Iwo Jima Theater

I remember seeing a reference to a State Theatre in Jacksonville in a 1967 (Raleigh) News and Observer movie ad. Jacksonville’s Cardinal Theatre opened in 1969; at that point the State may have converted to second-run, grindhouse or porn. If the State and/or Onslow theaters were still operating in the 1970s, they were most likely showing porn and/or grindhouse films; Court Street was very sleazy during the 1970s. Both theaters were most likely demolished during a “cleanup” of Court Street in the early 1980s (similar to what happened to Fayetteville’s Hay Street grindhouses in the 1990s). The Iwo Jima closed in 1985, after the “cleanup” of Court Street but before Carmike took over S&E. The Iwo Jima is, to the best of my knowledge, the only downtown theater left in Jacksonville (which doesn’t have much of a downtown – Jax was a very small town before Camp Lejeune and New River Marine Corps Air Station were built during World War II).

The Iwo Jima Theater’s design was also used by the Wilrik Theatre in Sanford; both were Stewart & Everett Theatres.

That’s not the marquee just the neon sign Iwo Jimo that was above the marquee as stated in the caption.

I remember seeing the movie ‘Homebodies’ at the Iwo Jima in the fall of 1974 with my father. We were hoping it was going to be a suspenseful movie, which it was, but was also depressing – was about old people being forced out of their homes for new office buildings and their attempts to fight back. The weather that day outside the Iwo Jima was overcast and gloomy that day too. I was only 12 and that was my only time in that theatre.

This is a photo of the radio station now located in the former theater building.