Sand Theatre

The Dome Theatre, a small theatre located on 25th Avenue in downtown Gulfport, was opened on March 17, 1971 with Anna Calder Marshall in “Wuthering Heights”. It operated as a first-run house. It was located in the old Firestone Tire store building that was converted to house the 300-seat theatre. The theatre had a wall to wall screen with a gold color travel curtain with matching wall drapery. The back emergency exit was dug out with steps going down in front of the screen and back up in back of the screen to the fire exit. The local owners had purchased the seating and booth equipment from the old Lobe Theatre of Long Beach, Mississippi that had closed and was being converted to a store.

The theatre operated until sometime in the late-1980’s or early-1990’s. The seating was worn out and seats were closely spaced. This did not help business. The theatre was renamed Sand Theatre in later years and ran mainly second-run pictures. In its last years the owner ran X-rated movies after the regular first or second run program had ended for the day, usually at midnight.

The theatre’s projectionist finally purchased the theatre and ran it for several more years showing kung-fu type movies and other action movies until it was finally closed. The building was then gutted and remodeled into an office building.

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