Happy Friday!
Located at 1427, East Morehead Street, the 900-seat Center Theatre was built by H.B. Meiselman Theaters and opened on October 7, 1948 with the film “The Saxon Charm” starring Robert Montgomery. As a neighborhood theatre, it seldom got the blockbusters the downtown theaters showed. It specialized in smaller action films and black films of the 1960’s and 1970’s. In the 1960’s it was owned by the Eastern Federal chain. In March of 1977 it closed, it’s future unsure.
Kermit High, a local manager of several other theaters, renovated and re-opened the Center Theatre in August 1977. Sometime in the early-1980’s the theatre was destroyed to build a small strip mall, which was later destroyed in 2004 for the construction of a greenway.
The exterior was a wonderful funky Art Deco style. The theater was located on the edge of the Myers Park neighborhood, across from Charlotte Memoral Hospital (now Atrium).
Ad for opening day, October 7th, 1948.
To read more about other historic Charlotte theaters, click here.
Until next week!
Chris.
Email me at chris@704shop.com if you have interesting Charlotte facts you’d like to share or just to provide feedback!
Information taken from:
CinemaTreasures.org, "Center Theatre." By Robby (?)
“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass