Golden Tri Cinemas 3
800 9th Avenue,
Port Arthur,
TX
77642
800 9th Avenue,
Port Arthur,
TX
77642
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Paramount Pictures Inc.
Architects: Leon C. Kyburz
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Port Theatre
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The Port Theatre was opened June 6, 1940 with Laurence Olivier in “Rebecca”. It was listed with 662 seats. In 1943 it was listed as being operated by Paramount Pictures Inc., through their subsidiary Julius Gordon.
It was a rather nondescript theatre that closed in the 1960’s. It was a single screen theatre with a moderate sized balcony.
On December 22, 1972 it was converted into a three screen theatre, putting two screens in the former balcony. Operating as the Golden Tri Cinemas 3, it played mostly second run movies, but as the neighborhood declined, so did the theatre. It was closed in 1983 and has been demolished. St. Joseph Hall has been built on the site.
Contributed by
Steven Domingue, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
It’s been apx. 30 years, so my memory’s hazy…the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont purchased an old Protestant church on 9th Avenue in the mid-1970s and re-christened it as Our Lady Queen of Vietnam as a parish to accomodate the swell of refugees settling in Port Arthur. The diocese wanted the old Golden Tri-Cinema across the street to use as a parish community center. The fellow that owned Golden wouldn’t sell unless the diocese also bought, as a package deal, the Lamar Theater in nearby Beaumont, which he also owned. Both theaters were reduced to showing adult flicks by that time; the diocese figured it would get the property they needed AND clean up the respective neighborhoods. They purchased both theaters, closed the Lamar and put the Golden property to better use than screening skin flicks. NOTE: couldn’t find online references, but both the diocese and the local library likely has material in its archives.
Records of a court case involving Julius Gordon’s Jefferson Amusement Company in the 1950s said that the Port Theatre in Port Arthur opened on June 6, 1940. It was most likely designed by Leon C. Kyburz, as at this time he was working as Jefferson’s in-house architect, designing all their projects.
Judging from Google street view the entire block of Ninth Avenue on which the theater was located has been redeveloped with a modern project. The theater has been demolished.
Grand opening ad posted.
Reopened as the Golden-Tri Cinemas 3 on December 22nd, 1972. Grand opening ad posted.
Closed 1983.