North Miami Theatre
6th Avenue & 126th Street,
North Miami,
FL
33161
6th Avenue & 126th Street,
North Miami,
FL
33161
2 people
favorited this theater
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Even though the sign says “Miami Way” and now it’s referred to as the"North Miami,“ this theater will always be the "Southland” Theater to me as it was for so long during my youth. I was 6 years old in 1958 and attended often, probably from then to 1968. The best memories of it were after Actor Phillip Michael Thomas took it over while “Miami Vice” was shooting in the early 80’s. Mr. Thomas has a big heart and helped a lot of fellow thespians to pursue their dreams on the stage with this facility.
Al… thanks for jogging my memory… those two names escaped me!
Jeff, the two theatres you mention are the Biscayne Twin and the Holiday. The Holiday was a successful dollar house for many years.
Even though the City of North Miami never did acquire the theater from Phillip Michael Thomas, I disagree with Harvey. Stage plays “and other crap” are still a better thing than having an empty building, which it’s been for years.
As far as I know, it’s always been a movie theater. Perhaps the intent was to have stage plays, but that never happened. In it’s early years, there were two retail storefronts to the left and right of the box office/entrance.
If I recall from an old photo, one was a TV-Radio repair and the other was “Camerucci the Tailor” (in the 1950’s)…
Amazingly, this was the ONLY theater in North Miami until the 1980’s, when a dollar theater was constructed inside the former St. Clair’s/Polly Davis/David’s Cafeteria in the 127th Street Shopping Center on Biscayne Blvd. It didn’t last.
Neither did the budget movie house built by Jack Knapp behind his West Dixie Lanes (formerly Interama/Pinerama Lanes) on West Dixie Hwy. near 159th Street in North Miami Beach.
Operating in 1969 as the Under-Ground.
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Thanks to Mike Rivest for finding the Miami News online.
You are welcome, Harvey.
As you probably already know, a search for NORTH MIAMI THEATRE will yield two photos.
I’ve been out of the loop for a bit but WOW! This is all new North Miami stuff that wasn’t on that site when I linked the theatre to it.
Thanks, Al! As usual, you rule!
1962 ad for the remodeled North Miami.
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If you go to Google Maps, type in 12662 West Dixie Highway, then click on street view and spin the image around, there you have The North Miami/Southland/MiamiWay Theater.
Well, shoot. That’s a dead link. I don’t know what happened to that site on North Miami history but it looks like a goner. I even tried the Wayback Machine on archive.org and couldn’t find it. I can’t believe I didn’t save the picture either!
I can’t get that like to work, Harvey.
Here is a new link to the August 14, 2007 photo.
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Apparently, if this website is correct, the City of North Miami is going to buy the theatre and re-open it for the community. Meaning no movies, just plays and other crap.
But if they let it exist, I’ll take it. There’s also a picture from 1954 here.
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Southland Theater was my home away from home from the late-70s to early 80s. Used to go there nearly every week. $1 for a double feature…you couldn’t beat it. Saw more bad slasher films after Halloween came out (saw it there as well) than I care to admit. What was even better was the owner didn’t card for R movies so parents needn’t know what movies their kid was seeing.
Must have seen 100s of movies there. Superman, Phase IV, Boogey Man, Saturday Night Fever, Hard Times, Great Waldo Pepper, All the President’s Men, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Porky’s, Demolition Alley…hell I could go on for a couple pages.
Wonderful theater and miss it greatly…
There are no pictures available, as of today.
The North Miami circa 1958.
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I went there as a small child when it was a neighborhood movie theater. Admission was $.14. First movie I saw there was original War of the Worlds. I’m surprise it is stil there.
I spent so much time at this theatre as a kid it was ridiculous. Saw STREETS OF FIRE everyday for a week. At one time in the mid-80’s, double features were 75 cents. 75 cents for a double feature of CHUD and HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP. You can’t beat that.
My uncle worked here in the early 70’s and talked about a really long run of BILLY JACK.
Saw PURPLE RAIN and PENITENTIARY 2 double feature on what I considered a date, but I don’t think she did. Smelled pot for the first time here,too
Philip Michael Thomas bought it and renamed it the MiamiWay. Upon opening, he played movies from the 70’s he was in like SPARKLE and STIGMA.
Drove by it in February of 2005 while I was in town and it still stands. Funny how small the outside it looks now.
Never will forget this theatre. I remember this theatre was packed when a low budget film called “Camp Sleepaway” scared the living crap out of me and showed a surprise ending. Here’s what I know abou t the theatre. Back in the Miami Vice era in the mid 80’s, actor Phillip Michael Thomas bought the property and turned into a recording studio.