Florida Quad
300 N. Park Road,
Hollywood,
FL
33021
300 N. Park Road,
Hollywood,
FL
33021
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Architectural plans were drawn in 1964 by famed theater architect Robert E. Collins for the Florida State Theatres circuit.
It Seems That The Page Didn’t Update The Opening Date, But The Closing Date Is Right Though. It Was Suppose To Say That It Opened As The “Florida Theatre” As A Twin On February 9, 1965, Changed Its Name To The “Florida Twin” In 1969, Tripled In 1984 As The “Florida Triple”, Became A Quad In 1988 As The “Florida 4”, Last Known As The “Florida Quad” Until Closed On March 21, 1996.
Yeah, I totally don’t know why Florida State Theatres have done that for others but, I’m sure it is a very popular name for that theater’s chain. Some had taken it, some didn’t. This Florida is one of them.
Also, this theater opened on February 9th, not the 10th.
Florida State Theatres did always seem to have a “FLORIDA” Theatre in each town.
Yes, the Florida Theatre in Hollywood burned down on January 14, 1964 because of that fire that injured 2 firefighters, but I’m not talking about the Florida Theatre there. I’m talking about the Florida Theatre on 30 Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale which closed between late 1966 and early 1967. This Florida and Fort Lauderdale’s Florida got me confusing because this twin was temporarily named the “Florida Theatre” since its beginning despite on this being a twin as its name for the first 4 years. I even got to look at the Fort Lauderdale News to find its match, but the name severely catches me on.
Yes, it opened as a twin, but the name got super confusing for some people. It’s not the Florida, it’s other theaters across the US and others. The theater opened with a world premiere of “Strange Bedfellows” on both screens.
Snopes, it was always a Twin. The single screen Florida burned down in 1964 and was located at 2018 Hollywood Boulevard. These early twin theatres often played the same film on both screens with two prints and staggered showtimes.
The actual closing date is March 21, 1996.
Correction: I Was Wrong, And Al Is Correct.
The Theater Actually First Opened As The Florida Theatre, Even Though It Didn’t Mean It Is A Twin, On February 10, 1965. It Was Renamed The Florida Twin In 1969. This Got Me Big Time Because It Has Nothing To Do With The Florida Theatre In Fort Lauderdale That Closed In Late 1966 Or Early 1967. The Theater Was Tripled In 1984 After Ending Its Twin Run. Wometco Took Over The Theater After Operating As A Plitt Theater For A While. A Fourth Screen Would Later Be Added During The Decade As The “Florida 4”. The Theater Was Last Known As The “Florida Quad” Before Closing In 1996.
Loved this place~! Saw “The Song Remains the Same” MANY times at midnight, weekend showings! I remember it smelled really good in the theater! REALLL GOOD! What was the theater at 441 & Sheridan?? (Before it became the Pussycat adult theater!) I saw The Warriors there when it came out! Zombie also!
I think the First movie that was show at this theater was Dr No. It might have been a double feature but don’t remember the second feature. Saw lots of other films here. Typically saw Every James Bond film and I remember seeing the Omega Man.
Used to go here all the time. It was across the road from the less swank Hollywood Mall, otherwise known as the Sears Mall (The more upscale Hollywood Fashion Center was know as the Penneys mall). This was the mall that Adam Walsh went missing from; kind of scary as I was only a couple years older than Adam and my mom would always let me go off on my own in the mall while she was shopping. I used to play in the Sears toy dept. by myself while she shopped all the time.
But the movie theatre- kind of run down. Had a gigantic lobby (in the round) for a two-screen theater. I think the first time I went to a movie here was to see Candleshoe (which I mistakenly remembered seeing at the Plaza Theatre). The inside of the theaters had these round globe lights on the walls that reminded me of the windows on the sub in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and they used to make me nervous because as a little kid, I was convinced the auditorium was going to plunge under the ocean at any minute. This was especially frightening during a viewing of Jaws 2 on opening night.
Rocky Horror Picture Show would play here midnights on Friday and Saturday. I can remember my parents taking me to a Sunday matinee of something around 1981 and us waiting for the box office to open, watching a small band of freaks straggling out of the theater (I guess they had spent the night after RHPS) and being fascinated by them. By the time I was allowed to go see Rocky Horror with some friends a few years later, they had stopped doing the live show and there were maybe 6 other people in the house. Not the way to experience Rocky your first time (let alone your first midnight movie).
In early 81, they started having dollar nights on Tuesdays. Every ticket was $1. my mom and I would go have dinner at the Woolworth’s lunch counter at the mall, then come see whatever was playing, and man, we saw some stinkers- Bustin' Loose, Hardly Working, The Devil & Max Devlin, All Night Long, American Raspberry, Modern Romance (which to me was a dud because I was too young to get it).
Some of the biggies I saw here were The Main Event, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Reds, For Your Eyes Only, ET.
The Florida Twin opened in 1965.
The address was 300 N. Park Road.
I went to this Wometco theatre and the former one located on 441 just south of Hollywood Blvd. as a kid all the time. The theatre was actually located on the west side of Park Road, which runs North/South just west of the Hollywood Mall. Currently a Taco Bell and a mini strip mall reside where the Florida Twin used to be. If anybody has pics, I’d love to see them.
By the time it closed (mid 1990s), this particular Florida had four screens and went second run, with competition from AMC and Cobb/Regal multiplexes not too far away. It was also among the last venues managed by Wometco before they exited the film exhibition business.
My brief encounters with the Florida included the first Broward County run of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the local premiere screening (albeit by one hour before the first regular showing) of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” A trekker friend sculpted a replica of the Starship Enterprise, hoisted to the top of the domed lobby.
I’m told a restaurant (Boston Market?) now occupies the space.