Lenox Theatre
1128 James Brown Boulevard,
Augusta,
GA
30901
1128 James Brown Boulevard,
Augusta,
GA
30901
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Lenox had over 570 seats on the main floor and 300 in the balcony. Total seats = 870+
YEs, Nick these are nice shots I couldn’t even locate,would like to get more info on the Black theatres,but hard to track alot of info..
Wow! This is a fantastic shot! I love the great b&w photo of the Lenox with the crowd standing in front. Thanks to whoever posted this classic shot!
Thanks Alonzo for putting the pictures on.A pity we couldn’t save it.It equaled anything on Broad Street.
BLACK SEGREGATION SIGN LENOX THEATER AUGUSTA GA
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Here a photos
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There is a picture of the Lenox on p. 43 here (scroll down to see it): http://tinyurl.com/26mv9sb and a demolition picture further down on p. 51.
Nick,I have pictures of Augusta’s Silent movie houses too.Have to go to my home page to read them if you allready haven’t.
Mike, My scanner should be working soon so send me the photos and I’ll post them here.
The Metro Spirit has on it’s weekly cover a picture of the Lenox Theatre,full size. Sept.8-14 2010.METRO SPIRIT.COM
I have pictures,but no way to get them on CT.Thanks for the post Alonzo.
Tightly packed patrons crowd together in the Lenox Theatre. With barely a seat in the house, some stand in the back to catch a glimpse of the show.
An undated photo, tucked away in a file at Historic Augusta, reveals this lively group.
Maybe they were watching a blues hound wailing on the stage or perhaps just catching an afternoon matinee.
Either way, when this picture was taken, segregation was in full effect.
While other Augusta theaters, such as the Imperial, offered black seating in the back, the Lenox was a place for the city’s blacks to sit front and center to see the latest shows and movies.
But, with integration, came the theater’s gradual end.
Eventually condemned after years of neglect, the city ordered the building torn down in 1978.
Thanks WHP.I have a 1956 Motion Picture Almanac i found in the MILLER and all the Drive-ins in America and Canada were listed,but no address.Hi-De-Ho is on CT.
On second thought, the Hi De Ho may have been just over the state line in South Carolina. There were so many little mill towns there they all ran together. I do remember their advertising on one of the black oriented radio stations WAUG in Augusta.
I also remember the Hi De Ho being a segregated black drive-in, but I am having trouble remembering where it was located. I am thinking maybe at the lower end of Gwinnett(now Laney-Walker) near East Boundary and not too far from the Augusta Drive-In……?
Thanks so much for nailing down the name on the Quonset hut theatre I knew there was on there on Laney-Walker.It was the Harlem.I found a black Drive-in called HI-DE-HO Drive-in in Augusta,but no idea where it was located.THE IMPERIAL had a small concession stand upstairs too for the black moviegoers.
I remember the black only Lenox and Harlem theaters in Augusta where I grew up in the forties and fifties. I believe the Harlem was housed in a World War 2 salvage quonset hut. They were segregated so I never attended. I do recall the downtown Imperial theater having a separate entrance and third balcony for blacks called the gallery.
The Augusta Chroncile had their 225 anniversary in Sunday’s paper, August 29 2010.Big article on the Lenox.Showed a sign in the article that was posted at the theatre “COLORED ONLY..NO WHITES ALLOWED” also in the special edition was three pictures of the IMPERIAL.
The Lenox was a Black milestone,Sept.1978 it was torn down. The city of Augusta became owner when back taxes were not paid.In 1920 it was built for $100,000 and bought at tax sell for $1,181. Earl Pinkerton in a AUGUSTA CHRONCILE interview said “I use to work there showing movies while in high school and on the weekend people would be standing.They had good seats. In those days Black moviegoers sat high on the balconies of Augusta"s top theatres. IT opened with the movie THE TIGER’S CUB with PEARL WHITE and a two reeler western called HIS PAL’S GAL. THE architect was G.Lloyd Preacher, a white man who also did the MODJESKA in Augusta.
NO DATE ON ARTICLE MOST LIKELY MID 70’s
TEEN KILLED IN OLD THEATRE…..
The Augusta Police are investigating the death of a 17 year old girl.Whose body was found with stab wounds,The Victim was Louise Harris of Augusta. Officers arrived on the scene at 10;30 a.m. and talked with Roosevelt Palmer, 14, who said he found the body on the north side of the theatre and looked in an open door and saw an unknown black female lying in a pool of blood. The victim had been injured at the easr side of the stage and pushed over the edge of floor ,according to police reports,She had been stabbed three or more times with a sharp instrument and was pronouced dead at university hospital. The body was identified by her brother,Robert Kelly.Jr. Kelly said his sister had been missing since Thursday and was last seen on ninth street.As of late Sunday night , no arrests have been made.
There was no By-line on this Story..Mike Rogers.
I Have a good friend that knew the owner and was able to get hundres of one sheets out of that theatre.CRYING shame they could not save it, BUT, Believe me it was in a very bad part of Augusta.