Casino Theatre
1536 7th Avenue,
Ybor City,
FL
33605
1536 7th Avenue,
Ybor City,
FL
33605
1 person
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thanks Nick.different things work.Charlie has so much history of your theatres in his head.
Mike: Yes, that bit of trivia came from Charlie who was manning the booth that day. And now that I think about it I also remember some foot stomping during one of my visits. The program that day was a Spanish language double feature. The projectionist had accidently threaded up a reel from the first feature and made a changeover right in the middle of the second feature! When the picture hit the screen the audience howled and the foot stomping began. Apparently stomping was a regular occurence whenever something went wrong or the audience was excited.
Nov.7 comment must come from Charlie,Right, Nick?
Undated photo showing poster display boxes and extention of awning overhang:
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A projectionist who was working the booth in 1959 recalls the day when he ran a newsreel showing where Castro had overthrown Batista and gained control of Cuba. The entire audience which was composed mainly of Cubans and Spanish patrons was so estactic that Cuba finally had a new leader that they began stomping their feet on the wooden floor so hard it caused a tremendous amount of dust to rise through the air all the way up to the ceiling. The dust was so thick you could barely see the onscreen image for several minutes.
That is okay Nick.the tour of the TAMPA THEATRE was something i will never forget.
Thanks Nick.
Before and after photos of the auditorium during renovations on this webpage: View link
It was The Ritz you saw although we passed by the Casino which is one block down. But at the time I didn’t think to point it out.
thanks for the story.I can’t remember did you take us to this theatre too or was it just the Ritz we saw.
Here’s a photo dated 1914. Theatre entrance is on the right side under the awning. About 10 poster display cases were later installed on the wall in-between the windows down the side of the building.
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This photo shows a ballet performance onstage in 1925:
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I didn’t realize that building had a theater history. I’m glad Centro Ybor was able to incorporate it. Just for clarity’s sake, the address should probably be changed to 7th Avenue. I don’t know why (or when) they decided to push Broadway all the way back to 50th Street.