Alamo Theatre
333 North Farish Street,
Jackson,
MS
39207
333 North Farish Street,
Jackson,
MS
39207
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The Alamo Theatre opened in 1942 seating 406. It was built in the African-American professional and trade community of Farish Street. The Alamo Theatre screened westerns and African-American films and also hosted acts and performing artists such as B.B King, Nat King Cole and other top African-American performers.
By 1960 everything came to a halt and the Alamo Theatre closed. It remained shuttered until 1992. A community restoration came about in the hopes of reviving the neighborhood. Fortunately the exterior was still in good shape and therefore the plasterwork, windows and corrugated white metal were easily restored.
Inside, everything was in shambles with the ceiling and other junk a foot and a half deep on the floors. Nothing could be salvaged. The restoration decided to go from scratch and restore in the interior to its original Art Deco style.
The marquee and the vertical sign were restored to their original design including all the neon. It took over two years to complete the project and the theatre re-opened in 1997. It is now hosting all forms of art, music, dance and theatre.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Couple photos of the Alamo Theatre.
http://www.roadsidenut.com/alamo1103.jpg
http://www.roadsidenut.com/alamo11031.jpg
This is a small photo of the interior of the Alamo Theater.
Here is a recent photo of the Alamo Theater.
Doing Family history research, I came across a cousin, Webb Stevens, WW I Draft Registration, dated June 5, 1917.
His occuption description on his draft card stated,
Motion Picture Operator,
Alamo Theatre, [no street address]
Jackson, Mississippi,
Employer: R A Bell.
The 1917 date on the draft card predates, by 25 years, the 1942 opening date described in the above history of the theatre.
It seems obvious there was another Alamo Theatre located in Jackson
prior to the Farish Street Alamo.
If so,
Does anyone know where it was located in Jackson?
Jerry Stevens
Jackson, Ms
Well, five minutes after my question, I came across another history description of the Alamo Theatre on another web site.
http://www.visitjackson.com/view.php?eid=616
It States,,,
The first structure was located on Farish Street in the 100 block across from where McCoy Federal Building now stands. The second Alamo was located on West Amite Street at Roach Street. This newly renovated structure (the third) was built in the early 1940’s in this Farish Street Historic District.
Jerry Stevens
And according to this link the current Alamo Theater has 524 seats.
Here is a marquee photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y96nwu4
2010 photo of the Alamon Theatre courtesy J Mazzolaa.
View link
Well, Hello all! My name is Shawn Smith and I am the manager @ the historical Alamo Theatre. For information, tours or booking please call the theatre at 601.352.3365! I look forward to all of your calls. BTW, if you are on FaceBook, you can find us at the The Alamo Theatre. I post all upcoming shows there.
Oh, you can also reach me thru email….