THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150013
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
ONLY TWO pre-1950 movie houses - Norfolk's Naro and Portsmouth's Commodore - are regularly screening movies, but the area is home to at least 21 others that are no longer operating as theaters.
Those buildings, along with newer theaters no longer in the entertainment trade:
Afton, 42 Afton Parkway, Portsmouth - Longtime neighborhood theater, empty but essentially intact. Its marquee remains in place.
American, 316 Granby St., Norfolk - Later renamed The Victor. Later still, gutted for conversion to a Lerner Shops store. The empty shell remains.
Attucks, 1008 Church St., Norfolk - Built 1919 for vaudeville and renamed The Booker T in the 1930s. Building's lobby later used as a store. Essentially intact, and a candidate for restoration.
The Bayne, 1606 Atlantic Ave., Oceanfront - Built in 1932, closed in 1981 and home to a wax museum for more than a decade. Its 860 seats have been removed, but shell and much of the surrounding Bayne Building are intact.
The Beach, 2500 Atlantic Ave., Oceanfront - A 1,100-seat theater built in the late 1940s and closed in 1982. Saw use as a concert venue and enjoyed brief rebirth as a cinema before becoming a ``haunted house.'' Shell remains.
The Boulevard, 7720 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk - Built about 1941. Gutted for use as a Family Dollar Store. Shell remains.
Colonial, 114 W. Tazewell St., Norfolk - A huge building, opened in 1907 for live theater and converted to film in 1936. Unused since the 1970s. Rapidly deteriorating, and perhaps too far gone to save.
Colony, 430 High St., Portsmouth - An Art Deco landmark and home of the area's first talkies. Its interior has been extensively modified, but its shell - most recently housing a nightclub - is intact.
Delta, 1918 Lincoln St., Portsmouth - One of several neighborhood theaters to see later use as a church. Now the Holy Light Church of Deliverance.
Garden Theater, 1760 E. Little Creek Road, Norfolk - A stark cinema built in 1965 on the site of an early drive-in. Now a bingo hall. Its 712 seats have been removed, but sloped floor and other theater details remain.
Granby, 423 Granby St., Norfolk - Opened 1915, after closure of another theater of the same name. Later renamed The Lee, then renamed The Granby Mall. Closed since 1987. Intact.
Loew's State, 340 Granby St., Norfolk - A combination vaudeville and movie theater opened in 1926, it went to movies alone in 1930 and served as a concert venue from 1979 to 1981. Intact auditorium is being refitted as a Tidewater Community College lecture hall.
Newport, on Newport Avenue at 35th Street, Norfolk - The area's first suburban theater, opened in 1928. Interior damaged but largely intact. Now owned by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Norva, 324 Granby St., Norfolk - Opened 1923. Closed as a theater in 1972, and converted to a health club in 1980. Its shell is intact.
Park, 2610 Lafayette Blvd. A new facade disguises its movie house origins, but its shell is intact. Occupied by a church.
Prevue, 1500 block of Colley Avenue, Norfolk - A luxury theater of just 23 seats, created by W.S. Wilder for VIPs and fund-raisers. Sydney Gates recalls that it was next door to the Colley, in the space now occupied by the bar at San Antonio Sam's.
Princess Theater, 3177 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach - Opened by Wilder Theaters in early 1964 and closed in 1975. Now a church.
Riverview Playhouse, 3910 Granby St., Norfolk - A popular Deco neighborhood theater. Porn house during the 1970s, later a live theater, and most recently a gospel hall. Intact, including its marquee.
Rosna, 636 W. 35th St., Norfolk - Opened by the Levines just a few doors from The Newport. Intact, including its marquee, and in excellent shape. Now occupied by a church.
Roxy, 205 Granby St., Norfolk - Opened by Sydney Gates in 1938. Closed in 1978, after which NRHA moved its computer center into the shell.
Star Twin, 6532 Indian River Road, Virginia Beach - The area's first indoor multiplex, opened in 1968. Converted to office and retail space.
State, 512 High St., Portsmouth - Opened in the 1930s. Now a church, its original facade obscured by a stucco addition. Includes most of its theater details, including reupholstered seats.
Suburban, at Wards Corner, Norfolk - Built in the 1940s. Gutted in 1981 and converted to a small shopping mall.
Terrace, Tidewater Drive at Little Creek Road, Norfolk - Closed last year. Intact.
Victoria, 325 Granby St., Norfolk - Built as a vaudeville house. Later made a movie theater and renamed The Strand. Gutted and converted to the downtown Hofheimer's store, now empty. The theater's shell is intact.
Wells, Tazewell Street, Norfolk - Built in 1913 for live theater and converted to a movie house in 1939. Later a porn theater. Today the home of the Virginia Stage Co. Restored inside and out, though its former marquee is gone.
The Willard, 3222 Tidewater Dr., Norfolk - A longtime cinema most recently used as a ballet studio. Shell intact. by CNB