Sottile Theatre

44 George Street,
Charleston, SC 29424

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Showing 11 comments

Alan Bell
Alan Bell on May 26, 2011 at 2:44 pm

Miller Signs fabricated the new marquee per the June 2011 issue of “Signs of the Times.” No date is given.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on August 27, 2009 at 11:50 pm

MUST HAVE JUST BEEN HIT BY A TRUCK……..

mda38
mda38 on February 15, 2009 at 4:31 pm

The Lincoln was torn down in the 1980s. It was a theater for blacks in the Jim Crow era. It was a tiny place, relatively speaking. I never went inside, though. It had been abandoned for years.

The Gloria was the big, nice theater of downtown Charleston during the 1970s, when I went there regularly. It had long red curtains down the sides of the auditorium, probably hiding whatever was underneath. The stars in the ceiling are still there, from what I hear. It’s a bigger theater than the Riviera, so there is something wrong about the seating capacity; it had to have been more than seven hundred. That may not include the smoking gallery, which had been closed for years.

AndrewBarrett
AndrewBarrett on February 20, 2008 at 6:30 am

According to Bowers' “Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments” page 551, “Albert Sottile” bought a Reproduco organ made by the Operators Piano Co.

Also, the “Palace” and “Lincoln” theatres in Charleston also had Reproducos. I could not find a page for those theatres, so I am including this info here for the time being.

spectrum
spectrum on October 17, 2007 at 11:05 pm

Status should be changed to “open”

spectrum
spectrum on October 17, 2007 at 11:04 pm

Listed in the 1936 AFI Yearbook as having 1,800 seats.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on September 5, 2007 at 8:28 pm

In the early sixties, the Gloria was operated by the Pastime Amusement Company out of Charleston. President was Alberta Long. Other Pastime theaters in Charleston at that time were the American, Arcade, Garden and Riviera. Pastime also ran the Ashley Theater in St. Andrews Parish.

ncmark
ncmark on December 21, 2006 at 8:30 am

This appears to be the only atmospheric theater left in the Carolina’s. While not a full blown atmospheric it does have a large blue sky dome in the auditorium with electric stars and outdoor effects.

HKeyes
HKeyes on September 27, 2006 at 4:50 pm

I am currently doing a project of the Gloria Theatre for a Historic Preservation project for the College of Charleston. If anyone has any personal memory of the theatre I would love to interview them.

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Patsy
Patsy on March 5, 2005 at 2:52 pm

It seems there were many theatres in Charleston on King Street! If this theatre is currently owned by the College of Charleston and is used by their theatre department perhaps this is the store front that I visited when in Charleston as I told by the gift shop owner that the auditorium still exists in the back and is being used by a local college. The owner showed me behind a small wall curtain the original glass-enclosed theatre poster inserts. I thought that she should at least be using them as display/advertisement areas, but didn’t tell her so.