The DeSoto Theatre is a theater in downtown Rome, Georgia, in the United States. The DeSoto Theatre was the first theater in the southeast to display sound film.[citation needed] It is currently owned by the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation, a nonprofit organization created by the building's former owner and current resident theatre group, the Rome Little Theatre. The previous building was home to the Freedmen's Bureau of Rome. In early 1908 O. C. Lam, the owner of Lam Amusement Company, laid plans to construct a new movie theater in downtown Rome, Georgia. Lam wanted to build a movie palace, a luxurious theater modeled after New York's Roxy. Lam purchased a section of prime real estate on the main street of downtown Rome for $37,000.
The building's exterior and Georgian interior stylishly housed a number of recent movie palace innovations. Designed as a "talkie" theater, it the first venue in the South to be designed and built for sound pictures. Rome's new house boasted a Vitaphone sound system. And, the theater was heated and cooled by an innovative blower-fan air conditioning and tubular boiler system. Additionally, the theater was equipped with state-of-the-art fire safety equipment. Fitted with many exits, the theater could be emptied in two minutes.
Lam named his new movie palace for Hernando DeSoto, who was thought by many historians to have passed through the area that is now Rome in 1600. DeSoto was completed at a cost of $110,000 and opened in August 1927. The theater seated 1,500, making it one of the seven largest movie venues in Georgia at the time. The theater was an instant success and the pride of Rome. The DeSoto was one of the main sources of entertainment for Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama for the next thirty years.
The Rome Little Theatre and the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation
In 1982 the DeSoto closed as a movie theater, but soon reopened as the venue for Rome's local amateur theater group. The Rome Little Theatre has staged dozens of plays in the years it has performed at the DeSoto, and the theater is one of the venues for the annual Rome International Film Festival. The Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation now manages the facility, and the DeSoto continues to be a source of entertainment in downtown Rome. The DeSoto still retains its Art-Deco marquee, French mirrored entrance hall, and Georgian interior design.
Today
Today the DeSoto Theatre, managed by the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation, is undergoing preservation efforts to restore the theatre to its former splendor. Funding must be secured to aid in these endeavors. This financial assistance could come in the form of private donations, government funding, or preservation endowments.
The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in the Castro District of San Francisco, California. The venue became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window surmounted by a scrolling pediment framing a niche—to the basilica of Mission Dolores nearby. Its designer, Timothy L. Pflueger, also designed Oakland's Paramount Theater and other movie theaters in California during that period. The theater has more than 1,400 seats.
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, also known as Egyptian Hollywood and the Egyptian, is a historic movie theater located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Opened in 1922, it is an early example of a lavish movie palace and is noted as having been the site of the world's first film premiere.
The Tennessee Theatre is a movie palace in the downtown core of Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The theater was built in 1928 in the 1908 Burwell Building, considered Knoxville's first skyscraper. The theater and Burwell Building were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and the theater was extensively restored in the early 2000s. The Tennessee Theatre currently focuses on hosting performing arts events and classic films, and is home to the Knoxville Opera and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. The theater is managed by AC Entertainment.
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple are owned by The Walt Disney Company and serve as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios' film premieres.
The Gem Theatre is a historic movie theater building located in Detroit, Michigan. Built in 1927, it shares a lobby with the older Century Theatre next door. The National Register of Historic Places listed both theatres together in 1985 and they were relocated in 1997 to prevent demolition. The Gem now serves as a wedding venue and location for other events.
The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a 3600 seat performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.
The Million Dollar Theatre at 307 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in 1917 with the premiere of William S. Hart's The Silent Man. It's the northernmost of the collection of historical movie palaces in the Broadway Theater District and stands directly across from the landmark Bradbury Building. The theater is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Uptown Theatre is a currently closed movie palace and concert venue located in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Rapp and Rapp and built by Paschen Bros. contractors, it is one of the many movie palaces built by the Balaban & Katz theatre chain run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban, and their partner Sam Katz.
Hollywood Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre and Fox-Pantages Theatre, also known as The Pantages, is a live theater and former movie theater located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, near Hollywood and Vine, in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, the theater was the last built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages and also the last movie palace built in Hollywood.
The Fox Tucson Theatre is located in downtown Tucson, Arizona, United States. The theater opened on April 11, 1930 as a performance space in downtown Tucson. It hosts a wide spectrum of events and concerts featuring a variety of performing talent, ranging from ballets, to jazz, contemporary pop, world music and rock acts.
The Springer Opera House is a historic theater at 103 Tenth Street in Downtown Columbus, Georgia, United States. First opened February 21, 1871, the theater was named the State Theatre of Georgia by Governor Jimmy Carter for its 100th anniversary season, a designation made permanent by the 1992 state legislature. The Springer has hosted legendary performers such as Edwin Booth, Oscar Wilde, Ethel Barrymore, Agnes de Mille, and bandleader John Philip Sousa. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1978 for its architecture and state of preservation.
The Saenger Theatre is a historic theater and contributing building to the Lower Dauphin Street Historic District in Mobile, Alabama. It was dedicated in January 1927. The Saenger Theatre is a Mobile landmark, known for its architecture and ties to local cultural history. The theater has been completely renovated in recent years with an upgraded electrical system, VIP facilities, new stage rigging and sound system. It is the official home of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and also serves as the venue for movie festivals, concerts, lectures and special events.
The Homestead Historic Downtown District, is a U.S. Historic District located in Homestead, Florida, United States. It is bound by Northwest 4th Street, South Railroad Avenue, Southeast 1st Road and North Krome Drive.
The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States. The same six-block stretch of Broadway, and an adjacent section of Seventh Street, was also the city's retail hub for the first half of the twentieth century, lined with large and small department stores and specialty stores.
The Boyd Theatre was a 1920s era movie palace in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It operated as a movie theater for 74 years, operating under the name Sameric as part of the United Artists theater chain, before closing in 2002. The theater was the last of its kind in downtown Philadelphia, a remnant of an era of theaters and movie palaces that stretched along Market and Chestnut Streets. The Boyd's auditorium was demolished in the 2015 by its owner Pearl Properties, which planned to replace it with a 24-story residential tower.
The Orpheum Theatre is a historic theater in downtown Wichita, Kansas, United States. It was designed by renowned theatre architect John Eberson with funding from a group of local investors and opened on September 4, 1922.
Palace Theatre, formerly Orpheum Theatre, Orpheum-Palace Theatre, Broadway Palace, Fox Palace, and New Palace Theatre, is a historic five-story theater and office building located at 636 S. Broadway in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. It is the oldest theater that remains on Broadway and the oldest remaining original Orpheum theater in the United States.
The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas. Some additional venues are located in neighborhood areas of the city. Many of the city's significant historic theaters have been revitalized.
The Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), formerly Loew's State Theatre and Palace Concert Theater, is a multi-use not-for-profit theater located at 220 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1928 as a movie palace by the Loews Theatres chain to designs by Rapp & Rapp, the leading designers of music palaces at the time. PPAC contains 3,100 seats and hosts touring Broadway shows, concerts, plays and films.
The Ventura Theatre is a historic live concert venue in downtown Ventura, California. This was "the only luxury theatre built in Ventura County in the 1920s in the "style of the great movie palaces." The lavish, elegant interior of gilt and opulence was originally designed by Robert E. Power Studios of San Francisco and has been restored. The theatre with a capacity of 1,150 and a flanking office building were designed by Lewis Arthur Smith in the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture that was favored by architects of motion picture theaters during the 1920s.
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