Varsity Six
11301 N. Nebraska Avenue,
Tampa,
FL
33612
11301 N. Nebraska Avenue,
Tampa,
FL
33612
5 people
favorited this theater
The Varsity Six is located in an old shopping center on the busy corner of Fowler Avenue and Nebraska Avenue. The theater opened December 20, 1974 and closed on August 7, 1997.
The theater was still standing for over 20 years, though vacant and showing its age. The rest of the shopping center has become an indoor flea market. The Varsity Six was demolished in July 2025.
Contributed by
Andy
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Just drove by there yesterday. Front is all boarded up but you can see where the ticket window was. The parking lot was decrepit, there were scary types walking around, and a cop car parked in front of the flea market. I was not brave enough to go inside!
I absolutely LOVED the grunginess of this theater, which I first went to when I moved to Tampa in 1982 and still found my way there after I moved away in 1995. This theater was dark, cozy, filled with life, and had the BEST buttered popcorn served in the big tubs, not those ripoff bags so many theaters switched to. Of all the theaters I saw close in Tampa during the 1990s, this one bothered me the most.
Some of the many films I saw there:
48 Hours (1982) The Dark Crystal (1982) Jaws 3D (1983) The Evil Dead (1983) Christine (1984) Friday the 13th IV (1984) 1984 (1984) Rocky IV (1985) Maximum Overdrive (1986) Predator (1987) Indiana Jones/Last Crusade (1989) Total Recall (1990) Aladdin (1992) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) Short Cuts (1993) Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Pulp Fiction (1994) The Mask (1994) Casper (1995) Toy Story (1996) When we were Kings (1997)
During the early 1980’s Dolby Stereo was installed in one of the larger auditoriums. When “A Hard Day’s Night” was reissued in 1982 it played exclusively at the Varsity in Dolby Stereo and sounded great. The film was was held over for a 2nd week but moved to a smaller auditorium with mono sound and the volume at a much lower level. I complained no less than 3 times to the assistant manager as well as two ushers asking them to please increase the volume. Although each one said they’d take care of it nothing was ever done. I was not a happy camper and could never understand their refusal to raise the audio level.
I always hated this theater. Terrible screens.
This opened on December 20th, 1974. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
I was a manager there in the mid 90s. A treasure it was not but there were some funny stories. It was on a block that had a lot of prostitutes so their customers would buy tickets to the midnight showings of the worst attended movie and try to do their business in the back rows.
I never liked this theater. The screens were small and for a film in scope the staff had to add the masking at the bottom of the screen.
This was the home of Phil Singleton’s AMC manager training academy in Florida.
The AMC Varsity 6 closed on August 7, 1997.
Update: As of July 2025, This cinema has finally been demolished along with a chunk of the plaza that this was attached to.