Beach Theatre
315 Corey Avenue,
St. Petersburg Beach,
FL
33706
315 Corey Avenue,
St. Petersburg Beach,
FL
33706
9 people
favorited this theater
The Beach Theatre opened on January 15, 1940 with 528 seats. Remodeled in the mid-2000’s, this Art Deco movie theater is close to the pristine beaches of western Florida. It recent years it showed a mix of movies, plus some live performances. The Beach Theatre was closed in November 2012.
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TC
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Recent comments (view all 32 comments)
Hello all, I work for the Beach Theatre (on their website) and just found this website and entry for the theatre. In reading the earlier comments, there seems to be some confusion about the original opening date for the theatre. Those who’ve said we opened on 1/15/1940 are correct. We still have a grand opening Playbill framed in our theatre from that event that anyone can see as they enter the lobby. I don’t know why there isn’t an ad in the paper on that day. I looked at the March 1946 newspaper “opening” ad and that must refer to the RE-opening of the theatre. As it states on our history page, during WWII a German U-boat was spotted off the coast of FL, so a blackout was ordered of all businesses along the coast that lasted 18 months. 1946 was after the war ended, so it seems that we’d reopen around that time.
this theater is open for business? your website is not updated for weeks like that facebook page
The Beach just announced its closed for business. Sad. They tried to make a run of it.
What a shame this was a great single screen neighborhood theater. :(
An article about the closing can be found here.
I would love to help get this theatre reopened with the owner. I have 43 years of theatre and restaurant experience. Would be fun.
The owner has established this website for those who would like to help reopen the theater as a not-for-profit.
The website listed above was set up about 2 years ago when the owner announced the intent to switch to a non-profit. The transition hadn’t happened, yet, by the time of the theatre’s closing in the middle of last November. There are some legal issues preventing the reopening, but hopefully, once settled, it’ll reopen. I haven’t spoken to the owner recently, but I worked on their website and Facebook page for years until last May.
Sad to report that screenwriter Michael France, the owner of the Beach Theatre, passed away on April 12, 2013. I wonder what will happen now to this great and nostalgic venue.
Condolences to the family.