Tower Theater
1508 SW Eighth Street,
Miami,
FL
33135
1508 SW Eighth Street,
Miami,
FL
33135
2 people
favorited this theater
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From October 3rd, 2022, a news segment from Miami’s NBC affiliate:
“City of Miami to Terminate Miami-Dade College’s Tower Theater Lease”
and a Miami New Times article:
“Miami Protestors Oppose City Takeover of Tower Theater”
and a Youtube video:
“Save Tower Theater Miami 2022”
An internet search will turn up more articles/information.
Funny, apparently there is a model of the exterior of the Tower Theater in the Little Havana portion of Miniland in the Legoland theme park near Orlando:
Click here for a Youtube video of an episode of “Roadside Florida”, set to begin as the model appears.
(Also, Google for images of “Miniland Little Havana” and you might see the model in its surroundings.)
I enjoy being able to use the historic box office, while some other renovated cinemas I’ve visited now have you buy your ticket inside instead while the old box office lies dormant.
I like getting a Cuban coffee for 75 cents at Exquisito’s window directly next door to the theater and observing the street life before seeing a film.
And across the street is Azucar, an ice cream shop that sometimes serves “Burn in Hell Fidel” flavor. : )
Status should be “Open (Showing movies)”
The Tower has been a movie theater again as of a few years ago, showing foreign and independent films, and is one of the Miami International Film Festival venues.
Website is http://www.towertheatermiami.com though the one still listed on this page redirects there.
Phone number is 305 237-2463
Hey Louis, I remember that clock. It had a blueish hue that was on all during the movies.
The Tower had a really awesome WTVJ Channel 4 neon clock inside. As kids we frequented the theater often. It was always a double feature (spanish subtitles or spanish language) and very cheap. At the time, it was still owned by Wometco. They used to play those spanish Mexican cowboy movies, which were in spanish, but in addition to that, they played mostly current American films with spanish subtitles. I think the last time I attended a movie there was in 71 or 72. The #5 bus took us there, as well as Downtown, where most of the more recent films played.
The Florida, Miami, and Paramount were mostly first run films, until Downtown crapped out. At that point, the aforementioned theaters became stores or small malls. Horrible choices, but Wometco was increasingly getting out of the theater business during those times.
Al, Yes I remember “La Novia” very well; several scenes have stayed in my mind all these years. The movie was a little “sappy”, but I loved the song, “Ante el altar está llorando, todos dirán que es de alegría”.
Guarina, you remember LA NOVIA? Nobody else seems to.
It seems to have escaped history and it was one of my late mother’s favorite films.
I can still remember Antonio Prieto singing “Blanca y radiate va la novia…” as he walked down the aisle of the church as his heart sick love married her doctor, and not him.
“Le sigue atras su novio amante”.
Ave Maria!
AlAlvarez, The Town was one of the first movies I ever went to when I moved to Miami, in late August 1961 I saw “The Savage Innocents” with Anthony Quinn. “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley” was playing in the juke box in a nearby coffee shop and I had a Yoo-Hoo. And I think it was there I later saw “El Rufián”, a good Argentinean suspense movie, and “La Novia” with Chilean Antonio Prieto.
This opened on December 20th, 1926. Ad posted in this theatre’s photo section.
The link needs to be updated:
http://www.mdc.edu/tower/
Another recent photo of The Tower Theater.
View link
My grandmother and I went to the Tower Theatre once, as I recall,
to see “Half Angel” starring Loretta Young. I suppose it was around 1950 and I was about nine years old. I remember huge round airconditioning vents in the ceiling…larger than other theatres I knew at the time. As far as interior decor, I don’t remember anything at all. I do remember the “tower” was neon it and maybe
flashed. A decade or so later the “tower” came down as shown in the 1961 or thereabouts photo earier in this thread. My grandmother lived at S.W. 11th Terrace just west of 22nd Ave and we probably walked to the Tower since she didn’t drive…or we could have taken the #5 Miami bus down S.W. 8th Street. I would have gone to the show there more if my grandmother hadn’t moved just a short while after that.
1985 Miami News article on the Tower’s original closing.
View link
OK, thanks. I was close.
“Gallos” are roosters, Spanish slang for the term “Boys Don’t Cry”.
I was going to say that the marquee on the 3/22 photo says “Chickens dont’t cry”, but I suspect that I am translating gallos incorrectly.
Joe, that thirties remodel was strictly cosmetic. Wometco took it over and made it look more contemporary with Art Deco touches.
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y9psap9
Here is a photo circa early 1960s:
http://tinyurl.com/ll3w2s
1981 photo of the Tower here.
The Tower Theatre was rebuilt in 1937. I don’t know if it was a ground-up rebuilding or merely an extreme remodeling job. An article about Wometco Theatres in the April 16, 1938, issue of Boxoffice Magazine mentioned in passing that Robert E. Collins had been the architect for the rebuilding of the Tower Theatre the previous year.
The Tower opened in 1926 and recently hosted screenings for the Miami Film Festival.
This is now the oldest operating movie theatre in South Florida.
…[chuckle]…
As Al pointed out, “anti-Castro” is putting it mildly.
More Tower Theatre info here.
“When it opened in December of 1926, it was Robdendon Corporation’s newest theater and cost $110,000.”
“On October 3, 1931 the Tower Theater re-opened following extensive remodeling under the leadership of renowned architect Robert Law Weed.”