Southeast Theater

The South-East Theatre, with room for 750 patrons, opened in Sugarhouse on Christmas night 1936. This $60,000 Joseph L Lawrence Theater, with a 500-car parking lot, was located over four miles from the downtown theaters. The Salt Lake Tribune said the theater, deigned by Wolley and Evans, would follow the ultra-modern trend in design. The premiere attraction was ‘Come and Get It’ with Edward Arnold, Frances Farmer and Joel McCrea. It was a second-run house until 1962 when Fox Intermountain remodeled it to be a first-run attraction. The new theater opened on February 1, 1962 and on March 21 they held the Salt Lake premiere of ‘West Side Story.’ This was on a reserved seat basis with 10 showings a week. In October of 1974 the theater received some excellent publicity in the Tribune. The x-rated version of ‘Frankenstein’ was going to be viewed by the chamber of commerce and the vice squad. This was to determine if the film should be banned at the South East. Evidently no action was taken and ‘Frankenstein’ was alive. The theater was open as late as January of 1976 because an article in the Tribune mentioned the South East Theatre. In April of 1977 the Tribune said that a new minimall would be constructed on the site of the old South East Theatre. This renovation evidently stripped the building down to its concrete and brick walls and the theater was used as part of the minimall. Grant Smith says that the final demolition was in the late 90s.

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