Regent Theatre

The Regent was already open by 1934 and closed in 1960.

Al,

The Regent was next door to Live and Let Live Drugstore, which is still there. This theatre was closed in the latter 50s. It was across the street to the north of the Allapatah Baptist Church. I went to school there from 1960 to 1962. The theatre was built in the latter 30s.

BTW, this is very interesting. Before and after WWII there were shortages of raw materials, so there were many projects that were started but not completed until after the war. Corpus Christi church was one of these, hence them holding services at the Strand Theatre, and catechism classes at the skating rink that was next door to the Strand. There were many buildings that were not completed until the latter 40s because of this reason. The Dade Theatre was one of these.

The Regent was a pre-WWII theater with a more classic design indicative of the 1930's. The Dade had a more modern facade, similar to the Town theater downtown. The Regent faced east on 17th ave. south of 36th street. Adjacent on the south was a hamburger joint. On the north was Live and Let Live drugstore. Then there was an alley and north of that, I believe was a jewelery shop. The Regent occasionally had a stage performance between showings in addition to the newsreel and cartoons. Once I participated in a magician's performance. He was supposed to hypnotize me, but actually offered me a free pass if I'd pretend. Naively, I did and after the show he disappeared and never gave me the pass. Fred R. Jackson class of '52

Spent may Saturdays at the Regent watching Gene Autury and Roy Rogers as they and many more heros chased the bad outlaws out of the west. Cost 9cents to get in the show and my brother and I had 6cents to spend from our weekly allowance of 15cents. Spent most of that at the Live and Let Live drugstore penny candy shelf. What wonderful days were those. Also went to Comstock and Jackson and graduated in 1952. My name was the Rosalie Woodward and we lived on 26th street and 19th ave. Always had to stop at the YMCA park on the way to the movie. Remember the Yo-Yo contest they would sometimes have at the theatre??

Rosalie,
I think I remember you at Comstock and Jackson, but not sure. Are you aware of the Jackson Reunions and websites that are available? You can contact me at rockt@pmwifi.com if you'd like to know more.

Fred Rochte

The Regent opened in 1926 and closed in 1961. In the late fifties Florida State Theatres remodeled it and launched a city wide contest to rename it. The winning suggestion was "New Regent".