Georgia Theatre
663 Mississippi Boulevard,
Memphis,
TN
38126
663 Mississippi Boulevard,
Memphis,
TN
38126
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As of 2022, vacant with a For Rent sign.
Latterly Miss Shirley’s Kitchen, now KO’s Kitchen serving soul food.
A very nice gentleman from the Royal Knights, headquartered in the building, let me look inside. It is a bar with a low ceiling supported by posts. It can be seen where the lobby wall was, otherwise no trace of the interior. He said that it had been a bar since the mid-1970s but also said he would look up more information. Dave Lebovitz owned and operated several “Colored” movie theaters: Ace, Harlem, and Georgia. He and his brother also owned and operated three Drive-In movies: Sky-Vue, Lamar, and Sunset (West Memphis).
My dad and his brother owned and operated this theater from the time it opened until it closed, probably in the wake of the MLK assassination. It plus the Ace and the Harlem were all part of the orginal group which they owned and all were in black neighborhoods that could be pretty rough on weekends.
The Georgia Theatre must be the project mentioned in the August 17, 1940, issue of Boxoffice. Headed “625-Seat Negro Theatre Planned in Memphis,” the item gave the location as the corner of Georgia and Mississippi avenues. Designed by architect Raymond B. Spencer, the new house was slated to cost $35,000.