Prospect Theatre
620 N. Beech Street,
North Little Rock,
AR
72114
620 N. Beech Street,
North Little Rock,
AR
72114
1 person
favorited this theater
The Prospect Theatre was a small neighborhood theatre with seating listed at 390. The article says the theatre was closed in the mid-1950’s. Info from the Hisotrical Society magazine.
Contributed by
Chuck
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
I attended the Prospect Theatre as a boy, growing up in LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — NOT North Little Rock, far across the river. The theatre was at 620 N. Beech St., LITTLE ROCK until it became Ark’s first TV studio, KRTV, 1952. A VHF stn., KATV, Ch. 7, succeeded KRTV, but a Halloween night fire destroyed the building, mid-1950s. It’s now the pkg lot for Hillcrest Kroger supermarket.
The October 17, 1925, issue of The Reel Journal said that contracts had been let for T. W. Sharp’s new theater to be built at 620 N. Beech Street, Little Rock. The two-story building, 44x140 feet, was expected to cost $50,000.
The item does give the location as Little Rock, not North Little Rock (see wjerdean’s comment previous to mine.) The reason Google Maps can’t find 620 N. Beech Street in Little Rock is because the street is now called Beechwood Street. Kavanaugh Boulevard, just north of the theater’s site, was once called Prospect Avenue. The correct zip code is 72205.
I found a web page saying that the fire that destroyed the theater building took place in 1957, but I’ve lost track of the link.
I believe you will find the studio/old theatre burned on Halloween night, 1957. I was 12, and my friends sifted through the ashes for film clips, etc. The KATV studio had a 300-foot mast erected nearby, taken down because local residents feared its falling. Next door was a delightful blue plate siner called Mrs. Treet’s. The whole area south of the theatre then was residential.