Roxy Theatre

I had seen references to a Colonial Theatre (colored) in Greenville city directories from 1927 to 1930. The Roxy was built in 1948 across the street from the old Plaza theatre on Albemarle Avenue and all references to a theater at 629 Albemarle Avenue I have found listed the name Roxy, the Colonial may have been an earlier incarnation of the Plaza Theatre (the Plaza on Albemarle opened under that name in 1937) or may have been demolished and the Plaza built in its place. The Roxy operated as the Roxy from 1948 until 1972 (Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is the last movie I know of that played the Roxy (it was advertised in the Daily Reflector, which usually did not advertise “black” theatres). As for the Colony, that was a white theater located on Evans Street near the old “Five Points” intersection with Fifth Street and Dickinson Avenue.

http://www.landmarkhunter.com/199433-roxy-theater/ If you plug that address into Google Maps, it clearly shows the theater. Very simple, but still a cool old intact theater, marquee and all.

The Roxy may be considered outside of downtown, since Albemarle Avenue was considered the"wrong side of the tracks" back when the Roxy showed movies. Also, Google screwed up on the location of the 264 Playhouse (I fixed that theatre’s Google picture), and several other theatres. The book “The Architectural Heritage of Greenville, North Carolina” lists on page 122 the “Roxy Theatre, 629 Albemarle Avenue”. Maybe this information is wrong.