American Theater
125 East Mellen Street,
Hampton,
VA
23669
125 East Mellen Street,
Hampton,
VA
23669
1 person
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The American Theater opened around 1912. In the 1930’s the name was changed to the Lee Theater. The Lee Theater closed in the 1970’s as a “regular” movie theater and re-opened as an adult movie theater. It then closed as an adult theater and re-opened as the New American Theater, a second run movie house.
The New American Theater closed for good as a movie theater around 1996. In 1999 this theater re-opened under its original name of the American Theater. It is operated by the Hampton Arts Council and it is now a live performance theater.
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Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
On that website there is an opening date given of 1908. That date is for the first American Theater that was located there. That theater burned down in 1911 and was replaced with the current theater.
Here is a 1931 photo. An interesting building, to say the least:
http://tinyurl.com/ruouc
This is an updated link for this theater.
This is a 2007 photo of the American Theater.
Here is another updated link for the Hampton Arts website.
Exterior photo
Interior photo
Nice website, Looks very nice.I wonder what happened to the statues that were on the outside of the theatre?
Wsasser in your comment second to last paragraph you said in Oct 1986 it opened as the New American and remained open until June 1966. Did you mean it remained open until June 1996?
Thanks wsasser, I pretty much thought that was what you meant.
I have removed a couple of posts with a bit of misinformation and am posting the following, which I think is accurate.
Per local records:
The American Theater at 119 E. Mellen Street in Phoebus opened in Jan.1909 and burned down in 1911/1912 per a Daily Press News story.
It opened again in 1912 and closed as the American in March 1932.
It opened a few days later in March 1932 as the Lee Theater and remained in business until 1968.
In May 1968, it became the Lee Adult Theater and remained in business as such until Oct 1984.
In Oct 1986, it opened as the New American and remained open until June 1996. It was a a theater that served meals along with the show and was operated by Smith & Wade, local entertainers.
In June 2000, it opened as the American, a cultural center operated by the Hampton Arts Center.