Fifth Avenue Cinema I & II
3150 5th Avenue N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33713
3150 5th Avenue N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33713
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp., Loew's Inc.
Architects: Robert Greenbaum
Functions: Church
Previous Names: Loew's St. Peterburg
Nearby Theaters
Loew’s was so proud of this new single screen theatre that they featured it in the company’s 1965 annual report. It opened on December 25, 1965 with Sean Connery in “Thunderball”.
The report has an artist’s rendering of the theatre, captioned “Loew’s new Theatre in the heart of St. Petersburg, Florida, adjoins one of Florida’s largest and most successful shopping center complexes”. In 1972, it was taken over by General Cinema and renamed Fifth Avenue Cinema I & II on November 7, 1975. It was closed on March 30, 1989.
It now houses the King of Peace MCC Church.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 30 comments)
Grand opening with “THUNDERBALL” Great opening Flick. Much better than when Loew’s in Tampa opening a major theatre with the soft-core"CANDY".
S.Porridge,It does look like GCC took over looking at that Road marquee.
The Loew’s St. Pete was bought out by GCC at about the same time they bought the Loew’s in Tampa. I think this was about 1972. Shortly afterwards both theatres were twinned and renamed. The Loew’s in Tampa became the Austin Cinema I & II and the Loew’s St. Pete became the 5th Avenue Cinema I & II.
Thanks,Nick.
Nick see Mustang Drive-in.
Thanks for the info Nick.
I posted the grand opening ad in the photo section for this cinema.
I worked as the projectionist at the FIFTH AVENUE CINEMA for GENERAL CINEMA both when the theatre was a single screen house and as a twin. The projectors were CENTURY with CENTURY sound heads. The projectors were running 6,000 foot reels. When it was made into a twin, both sides were the same with the exception that theatre one now had CENTURY “reverse scan” sound heads with both theatres having KELMAR amps. The arc lamps were ASHCRAFT “ CORE-LITEs. The booth utilized CINAMATION automation with a matrix board and diode pins for programming. The arc lamps would "self-strike” by means of “bullets” places between the positive and negative carbons. These “bullets” would explode when power was applied, thus establishing the arc. We never used them because they tended to blow ash onto the reflectors. I have still photos and video of the booth in operation. I also have one of the CINEMATION automation units ( with diode pins.) GENERAL CINEMA ( a wonderful company to work for ) did it right. This was the only theatre I worked that had four arc lamps and FIVE rectifiers with switches to change rectifiers if one went bad. Now that’s class.
General Cinema was the last operator of this theatre. They acquired it from Loews in 1972 and operated it until 3/30/1989. Was last known as the Fifth Avenue Cinema I-II.
Two screens on November 7th, 1975. Another ad posted.