Broad Ave. Cinema
246 W. Broad Avenue,
Albany,
GA
31701
246 W. Broad Avenue,
Albany,
GA
31701
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zebulongrady’s belief that the Broad Avenue Theatre and the Liberty Theatre were the same house is correct. The Liberty was opened in June, 1919 according to an article in the Albany Herald of September 10, 2017. It replaced a house called the Rawlings Theatre on the same site. The Rawlings was opened in 1908 and was destroyed by fire in 1917.
zebulongrady’s other claim, that the Liberty/Broad Street was the same house as the Clair Theatre, is mistaken. The Clair was on the odd-numbered side of the street, and the Liberty/Broad Street was at 246-250 W. Broad. (The missing zip code is 31701.)
I think the Broad Avenue, the Clair and the Liberty were one and the same. The Broad Avenue was catty corner across from the Albany. The Broad Avenue ended up as a xxx house and the Albany ended up at a black explotation house. When the Exorcist came out it ran in the State Theatre, but not in the Martin multiplex theatres.
i grew up in albany. never heard of 10th avenue theater. albany, state, and broad avenue theates were all in the same area, each around the corner from the other. albany theater was a grand place (for a sleepy farm town), with a nice balcony, etc. state also had a balcony but was a step down in opulence, and the broad avenue was closed for some time but re-opened in the mid seventies sort of as as semi porn/kungfu/blackspoitation screen. but the broad ave was ok, too, but kind of small.
I was asked if this could have been the 10th Avenue Cinema. Looking at the Satellite view, this does not look like the same neighborhood that the 10th Avenue Theater was located in. The 10th Avenue was in downtown Albany.
Also Chuck1231.the ad on the Theatre clearly has “DOWNTOWN”.Albany is not that large,so maybe Midtown and Downtown are the same.
By August 1979 Broad Ave.Cinema was running different borders on their ads,so I assume someone took over ownership.Never could tell if it was ever twinned.Don’t think it was.They played A LOT of Double and Triple features.By the late 70’s no more ads in the Albany paper that I could find.