Beach Theatre
2500 Atlantic Avenue,
Virginia Beach,
VA
23451
2500 Atlantic Avenue,
Virginia Beach,
VA
23451
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: ABC Southern Theatres, Plitt Theatres
Architects: A.O. Budina, Vernon A. Moore
Styles: Colonial Revival, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Beach Repertory Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Beach Theatre was opened on July 1, 1947 with Gregory Peck in “The Yearling”. It was designed by architect Vernon A. Moore, with A.O. Budina as consultant architect. There were 860 seats in the orchestra level and 340 seats in the balcony. It closed as a movie theatre in January 1982. It then began operating as the Beach Repertory Theatre. It was closed soon after.
It became a Haunted Fun House which opened in 1986 and closed on September 2, 2007. It was gutted internally and briefly reopened as an indoor miniature golf attraction.
Contributed by
Adrian Everett, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Haunted house photo here. Also seen on the map view.
http://tinyurl.com/28fvtnk
PREVIOUSLY OPERATED BY:
ABC SOUTHEASTERN THEATRES, INC.
PLITT SOUTHERN THEATRES
I grew up in Va Beach during the 60s and have many happy memories of the Beach and the Bayne. The Beach got the better movies, the Bayne the “B” features. The Beach was parent-approved and the Bayne was “off limits” as 16th street was the “bad section” of town. All the more fun to sneak down there. The 1st movie that I saw at the Beach was “The Misadventures of Merlin Jones” and at the Bayne, “King Kong vz. Godzilla”.
I saw “American Wearwolf in London” at the theatre, when it was released. It was very dark in the theatre on that Halloween Night. And only a few people were attending. I almost jumped out of my seat if I heard a pin drop behind me. It was a great movie.
That’s how I recall the theater through the 1970’s. The more popular films seemed to be at the Beach and the not as popular at the Bayne. I saw many movies at the Beach. I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back, the Goodbye Girl, as well as revivals of The Sound of Music and Pinocchio at The Beach. The parking on 25th Street could also be easier which I’m sure made the theater more popular.
The opening to the left of the large window with the small glass panes(Atlantic Ave side) was the access to the office portion of the building. At one point my parents dentist was there. The large opening on the 25th Street side under the three side by side windows is where patrons exited following a movie. The three windows were for the lounge. The theater had a stage but I suspect it was for community productions or corporate events. I was never in the theater to see the stage used for anything other then to house the screen.
Listed as the Beach Repertory Theatre in the 1987 city directory.
Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s I saw a double feature of Hitchcock’s “Notorious” and “Spellbound” at the Beach. It was a great experience seeing those two classics in a theater from the era of those films. But mall cinemas were killing the old theaters in those days, just as the multiplexes are closing rapidly today as viewing modes and habits change.
I had the pleasure of running movies here in 1967-68, while serving in the Navy and as a part-time IATSE projectionist with the now disbanded Local 550 of the Motion Picture Machine Operators union. It was a fun theater to work and the projection booth was impeccably maintained. The theater practiced the strict art of “showmanship,” which dictated exact points to open the main curtain, dim the houselights and when necessary, position the screen masking. The booth was somewhat unusual as it contained 3 (instead of 2) machines. The leftmost was an ancient but perfectly maintained Simplex model and the 2 “main” machines were either Century’s or may have been X-L’s. I can’t recall now over 50 years later. But the two primary units used the Ashcraft Cinex rotating positive carbon lamp houses. They were my first experience with the lamp house and the model I grew to love.
The “old” projector was reserved for the trailers, cartoon etc while the two latter models were for the feature. During the times I worked there, they were running “You Only Live Twice.” The interior and main curtain were lit by colored lights and the house sported a beautiful interior. It was a true pleasure to work this venue as the management and staff were great people to work with and treated me with the utmost respect as in those days, a projectionist’s position was both somewhat “mysterious” and coveted. I look back at the Beach as one of the nicest venues I had the pleasure to show movies at.
Bill Crockett & Associates launched the Beach Theatre with an invitational screening of “The Yearling” on July 1, 1947 followed by a general public “Formal Opening” the next day. Virginia Beach Mayor Warfield Leeke addressed the crowd impressed by the 1,142 seat auditorium. Architect Vernon A. Moore was trying to thread the needle between Colonial architecture and a more conventional streamline moderne approach landing somewhere in the middle. Historical murals of Old Dominion were on each wall of the post-War movie house. A definite Colonial approach was found in the heavily decorated lobby and lounge areas.
In 1954, the auditorium was equipped with widescreen projection to present CinemaScope titles. In the refresh, a cleaner visual style favored in that era replaced some of the original flourishes and cleaned out the lobby area. The Beach Theatre folded its umbrella reaching the end of a 35-year leasing agreement in January of 1982 as operated by final owner, Plitt Southern Theatres.
After a stint as a live theatre, the venue got big crowds as a haunted house tourist attraction. Operating from 1986 to September 2, 2007, the Haunted Fun House received some 15,000 patrons annually… until city inspectors deemed the walls of the theatre unsafe. The former auditorium and the lobby were completely gutted in favor of an indoor miniature golf attraction. The theater became virtually unrecognizable by 2008. Pictures of its past and present, along with its Grand Opening ad are in the photos section.
I recall walking there with my grandma from the trailer park on 17th street. We saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and sat in the balcony.