decatur Street much later and was named something else before that, I am not sure when but this Strand was destroyed by fire and never was rebuilt.
Tracking down the history of many of the black movie theaters has been rather difficult in that many of the black newspapers from that era do not survive and even in the ones that do there is not that much information. Hopefully further research will uncover more about these theaters

Don K. on June 5, 2005 at 1:53 pm

Photocopies of a 1954 The Atlanta Journal lists 6 “Colored Theaters,” as they were referred to at that time:

Ashby Theatre at 925 Hunter Street (Martin Luther King?), NW
Carver Theatre – 2 different listings: 1.)at 95 Jonesboro Road,SE
2.) at 440 Atlanta Avenue
Eighty One at 85 Decatur Street, SE
Forrest Theatre on Forrest Avenue (now Ralph McGill)
Royal Theatre at 238 Auburn Avenue, NE
Ritz Theatre 653 Fair Street, SW

Correlating the information in the 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory,
I also found listed:

Harlem at 531 McDaniel Street, SW
Lincoln Theatre at 405 Mitchell Street, NE

These 1954 references do not mention The Strand Theatre as being in operation at that time.

The fact that some of these streets have been renamed does make for some confusion. Hopefully, someone can furnish us with more specifics.