Loew's St. Petersburg

Here's a link to that 1965 annual report. See pages 7 and 8. You will need to wait for the images to load.

I do not know the theatre's address, the name of the "shopping center complex" that contained it, or whether it is still operating. Any further information would be appreciated.

How they loved opening them...but how they loved shutting them down without allowing the public to assist in their restoration or even stabilization. Any idea if "the parent" corporation still has any real estate? Worth pursuing?

Well, the Loew's corporation that opened this theatre bought Lorillard tobacco around 1969, then sold off its entire theatre business around 1985. That Loews Corporation still exists, but now has nothing to do with any theatres.

The theatre division eventually fell into the hands of Sony, merged with Cineplex, and went bankrupt in 2001. The resulting Loews Cineplex Entertainment corporation is now about to be merged into AMC.

The theater building is still there. It is located at 3150 5th ave n in St. Petersburg. It currently houses the King of Peace Metropolitan Communty Church. The shopping center complex was Central Plaza. At the time it contained A Publix grocery store, a Wards dept store, A Grants Department store and a William Henry Dept store. Not much remains now. The Pubix and William Henry have been torn down. The new YMCA is located there. The Grants building is still there; but I don't know what is in there. The Wards is a auto supply warehouse.
I attended premire ofthe theater with my grandparents. The movie shown was "Our Man Flint" with James Colburn. I also remember seeing the new version of "Gone with the Wind" in either late 1969 or early 1970.
I moved from St Petersburg in 1970 and do not remember how long it remained a movie theater.

when i lived in st. petersburg in the 70s it was a twin screen.i saw jaws there also many others.it was still open as a movie theater. when i left st/petersburg in 1977

this theater has been torn down i was in st petersburg in may of 2006

This theatre is not torn down. I just attended church services there last week. The building is intact and meticulously maintained. Though it is a church, the exterior is restored and perfectly maintained.

There is no mention on this thread as to the style this theater was constructed in. There are no photos posted. Why was Loews so proud of this opening? What made is special? Another poster states that the building is "meticulously maintained". What exactly is being maintained? Any info would be appreciated.

I am the person who added this theatre page to CinemaTreasures. Unfortunately I do not know anything more about the theatre, besides what I posted above from the Loew's 1965 corporate annual report. Here is a link to page 7 of that report. You will need to rotate it 90 degrees in order to read it. I do not know whether the printed annual report was in color; this copy is in black-and-white.

The page has an artist's drawing (not a photo) of the new theatre, which appears to me to be a non-descript modernist building with blank sidewalls but a lot of glass windows in the entry lobby. There is no marquee, but instead a free-standing sign outside the entrance. The drawing's caption reads:

"Loew's new Theatre in the heart of St. Petersburg, Florida, adjoins one of Florida's largest and most successful shopping center complexes. Opens Dec. 25, 1965."

Also on the same page is this text:

"Loew's Theatres growth program is proceeding according to plan, with a minimum of twenty new theatres projected during the next two years. Before leasing arrangements are consummated, each theatre location is carefully researched as to immediate and future potential. The majority of these acquisitions will be located in important shopping centers situated in fast-growing suburban communities. Each theatre will provide extremely large parking facilities, be equipped to project all modern screen sizes, including 70 millimeter films, be seated with rocking-chair seats and be colorful in decor. Capacities will range from 1,200 to 1,400."

Thanks Ron! That description does make it sound just like a moderist box, however, if one was to look at The Ziegfeld in New York (which I believe opened around 1968) you would think the same. Instead, the interior of The Ziegfeld (in my opinion) fully qualifies this theater as a movie palace. I believe it is the last "Palace" built in New York. I hope that the city has the wisdom to landmark The Ziegfeld when it hits its 50th anniversary.

Since drumrboy above actually went to services in this theater he might be able to shed light as to what the interior of this theater looks like.

Grand opening ad at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KMMNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S3QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3966%2C1834169

another ad at http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i7YLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WlcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4304,4052564&dq=thunderball along with the Crossroads

Actually Loews was sold to TriStar Pictures, who later merged with their parent Columbia Pictures when Sony bought them. Just wanted to mention that.

What's an "all-electric" movie theatre? Did earlier theatres in this city have hand-cranked or gas-lit projectors?

Mike Rivest - what newspapers can you find like the links you posted for http://news.google.co/newspapers above - it could save me years of newspaper research if I knew how to work google's newspaper archives - can you get most big city papers in the microfilm-type versions you put here?

Major cities covered are St. Petersburg and Pittsburgh only. but the archive will grow over the years. also good archives for Victoria,TX, Rome,GA and Salt Lake City,UT. They also have many smaller Quebec papers.

Thanks, Mike. I need St. Paul, MN, Milwaukee, WI, San Diego, CA, Buffalo, NY, Kansas City, MO, Indianapolis, IN, Tampa, FL, Columbus, OH, Phoenix, AZ, Portland, OR, Providence, RI, Charlotte, NC, and Toronto, ONT - various years for each from 1957-1975. I'm trying to document what played each week in the first-run theaters or the date and theater(s) that other b-type films opened. I've been having my library borrow microfilms through Inter-Library Loan, but can only get 6 reels at a time (roughly 2 or 3 months) and it takes forever for stuff to come. The one market for which I have no research is Tampa, FL. I'll consider St. Pete as part of that metro area, but does the St. Petersburg paper also have listings for Tampa? And how do you get to where you can type in the various dates you want - the link above just has December 25, 1965. Thanks!