Kay Theater

Main Street,
Rockdale, TX 76567

1 person favorited this theater

The Kay opened on Main Street in 1947, the smaller of Rockdale’s two movie houses (the larger being the Dixie). It was a Quonset-style building, with Streamline Moderne facade and decor. The Kay had a small balcony, originally for the use of African-American patrons in the era of segregration. The Kay operated until the early 60s.

A group has been organized, the Kay Theater Foundation, of Rockdale citizens who want to purchase and restore the long-vacant theater for use as a performing arts center. The group’s goal is to raise $46,000 to acquire the theater from its current owner. It is estimated restoring the Kay will cost at least $400,000.

Contributed by Bryan

Recent comments (view all 10 comments)

trailerjoh on December 4, 2006 at 3:16 pm

Glad to see some action on this theater. The last time I saw it a year or so ago, the front was covered in vines and the wood doors looked like they were about to rot off. However, when I went by there yesterday (12/02/06), the place had been cleaned up. The rotton doors were gone and a steel mesh up to keep folks out. The inside had been cleaned out and the theater looked like it was also cleaned up. No seats or screen but the place looked a lot better. Have always been curious about this place. Hope they can get the “fixin'” done. Looked bigger inside than I thought it would.

John

lostmemory on January 1, 2007 at 6:35 am

This is a recent photo of the Kay Theater building.

lostmemory on September 6, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Here are some photos of the Kay Theater building. Click each photo to expand it.

trailerjoh on June 3, 2009 at 11:33 pm

Here is what the theater looked like the day I saw it in Dec. 06.

View link

John

trailerjoh on June 4, 2009 at 8:43 am

Other photos from that day.

View link

trailerjoh on August 6, 2009 at 8:57 pm

The Kay Theater has been painted and the front of the building has been enclosed. There are some coke machines inside and tables set up. Looks like for the convience of the workers. There was a plastic sheet blocking the view of the auditorium so don’t know what’s going on in there. These photos are as of Aug. 6 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12335678@N00/?saved=1

The whole set of photos is in the link in the preceeding message.

John

lostmemory on September 3, 2009 at 5:22 pm

Here is a recent photo. The building looks much better today.

kencmcintyre on September 19, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ksmhlj