Arcade Theatre

JackCoursey on June 5, 2007 at 6:51 pm

The Arcade was once part of both the Paramount and Fox theatre circuits.

Joe Vogel on July 13, 2012 at 12:23 am

This appears to have been the second Arcade Theatre in West Palm Beach. The first, operating by 1915, was the house on Narcissus Street that later became the Rialto. The Clematis Street Arcade might have been the projected theater that was mentioned in the May 18, 1922, issue of Manufacturers Record:

“Fla., West Palm Beach—Williams & Nichols, Inc., Palm Beach Tobacco Co., will erect theater on Clematis Ave. nr. Poinsettia St.; cost $50,000; 88x84 ft.; steel columns and trusses, hollow tile walls; 5-ply built-up roof; interior tile; wire glass; concrete floors; steel sash; ventilators; W. Manly King, Archt.; bids opened about May 25.”

Poinsettia Street has since been renamed Dixie Highway, which crosses Clematis Street a few doors west of the site of the Arcade Theatre. I’ve found no evidence that the second Arcade was actually in operation as early as 1922, but as the building has been demolished and its replacement is old enough to have developed a good-sized crack in the facade, it doesn’t seem unlikely that the theater would have been built that early.

Patsy on July 13, 2012 at 6:51 am

Enjoyed seeing a photo of this former theatre location in downtown WPB! When I lived in that area I recall going to the Paramount Theatre though it is no longer there either.

DavidZornig on May 30, 2018 at 6:55 pm

1940s photo added via Shirley A. Menditto.