Arcade Theater
155 E. Church Street,
Sandersville,
GA
31082
155 E. Church Street,
Sandersville,
GA
31082
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Arcade Theater was opened by 1948 and was still open in 1962. This theater has been closed for over 40 years but is still standing, minus its front which was demolished in the mid to late 2010’s.
Contributed by
Jesse Brantley
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 15 comments)
I did TAKE pictures of the PASTIME theatre there,But Heck, I ain’t got no way to put them on here.I wish i could mail them to CT and let those computers brains put them on.
Maybe Robin can teach you how to post photos>
I was in Sandersville over the weekend and my cousin told me about the Twin Cities Drive. It has been closed about as long as the Arcade.
I was in Sandersville over the weekend and my cousin told me about the Twin Cities Drive. It has been closed about as long as the Arcade.
Here is a picture of the Arcade Theater.
www.flickr.com/photos/jfb57/4740489248/
Thanks for the photo J.B. rather plain looking theatre.
This is a really poor listing. No address, and closed 40 years as of when? The correct address is 155 E Church St. The entire front has been torn down, as well as the projection booth. There is a new door stuck into the wall of the auditorium, so someone must still be using it for something.
The entry does look right for about 1950, but the construction looks pretty old-fashioned, with the big auditorium at the back, and a tin clad projection booth stuck onto the wall. The Arcade name is also old-fashioned. The 1923 map shows this corner occupied by several public school buildings. The front was still there in 2014.
Demolition of the front revealed an amusing note from management on the door to the projection booth (which is now high up on the wall of the remaining structure):
‘A PROJECTIONIST’S PLACE
IS IN THE BOOTH
DURING THE SHOWTIME
SO UNTIL IT’S GO TIME
DON’T LEAVE NO TIME’
Sandersville had two theaters open in 1948, and one of them was likely the Arcade, though the names are not given in this item from Motion Picture Herald of November 6 that year:
The Arcade was still in operation in 1962, when manager B. L. Brown had three capsule movie reviews published in the “Exhibitor Has His Say” column of Boxoffice for January 15.This web page has six photos of the outside of the Arcade building after the demolition of the front section, and says that it was operating as a theater into the 1970s. The fake mansard on the front which can still be seen in the June, 2014 Google street view is characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s, so was probably added when the Arcade was converted to other uses, but the glass brick around the entrance was pure 1930s, or maybe early 1940s. That’s probably the period when it opened, unless it was converted from some other original use later.
The auditorium building looks like it might have been added behind an even older commercial building at some point, and could originally have housed something else, like a skating rink, a dance hall, or a bowling alley, any of which would have been likely to use glass blocks as a feature in the 1930s. The external projection booth, which could have been added later, also suggests that something of that sort might have happened.