LaBelle Thetare
311 D Street,
South Charleston,
WV
25303
311 D Street,
South Charleston,
WV
25303
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Alpine Theater Circuit
Functions: Movies (Film Festivals)
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Cinema South
Nearby Theaters
The LaBelle Theater opened in 1940. It continued as a movie theatre until 1965 when it was renamed Cinema South. It was closed in the late-1970’s. Taken over by a new operator it reopened in 1982 and finally closed in 1990. It was used as a museum and still had film capability for showing documentaries. It was used as a church until the late-1990’s. In 2003 it was purchased by the city and the original name went back onto the building.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Here’s a 2007 view of the very nicely redone LaBelle Theater: http://www.boxsetgallery.com/stein/index2.html
I think I used to go to this theater a lot as a kid. I think I saw my first horror movie here (if you consider Gremlins to be horror). I was 5. I think I also saw Flight of the Navigator here. Maybe someone can help me with this. Was the LaBelle lobby decorated with decals of Disney characters? If so, then I remember this theater.
Google streetview of the LaBelle:
http://tinyurl.com/y8sajzv
http://tinyurl.com/yck3zef
http://tinyurl.com/yevcxyo
Is this theater still around? I am in the process of buying and rehabbing the Philippi Grand and if it proves profitable I want to work on reopening other theaters in WV, KY, OH, PA, MD, and VA. There are so many wonderful old theaters with more character than any modern cookie cutter places.
This is no longer a theatre, it is the Rose of Sharon Fellowship Church.
The Labelle is no longer a church. The city renovated it. The WV International Film Festival just announced they will be there this year. http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20140717/DM01/140719384
W. B. Urling, one of the original partners in the Alpine Theater Circuit, was still active in operating the LaBelle and another South Charleston house called the Victory Theatre at least as late as 1960, when The February 1 issue of Boxoffice, mentioning both houses, said that he had recently visited West Palm Beach, Florida.
This page about the LaBelle says that the theater was renamed Cinema South in the late 1960s, and operated as a movie theater into the 1980s. It was used as a church through the 1990s, until being bought in 2003 by the City of South Charleston, who restored both the theater and its original name.
I was by there the other day and I’m sorry to say that the facade has been remodeled in the most horrible way possible, and the marquee and neon are all gone.