Lake Theatre

Dell_Anne on June 19, 2015 at 10:45 am

This theatre is from my home town of Lake City, Florida and as a child I spent many years within it’s hallowed walls. I had not seen a picture of the old building so long and simply on a whim decided to google the Lake Theatre, Lake City, Florida. I was amazed to find this drawing of our lovely downtown. The building is actually on the corner of Orange St and Hernando as the map represents and all the original buildings in the picture with the exception of the large multi-storied on Marion Street have been replaced with a bank drive-in and parking lot. My cousin and I used to walk from our home nearby on Saturdays and spend 25cents each to enter the movies for cowboy matinees and a box of popcorn and a Coke to share… What wonderful memories! As for the 1964 info on the Gateway, I believe it was the other “sub-run Columbia Theatre” farther back to the north on Marion that was remodeled and brought back. Unfortunately, the Lake was torn down and the Gateway remains standing but nowadays I believe it is a church. There was another theatre in Lake City, well before the Lake and Columbia were built and owned by the McColskey family I believe. There were also two drive-in theatres; one was the Lunar, north of town in Lake City and to the South was the Lake City Drive-In. Thanks for this great website and for bringing a memory back to life for an old lady… Dell Anne Hines Afzal, Alachua, FL

Joe Vogel on April 17, 2010 at 4:48 am

From Boxoffice of November 9, 1964: “Robert Cannon, owner of two indoor theatres at Lake City, has sold his first-run Lake Theatre for nontheatrical purposes and has reopened his former sub-run Columbia Theatre as a first-run house.”

However, this was apparently not the end for the Lake. Boxoffice of November 14, 1966, says this: “MCM Theatres… has leased the Lake Theatre… from Robert Cannon. MCM has renamed the Lake to the Gateway.” The Gateway was opened after extensive remodeling, according to Boxoffice of January 30, 1967. The item said the Gateway had 500 seats.

But there is a problem. The Cinema Treasures listing for the Gateway Theatre gives a different address from that given above for the Lake Theatre. Is it possible that Lake City renumbered its streets at some time?

Theaters in Lake City are difficult to research with search engines, given the fact that the name is so common. The name Robert Cannon turns out to be pretty common, too, so knowing it isn’t much help. I think that somebody familiar with Lake City is going to have to help sort this one out.