Belvedere Theatre
2738 Rozzelles Ferry Road,
Charlotte,
NC
28208
2738 Rozzelles Ferry Road,
Charlotte,
NC
28208
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing all 16 comments
Just added an Ad from the Charlotte Observer – 1965 for the theater.
Raysson, where does your information come from? I attended movies here in the late 50s and early 60s and remember a lot of Rock Hudson, Doris Day, beach and surf movies and one stand out – PT109 from 1963. I know I was only a child – wow, I was 10 years old in ‘63. I distinctly remember going to this theater to see PT109 with my two younger cousins in tow and no parental supervision, because a boy I didn’t know sat beside me and I was so shy I took my cousins in hand and walked them home without seeing the end of the movie. We are white and I do not recall blacks there, and it certainly was not “Negroes Only” at this time. I’m not being racist or attacking anyone here, I’m just really puzzled and sincerely want to find the source of this information. Was it newspaper ads for movies? Can you tell me more? The opening announcement linked in the message above doesn’t indicate this is a black only theater, or integrated either. My elementry school in Charlotte-Mecklenburg integrated in 1965.
The Belvedere Theatre was the only theatre during the 1950’s and into the 1960’s that would admit african-americans audiences and other minorities. This “Negroes Only” theatre was home to several exclusive engagement films that played here. It was the only cinema in Charlotte that showed not only “Carmen Jones”,“The Jackie Robinson Story”, “St. Louis Blues”,“The Defiant Ones”,but also “Porgy and Bess” first-run. A lot of black movies played here “Lilies In The Field”,and “Nothing But A Man” also played here to capacity crowds that catered to black audiences during the mid-1950’s and early 1960’s. The theatre closed during the early-1970’s.
The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte has a collection of drawings and blueprints of projects built by the Mecklenburg Iron Works, and the Belvedere Theatre is among them. The Mecklenburg collection is not yet among the library’s special collections that are available online. If someone with access to the library could take a look at them, the name of the architect is probably on them. As the drawings are in a special collection, the library might require advance notice from anyone who wants to examine them. Here is the library’s web site.
Here is the new location to the 1951 Boxoffice photo of the Belvedere Theatre that Gerald DeLuca linked to in an earlier comment.
This article appeared in today’s Charlotte Observer – wonderful!
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/23/2870128/dental-practice-gives-new-life.html
I was born in this area in 1953 and clearly recall going to see many movies at the Belvedere through the 60s. I do not recall the theater being a “Negro Only” theater, where did you get this information? To my knowledge during this time the area was predominately white, but that had changed in by the 70s.
Update…the building will be saved and renovated for office uses. I’ve heard the owners are attempting to retain as many historic elements as possible. Also, in response to Mark in NC above, the neighborhood itself is going through tremendous restoration of both residential and non-residendtial properties. Unfortunately, its reputation will preceed its reality for some time.
Here is my picture from December 2010.
Nice Boxoffice photo Gerald.
Crying shame a city that prides it self on being so progressive like Charlotte would let the Belvedere rot.But you saw what they did to the CAROLINA in Charlotte.Atlanta it ain’t and never will be.
Small photo of Belvedere Theatre, Boxoffice magazine, January 6, 1951:
View link
The street name should be Rozzelles Ferry Road although Google won’t map it correctly no matter how you spell it. The building still stands.
Should this address be 2738 Rozzells Ferry Road? The US Postal Service shows no Rozzeli Ferry Road.
This theater sits in the middle of one of Charlotte’s poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. It’s a shame because the exterior is very nice in a simple sort of way. I know of no talks about reuse or preservation of this building. In fact, I’ve never seen any mention of this building in the local media.
I worked at the Belvedere theater somewhere around 1959 selling concessions. It was for all people then. My dad also worked there for a while running the projectors. We had to work long hours, and I can still remember going up the street a few blocks to buy hamburgers on my breaks. It was a very nice theater and people were not allowed to misbehave. They were asked to leave if they did. The manager of the theater was a nice gentleman and operated it with class.