Paramount Theatre
211 N. Queen Street,
Kinston,
NC
28501
211 N. Queen Street,
Kinston,
NC
28501
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This was originally known as the Loftin’s Opera House as early as 1898, and was renamed the Grand Theatre on January 6, 1914.
I only just read that its being restored. Look up The Paramount Project.
Early Grand Theatre print ad image added via Jane Gradeless Phillips‎. Contains 4 photos.
Circa 1962 photo added courtesy of the AmeriCar The Beautiful Facebook page.
The Platinum nightclub has been evicted from the former Paramount Theatre due to nonpayment of rent and frequent violence. The Paramount Theatre building is currently vacant.
Another nightclub, the Platinum Club, has been operating in the former Paramount Theatre since the start of 2014; may have taken over the previous club (Paramount City Lounge) before then.
Kinston had at least two other downtown “white” theaters besides the Paramount. The Oasis Theatre was located at 106 South Queen Street and the building at 102 S. Queen Street may have been the Carolina Theatre. The Center Theatre also operated downtown, possibly an AKA for either the Oasis or the Carolina theaters.
Paramount City Lounge has closed; its website is no longer functioning.
This theater was opened in 1915 as the Grand Theatre. Paramount Pictures (through Wilby-Kincey) took over the Grand in the early 1930s and renamed it the Paramount Theatre. The Paramount Theatre was damaged by fire in the late 1940s and subsequently remodeled.
In the mid-1970s the Paramount ran R-rated “B” movies and charged ninety-nine cents adult admission. Downtown Kinston was declining due to competition from shopping centers, and the Paramount could not compete with the suburban theatres as a first-run house. Stewart & Everett went to second-run and “B” films to keep the Paramount going. After S&E picked up a defunct theatre at Kinston Plaza and re-opened it as the Plaza Cinema in 1975, the jig was up for the Paramount. S&E chose to close the Paramount rather than convert it into a pornhouse.
During the 60’s and 70’s the “Paramount” was operated as a single screen under the Stewart&Everett banner.
I was involved in the installation of the projection & sound equipment of the new “Mall Cinema” single screen also owned by Stewart&Everett chain. (1969) Don’t remember the seating capacity but the building was of similar style as the Pitt Plaza Cinema in Greenville, N.C. This was also my first installation as an apprentice technician.