DeKalb Theatre

Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1941 edition with a seating capacity of 800. The 1943 edition of F.D.Y. gives a seating capacity of 500. In the 1950 edition it is listed with 800 seats again.

The DeKalb Theatre should not be confused with the Decatur Theatre. They were entirely separate venues. Both theaters were just off the courthouse square in Decatur, on opposite sides of the square. The DeKalb Theatre was located off the north side of the square at 130 East Ponce de Leon Avenue (which runs east-west). The Decatur Theatre was located off the south side of the square at 527 N. McDonough Street (which runs north-south).

Here’s a link to one of the Lane Brothers’ photographs housed at Georgia State University:

http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/spcollimages/av/lane/jpeg/LBCB039-105a.jpg

This is a 1941 view looking north from the courthouse square in Decatur. In it you will see the site of a McConnell’s 5 & 10 (later a Woolworth’s 5 & 10) in the Watkins Building on East Ponce de Leon. The site of the DeKalb Theatre would be on the right hand side of the Watkins Building, just off camera. On the right hand side of the site of the theater was the site of the Candler Hotel, at the corner of East Ponce de Leon Avenue and Church Street. These buildings were demolished and replaced by new construction in the ‘80’s.

The telephone number for the DeKalb Theatre was still listed in the 1954 Atlanta Telephone Directory. However, in the Current Amusements section of a 1954 issue of The Atlanta Journal, there was no listing for the DeKalb Theatre. The building that housed the theatre was renovated in the ‘50’s and became a J.C. Penny store. It was probably large enough to hold 800 seats when it was a theater, but that’s just speculation. My educated guess is that the DeKalb Theatre ceased operations sometime in the early 1950’s. Although I attended the Decatur Theatre literally scores of times as a kid in the ‘50’s, I never recall attending the DeKalb Theatre.

My aunt told me a story about seeing DRACULA at the DeKalb Theatre one evening and having to walk home at night to my grandmother’s house about a mile away. That’s really a comment on the innocence of an earlier era, when a child had little more to fear than their imagination. Times certainly change!

Here is a picture of THE DeKalb Theatre.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/524143669/

Here is a photo of that building taken in 1983 at about the same angle as the photo above that I posted.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/526424352/

Here is another shot I took from a different angle.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/526424356/in/photostream/

what is its current use ???

Here is a 1940 photo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24391992@N00/2748868498/

The October 23, 1937, issue of Boxoffice said that the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur was being remodeled at a cost of $14,000. In 1937 this sum bought an entirely new front, plus the construction of a balcony that increased the theater's seating capacity from 500 to 800. The DeKalb was then being operated by Lucas & Jenkins Theatres.

The January 17, 1953, issue of Boxoffice said "Fred Storey of Storey Theatres is closing the DeKalb Theatre in Decatur, GA., and has installed a Synchro-Screen in the Decatur Theatre."

The DeKalb apparently opened in 1927. The September 27, 1941, issue of Boxoffice contained this brief notice: "Lucas & Jenkins' DeKalb Theatre, Decatur, Ga., celebrated its 14th anniversary this week with special programs."