Lamar Theatre

The Lamar Theatre is located at 1716 Lamar Ave. and it seated 1020 people.

The Lamar dates back to the silent movie era. There is a small stage and a small organ chamber left and right of the proscenium at stage level. The arched window visible in the photo above opens into the projection booth. In the projection booth there are vestiges of an older facade, indicating that the booth and lobby are additions to an older theater. When last seen in 1990 the roof was nearly gone, the side exit doors falling out of the walls. Every other row of seats had been removed for the live part of the prono show which was the Lamar's last use.

The facade of the Lamar appears in the film "Mystery Train."

Went there once in 1963 to see a Tarzan movie with Gordon Scott and Sean Connery as the villain. Even then I remember it as pretty seedy.

I went there almost every weekend from 1960-1961. I attended Bellevue Jr High and lived a couple of blocks away from the theatre.

If memory serves me correctly the theatre was run by the Sahpiro family. I remember the cashier's name was Tasha Steelman and she was built better than the theatre.

There were always 3 features on weekends with "Selected" short subjects and plent of trailers.

Some of the films I remeber are "The Hypnotic Eye", "Battle In Outter Space" and a re-release of Abbot and Costello's "Jack and the Beanstalk".

It was a great hangout for young teenies. If you got lucky you could put your arm around a girls shoulder or even hold hands.

It was a fun and innocent place to go and I go there in my mind all the time.
Bill Elliott

There's some footage of this closed theatre in the recent documentary, "Inside Deep Throat" (2005).

Does anyone know if the theatre ever opened again after getting set on fire while "Deep Throat" played there in the 1970s?

Monika, The Lamar operated as a porno house into the late 1970's. Its last incarnation was a short-lived and underfunded "family entertainment" venue. When I last saw the theatre in the mid-1990's there was no sign of fire damage. It was a wreck, but not burned.
Will Dunklin

this was also one of the theatres to be bought by stax before the capitol,the lamar was put up for lease at the time and jim stewart decided on the capitol instead.

Photos of the former Lamar Theater in Memphis are here and here and here.

This is another photo of the Lamar Theater.

I was watching the "Deep Throat" documentary and it was mentioned in the movie, especially with mafia influence. They cut to a picture from the side of the dilapidated building and marquee.

Here is a photo from January 2006 of the Lamar looking the best it has in years. There has been some discussion about converting into a recording studio. Great to see some effort is being made to restore at least the exterior.

Here is another pre-restoration photo:
http://tinyurl.com/zef27

Here is a recent photo of the Lamar Theater.

This is a 2008 close-up view.

I thought I'd come check the new comments on the Lamar after watching "Mystery Train" again this morning, there are some very beautiful shots of the theatre in the movie. I am pleased to read that the theatre is being used/is going to be used again in a new way.

A June 2008 photo can be seen here. It doesn't look like anything is being done with this building.

Here is another photo of the Lamar.

1983 photo of the Lamar Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c42%2c3%2c1808&catpageindex=4&ProductID=33672

This site gives the opening date of the Lamar as November 29, 1926.

Here are two recent photos:

Photo1

Photo2