Kennedy Theater
326 Kennedy Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20011
326 Kennedy Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20011
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The Kennedy Theater, one of a number of John Eberson-designed Washington movie houses, was opened in 1939 by Warner Bros. and the opening movie was Bette Davis in “Juarez”. It was located on Kennedy Street, near Third Street. The Kennedy closed in 1974 as a theater. It most recently was home to a church.
All but the facade has now been demolished, and the facade now serves as the entrance to a new building.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The KENNEDY functioned for 2 or 3 decades as a church, but now it’s simply boarded-up. In its final days as a theater, back in the 50’s, as the neighborhood sank from bad to waaay worse, the management decided to end their loneliness by playing double features such as HIGH NOON + A PLACE IN THE SUN (then-current big hits) and charging just 50 cents (slightly less than the prevailing price); thus filling the neglected house to capacity.
hi. my family loved to an area near the kennedy theater in 1959. the area was in the process of full out white flight, but it was not, as rlvjr indicated in hos comments of july 23rd of last year, gone from “bad to waaaaay worse” in the 50s… the comment smacks of-well, need i say more? like many urban centers, the neighborhood did change for the worse by, say, 1969 or so… but i spent many a carefree, SAFE afternoon in the theater, and the surrounding environs…
reuben jackson
washington, dc
Here is a photo of the former Kennedy Theater.
Opened 6/16/39:
Welcomed by the Hon. Melvin C. Hazen, president of the Board of District Commissioners, and D.W. Gabelin, president of the Chillum Heights Citizens' Association, to a thickly populated residential section of northwest Washington, heretofore without its own neighborhood motion picture house, the Warner Brothers' handsome new Kennedy Theater last night threw open its doors to the public.
The Kennedy Theatre had 980 seats, according to the 1941 Film Daily Year Book. Here are two images, the second thanks to Dazian’s, which provided most of the fabrics used for the curtains and draperies:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/kennedy01.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/kennedy02.jpg
Here, here, and here are photos from February 2008 of the former Kennedy. Although the façade is in immaculate condition, the interior has been completely gutted and converted into some sort of community/residential centre.
Here are new links to images described above on 7/20/07:
View link
View link
This is another photo of the Kennedy Theater.
This is a 1984 short film by John Heyn that shows the Kennedy and other Washington theaters:
http://tinyurl.com/p6thon
I saw that video before. I think it’s posted on another theater listing.