Fifth Avenue Theatre
218 Fifth Avenue North,
Nashville,
TN
37206
218 Fifth Avenue North,
Nashville,
TN
37206
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December 26th, 1909 grand opening ad in photo section.
In 1955 Stanley E. Hime was a projectionist at the 5th.Avenue Theatre,he was also doing free-lance photography and took photos of Fess Parker who was in Nashville filming the Walt Disney movie Davy Crockett.
Also in the 1955 photo the theatre was right across 5th Ave,from Allens Store which is still in operation 55 years later.
Walgreens uses the old stage entrance at Arcade Alley for deliveries into the drugstore.
I thought that was the case Dave,The New Princess/Crescent had our Loews City Managers office and the booth and screening room, and the E-Z Finance Company on the second floor.Crescent Amusements offices must have been on the top 2 floors, I never went above the 2nd.floor.Thanks for the info.
You may be aware that Crescent’s offices were over the Fifth Avenue lobby for many years until the new Princess was built, at which time offices were relocated upstairs at that site.
Thanks for the updated info Dave I have been down “Arcade Alley” many times, I believe that that is the true name of the Alley. I know of the stage entrance you are talking about so some of the building does remain. Good to have another Nashville person on C.T.I will check it out further next time I go to town.
Walgreens expanded into the former Fifth Avenue building, so it does occupy the old Fifth Avenue site as well as its own original site. If you go back in the alley behind this building (which I’ve always called “Arcade Alley”) you can still see what was the stage entrance to the theater in a very modified state. I photographed it not too many years ago.
The Fifth Avenue ran a lot of Republic cowboy pictures in “Trucolor,” a cheaper ripoff of Technicolor. After the theater closed, there was a pizza parlor in front and a wrestling or possibly boxing ring with bleacher seats in the back.
Also the Elite was located across the street from the Arcade two door down from the Kress Building,I believe this building still stands.
Looking at the 1955 photo this theatre was across the street from Woolworths which is now a Dollar General store.
The 5th avenue was not where Walgreens is. It was a few doors down south from there where the Fifth Third Bank Building is now. Walgreens has been at the end of the Arcade for many many years.
Based on the street address, the Fifth Avenue was where Walgreen’s is now. I think I’ve got a photo of it somewhere around here, ah yes, here we go. Here is a photo of the theatre, circa 1955 and here is a photo from 2005 and another circa 1920 of the area where the theatre was located.
Jack et al, I think the Fifth Avenue theatre building is gone. A quick look at Google Earth and the map link above show 218 North Fifth at the north east corner of Fifth and Church. This would put it directly across the street from the famous Eqyptian Revival Downtown Presbyterian Church (formerly 1st Presbyterian) and that corner is now occupied by a large skyscraper with a deep fore-court built in the mid 1980’s.
Have received word that the Fifth Avenue building still exist, but no word to date as to what, if any, of the theatres' interiors are still intact. Please update if you have any additional information.
The Rex Theatre is on the same street, 5th Avenue N. (no # given) but is listed as a seperate entry in Film Daily Yearbooks 1941-1950 that I have. Seating for the Rex is given as 400.
There was also a Rex Theatre located in this same area. Is it possible that these theatres are the same?