Sun Art Theatre
1116 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N.,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33705
1116 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street N.,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33705
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Florida State Theaters Inc., Pussycat Theatres
Styles: Spanish Colonial
Previous Names: Shaw's 9th Street Theatre, Ninth Street Theatre, Sun Theatre, Pussycat Theatre I & II
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Shaw’s 9th Street Theatre was opened September 30, 1929. This obscure theatre was mentioned in a small advertisement in a 1932 edition of the St. Petersburg Times. It was located in a then-new residential suburb on 1116 9th Street N. at 13th Avenue N.
Listed in the 1941, 1943 and 1950 editions of Film Daily Yearbook as the Ninth Street Theatre, operated by Florida State Theaters Inc. On August 29, 1950 it was renamed Sun Theatre and finally Sun Art Theatre on August 31, 1957. In 1964 it was featuring live burlesque shows as well as feature films. By 1977 it was listed in the Bob Damron Address Books as a gay adult movie theatre. It was closed in April 1977. It was converted into an auction gallery which still operated in 2016. It was demolished in 2018.
Contributed by
Andy
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This Theater was first the “Ninth Street” Theater, then the “Sun Theater” and finally the “Sun Art Theater”.
Your “Google” photo is showing one block too far north. If you could turn around 180 degrees you would be looking at the north side of the theatre building. The building still exists. When I moved to St. Petersburg in 1953, it was called THE SUN THEATRE and ran 2nd run films. When I graduated from high school in 1955, and just before I moved to Asheville, NC, I had to go see a last movie at the SUN THEATRE. The movie was JOHNNY DARK with Tony Curtis. When I moved back to the area, the SUN THEATRE was now the SUN ART THEATRE and was showing “them there furrin fillums”. When this did not work the SUN ART started running “soft core” porno films. They even added a small “pussycat” theatre inside the office area that ran 16mm films. The theatre had a live stage and dressing rooms and at one time in the early 1960’s had live vaudeville and burlesque shows. In later years it was used as an antique auction house.
August 28th, 1957 article
Found on Newspapers.com
April 19th, 1977 closing
Found on Newspapers.com
This opened as the 9th Street theatre on September 30th, 1929. It reopened as the Sun on August 23rd, 1950 and Sun Art on August 31st, 1957 and closed in April 1977. 1929, 1950, 1957 grand opening ads in the photo section.
seems to be a double entry for http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/32377
Demolished in 2018.
During the 1940s the Ninth Street Theatre was operated by Florida State Theatres, who bought the house in 1946 after leasing it for several years, according to Boxoffice of March 4, 1950. They disposed of the theater in 1950, selling it to the independent operators who would later rename it the Sun Theatre. It had been closed for several months at the time of the sale. Florida State also gave up their lease on the Beach Theatre at the same time.