State Theatre
687 Central Avenue,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33701
687 Central Avenue,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33701
1 person
favorited this theater
The State Theatre opened in 1950 in a building originally built in 1924 as a bank. It closed in 1982. The theatre mostly hosts live concerts but has recently hosted the Renegade Films' Saints and Sinners Film Festival.
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The State was a conversion of a 1924 built former bank building. The architect of the conversion was Archie G. Parish and he created an 825 seat auditorium that had a free floating screen on the back wall that had concealed coloured lighting behind it. It was equipped for screening 70mm movies with stereo sound.
It had closed as a movie theatre by 1982.
Actually only the Center theater in downtown St Petersburg had 70mm projectors. The State did have CinemaScope. The State also seated only around 500 people. My father and grandfather owned both at one time. In fact, they were the ones that convert the State into a theater
RockS;
Thanks for your corrections.
Built in 1924 as the Alexander National Bank. Original architect was Neel Reid. The building became a movie theater in 1949.
This is a recent photo of the State Theater.
Here is a 2008 photo.
State Theatre website
This theatre opened on May 1st, 1950, and the ad can be found on this newspaper page at View link
Around 1968 a friend and I drove over from Tampa to see “South Pacific” here. It was my first time at the State, and I recall being impressed by the wide CinemaScope screen with the colored lighting behind it. It did appear to be free-floating…very unusual but effective. “South Pacific” looked great and the onscreen image was well-focused overall. I remember the seats were very comfortable and the cushions were slightly thicker and softer than standard theatre seating. In 1969 I also saw “The Gay Deceivers.” These were the only two films I saw here. Wish I had driven over more often. The State was a very nice, comfortable theatre.
Box Office had an article on the opening of the State Theatre in 1950, owned by Charlie Richileu with seating listed at 750.