Florida Theatre
128 East Forsyth Street,
Jacksonville,
FL
32202
128 East Forsyth Street,
Jacksonville,
FL
32202
2 people
favorited this theater
This theater, located on Forsyth Street in downtown Jacksonville, is beautiful. It opened in 1927 and was designed to look like a Moorish courtyard at night inside, complete with dark blue sky with glowing stars, lit balconies and fountains. The theatre was designed with central heating and air conditioning. Elvis Presley made one of his first concert appearances on an indoor stage there.
Contributed by
"FullMoonFm@aol.com", Ken Willey
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 34 comments)
I remember the Florida Theatre from it’s down and out days when it was playing “Shaft”, “Blacula”, “Cotton Comes To Harlem” and “Super Fly”. It was pretty run down then, but glad to see that it has been revived.
Here is an August 1956 photo from Life Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/5pqpca
1981 photo of the Florida here.
This is a 2009 photo.
Had the great pleasure of seeing ‘Othello’ here in the mid 1990’s (Laurence
Fishburne / Kenneth Branagh version). The experience was one of the best
blendings of film with venue that I ever had in a movie palace. The opulent,
moorish inspired architecture, classic & brooding, perfectly showcased the
bard’s ‘moor of venice’. Favorite front row center balcony seats only served
to heighten the illusion of being in another place and time. Lucky, lucky
Jacksonville to have this amazing movie palace (and still screening the
flicks that were made to be seen in just such a setting). Bravo!
Another 2009 photo of the Florida Theatre & Building.
View link
Here are two pictures of the theater in July 2010.
This webpage has pictures of the Florida as well as a focus on Elvis Presley’s appearance there in 1956 (which was somewhat controversial): http://www.scottymoore.net/FlTheater.html
This theatre is haunted. A spector of a man has been seen in the upper balcony in rowE. Strange sounds come from the projection booth. There may be the spirit of little girl as well. All of this information came from the program Real or Faked on the SyFy channel.
Funny you should mention spooks.I just saw the “GHOST LAB” guys doing the Florida.The place IS seriously haunted,as are so many old places.Good shots of the beauty of the place.