163rd Street & Patio Theatre
1245 NE 163rd Street,
North Miami Beach,
FL
33162
1245 NE 163rd Street,
North Miami Beach,
FL
33162
3 people
favorited this theater
The twin-screen, 1,200 seat, 163rd Street Theatre was opened in 1960 in conjunction with the 163rd Street Shopping Center. For years it was a busy first run house with a terrazzo lobby in a serpentine pattern, translucent fiberglass walls in the lobby with colored lights behind. It was part of the Wometco (Wolfson Meyers Theatre Company) from it’s inception.
In 1970 a seperate third screen was added (seating capacity unknown), named the Patio Theatre.
As the suburban neighborhood changed from well heeled Jewish retirees to working class West Indian, attendance dropped off and it was demolished around 1991. I was an usher there in the 1970’s and my brother before me in the 1960’s.
Contributed by
Roy Bower
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 22 comments)
The Dadeland Twin ran “FUNNY GIRL” and “OLIVER!” on roadshow although they were added runs after both had played a while in Miami Beach/Bay Harbor.
Yep, remember “Oliver!” there. Again, we never went to Miami Beach/Bay Harbor. “The Bible: In the Beginning” had a big rerelease showing at Dadeland – I know it wasn’t the initial 1966 release – wasn’t in Miami then. In 83, I stood in line five hours for “Return of the Jedi” – number five in line. Unfortunately, it was with a bunch of sci-fi nerds in costume – I hid from the news cameras.
I saw Nightmare on elm street 2 there as a kid. I dont think the neighborhhod suffered from “west indian” folks. i think it was the hatins, and the other blacks. they destroyed that area. Now it is a walmart, and a home depot in its place.
Article with picture September 25th, 1960 View link
Grand opening ad View link
Patio grand opening ad October 29th, 1970 at View link
Bea Auther was in the openeing movie,Arrrrggggg!
Did the “Patio” have a separate entrance? I finally saw that “Lovers and Other Strangers” on TCM – hated it. Would probably be a PG13 today.
“So what’s the story?”
It was big hit at the time.
The Patio had a separate boxoffice and entrance. When the theatre was tripled, the main boxoffice sold all tickets but the Patio (screen # 3), still had a separate doorman. Wometco did a nice job twinning their main screens. They were not sloppy rush jobs like General Cinema did in Florida.
Loved this theater. When I was a teen-aged mall rat in the early-mid ‘80s, I used to take the bus to N. Miami and hang out, shop and go see movies at these cavernous barns of a theater. Saw Class, Brainstorm, Easy Money, The Mel Gibson version of The Bounty, Hannah & Her Sisters, Ruthless People and Aliens before I moved out of the area. It was really an event to go to this theater.
I have uploaded some ads and a picture of this theatre.