Palmetto Theatre
1417 Main Street,
Columbia,
SC
29201
1417 Main Street,
Columbia,
SC
29201
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The Palmetto was last operated by Plitt, and closed its doors for the final time on October 24, 1979 with “Redneck County” as its last film. The manager for Plitt said that “it was due to economics” but he wants to continue running the theater.
It was demolished to make way for an extended parking lot, as this comes a day after the General Cinema operated Columbia Mall Theatre’s strike on the possible ban of “Life Of Brian”.
This reopened as Palmetto on July 19th, 1937. A grand opening ad can be found in the photo section.
The Lyric theatre opened on January 20th, 1908. Reopened as Pastime on June 1st, 1915, Reopened as Imperial on April 19th, 1920. I uploaded the Pastime and Imperial grand opening ad in the photo section.
Launched as the Lyric Theatre in 1909. The Rawl Brothers' Pastime Vaudeville Theater from 1438 Main Street took over the location in 1915 and was renamed. The Rawl Brothers then took on the Columbia in 1918 which is likely about the time that the Pastime became the Imperial Theatre. Finally, it was renamed as the Palmetto Theatre.
YEP, our DM worked out of there,MR.BIGGS.
Was the Palmetto an ABC/Plitt Theater?
To Mike Rogers……what response are you looking for??? I worked for ABC Theatres for 20 years and had two stints at the Palmetto.
I like the old signage so much better than the replacement. Great pic.
no local response, town full of losers,,, hard to believe..
Anyone that worked here,it being a ABC/Plitt Theatre; Check out REMEMBERING PLITT THEATRES on Facebook.
Still no local response.Hard to believe.
How can a city the size of Columbia have no one interested in CT ?
Still yet,another dead theatre town.
Plitt Theatre District Manager,who even treated Assistant Managers decent retires on Nov.8 1983. MARION BIGGS was good and decent district manager and loved the theatres of Columbia,S.C..
I can’t believe as big as Columbia is no one in that city has any intrest in the old theatres there. I would love for Dickie to answer a question i left months ago. Oh,well.
Dickie, I WORKED for ABC/ PLITT THEATRES and everynight i had to call our figures into COLUMBIA and i think you guys were the ABC THEATRE we called from Augusta.Wasn’t our D.M. Mr, Biggs? Anyways, We would almost everynight talk to a girl named PEGGY. I Wonder if i have the right theatre. I know the girl was Peggy.
This site states that five theaters on Main Street in the 1930s were owned by Palmetto Amusements, a subsidiary of Publix. That may explain the origin of the theater’s name:
http://www.nickelodeon.org/fox.php
According to Bowers' “Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments” page 551, there was a “Broadway” theatre in Columbia equipped with a Reproduco organ made by the Operators Piano Co. I could not find a page for the Broadway, so I am putting this here for the time being.