Olympia Theatre at Gusman Center
174 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
174 E. Flagler Street,
Miami,
FL
33131
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 57 of 57 comments
The Olympia is a true palace. As a kid I would just stare at the walls and the ceiling when the movie got boring. I often went in at 11:00am and came out after dark having seen the same film over and over again. A smuggled in hoagie from the nearby Woolworths provided a meal.
This was the downtown home of most Disney and Doris Day films, the only ones I could get into. I often asked strangers to accompany me to R rated films and they willingly obliged in that more innocent age. I saw WILD IN THE STREETS, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, and BONNIE AND CLYDE this way.
The floating clouds and cool air conditioning made me a cinema buff for life. In the early 70’s the Miami Police shut down the 3-D soft core porn flick THE STEWARDESSES and arrested manager Jimmy Barnett.
For more information on Downtown Miami cinemas and Jimmy Barnett check out a documentary by University of Miami professor Corky Irick called A FEW THINGS I KNOW ABOUT MIAMI. It can be found at the Coral Gables public library on VHS.
Here is a pic, look at that great box-office
http://www.agilitynut.com/05/1/olympia.jpg
In a previous post I mentioned that my husband knows the man who bought the Paramount sign….he still owns it today, but it is one of the original signs and not the curved sign that still exists on the building that isn’t used as a theatre anymore. And now there is a link to this Paramount on CT.
Small photos and brief history at this link:
View link
Found this theatre though a newly introduced friend and couldn’t believe how utterly beautiful this Eberson ‘atmospheric’ theatre is. I lived in FL for over 30 years and never visited this theatre in Miami as I didn’t know of its existence and didn’t have the theatre ‘bug’ then. Sure wish the Paramount Theatre in Palm Beach FL still existed though. My husband knows the man who bought the Paramount sign many years ago and now wonder if he still has it today??
The Paramount Theatre seated 2200 people when it was a movie theatre.
to whom it may concern, i enjoy watching your plays ,but unfortunate i can’t come to see all of them and i was wondering if you have them on video. if so can you please email me and give me a price list and other information about your plays thank you. keep up the good work.