NorView Theatre
6162 Sewells Point Road,
Norfolk,
VA
23513
6162 Sewells Point Road,
Norfolk,
VA
23513
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Mentioned in classified ads in 1948 and placed its first ad in January 1946. Closed 1955
Demolished sometime after 2017.
Thanks, John. I was sure we had the wrong address for the theater.
The portion of the building that housed the theater entrance must have been that part that now has a storefront with red brick on it. 6162 is the most likely address.
The captioned version of the photo uploaded by wsasser says: “From 1945 to 1954, the Norview movie theater was one of the main attractions of Sewells Point Road.” Those years of operation suggest that the house never converted to CinemaScope.
I can’t read the name of the first movie on the marquee in the photo, but the second feature, West of Sonora, was released in March, 1948, according to IMDB. “B” westerns such as that had a short shelf life, so that’s probably the year the photo was taken.
The large building you see in the satellite view is the old theater portion. Established in 1959 and thru the late 90’s it was an auto repair shop Abby’s". The front part (the entrance) you see in the photo later became pharmacy / malt shop. It is located in across the street of the old “Roses” store 6167 (closed) and Arthur’s Grille 6163 (closed). To the Left of it is the old Abby’s Gas Station (AMOCO) (closed). The large building is now vacant. Walking around the interior you can still see the floor slope markings on the wall. The old lighting is still hanging from the ceiling along with some of the original wall papering. The old projector rooms are still there also.
Hope this helps a little, form a Norview Pilot For Life, Class of 78, John Culpepper
The NorView Theatre appears to have been dismantled in 1957. The History of Kempsville Masonic Lodge has this line referring to an event related to the opening of the Masons' new lodge hall in 1957: “Brother Talbot tore his hand on removing our first set of chairs from the old Norview Theatre.”
I’ve been unable to find any mention of the NorView Theatre in any of the trade publications of the 1940s and 1950s to which I have access, but the architectural style of the building is certainly characteristic of that period.
There is a problem with the address currently given for this theater. Albano Cleaners, the first building on the block north of Chesapeake Boulevard, has an address of 6132 N. Sewells Point Road. The block south of Chesapeake Boulevard is numbered 3600. There is today no 5200 block of Sewells Point Road.
This comment on a HamptonRoads.com article about High’s Ice Cream shops has this line: “Away back in the 1940s, High’s had a store in Norview at Hugo Street, just two doors south of the Norview Theatre.” This has led me to believe that the NorView Theatre was in what is now a rather nondescript, single-story brick building painted a yellowish cream color, about a block north of where Street View is currently set.
Satellite View shows an auditorium-sized structure behind it, backing up to Chesapeake Boulevard. I can’t determine the address of the building from Street View, and there’s no external indication of what it now houses, but the theater’s entrance was probably directly across the street from what is now Sabor Catracho Restaurant, for which the Internet provides the address 6163 Sewells Point Road. That means the modern address for the theater building would be approximately 6162-6164 Sewells Point Road.
The caption on this photo states 1945 – 1954