Park Theatre

Who knows where the 390 came from? Not from me. At least there’s some basis for the 1200.

Boxoffice had a photo of the auditorium of the Park Theater, taken about an hour after the ceiling collapsed.

Seeing the size of the place in the photo, I’d say 390 was closer to the actual seating capacity than 1,200 is, even though Boxoffice itself gave 1,200 as the capacity in another issue. A picture is worth a thousand words- or in this case, minus eight hundred or so seats.

Two articles recalling the collapse of the ceiling at the Park Theatre: View link

View link

I managed the Park Theatre in the early 1970’s. It was indeed a 1200 seat “stadium” theatre. There were about 800 seats on the main floor level and about 400 in the raised rear part of the building. That rear part back then looked more like today’s modern theatres where each row is slightly higher than the one in front so that everyone could easily see over the person in front of them. Only the “balcony” was constructed that way. You would enter the theatre from either side (left or right) down a hallway. When you entered you would essentially be in the midpoint of the theatre. There was a wide aisle running the entire width of the building. On one side of the aisle was the balcony and the other side was the main auditorium seats. There were two aisles running front to back on either side.

Every summer we, from north La, would visit our relatives that lived near the north end of Duval Street close to the neighborhood park and just a few blocks from the theater. I remember one Saturday when my cousins and I were dropped off at the Park theater to watch DINASAURUS. 1960 I believe. I didn’t venture out in the dark by myself for a few months after that. Today, found the theater by using Google Earth by remembering the general location and recognizing the broad steps near the street. All this time I thought it was torn down years ago. Remembering good times in Houma.