Saturday, August 30, 2008

Garden Theatre (East Tampa)


Location: 907 20th Avenue
Status: Demolished

March 16, 1927


Date Unknown


August 21, 1943


July 30, 1945

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Listed in the 1950 Film Daily Yearbook...907 20th Avenue...877 seats.

Anonymous said...

Seminole, was right behind HHS, it was a Sat. serial kids movie, Sem. Hts, Northtown, very unknown to my crowd, not our stomping ground, Springs, went there most, across from Springs pool, reg. path Sat., swimming a.m., movie after, also kids serial type, most well-known among Seminole Hts kids, Roxy, not us, too bummy, Garden, Green bldg, Nebraska ave, not on our list, out of our area, not too popular with us, never went there, Ybor City, Ritz, it also was a burlesque place in the 70s, porn movies, changed quickly. All of we High Schoolers were Drive-in nuts, Fun Lan, Tower, Hillsboro, Skyway, AutoPark, that was where we went in high school, only went to movies when I was around 5 yrs until 12 or so, Park Theater, was a one time visit while in High School, Three Coins in a Fountain, I remember, Bridget Bardot movie was a sensation there, not in our territory. I lived on Shadowlawn and 19th St. our first house, we took kids to Fun Lan, they loved it, we did too when they went to sleep, that was when the three dependents were very small. That's about it for me and the theatres, The Tampa, The Springs were my favorites, went to Springs almost every Sat. 14 cents to get in, my aunt was in ticket box. In Junior High all of us hung out mostly, Springs Pool, Ralston Beach, Colonial Beach, all on Egypt Lake, we danced to Juke box combed our Duck Tail haircuts, messed with the women, they also messed with us, that's fair! All of us guys had Elvis haircuts, and clothes, Pink and Black, was the color, I had Blue Suede Zipper shoes with tassle pulls, a real heart-breaker, tough guy, I thought. You name the place in Tampa, I've either been in it, know of it, or been thrown out of it, in 70s never dropped a drink, that went on for about 10 years or so, then rehab. then back to the grind, been here ever since, haven't seen it all, but didn't miss much!

Anonymous said...

The Garden Theatre was I'm pretty sure on Nebraska Avenue and definitely in North Tampa, north of Sulphur Springs. It was not in East Tampa. I grew up in Tampa and used to go by that (already closed) movie house in the late 1950s.

Anonymous said...

The Garden was on Nebraska Avenue, somewhere between Lake Avene and Columbus. I don't recall the exact location. I would go there as a young boy in the 1950's. I remember a banner hanging across the front that said "Cool Inside", when they added air conditioning. That was a real treat.

Anonymous said...

As a kid I went to the Garden Theatre several times and it was located on Nebraska Ave close to
Floribraska Ave. This is far south of Sulphur Springs.

Anonymous said...

I lived on 28th avenue in the 1950's and walked a few blocks north on Nebraska avenue to the Garden theater...it was called the Garden because it had a small flower bed area at the front left side of the theater...these pictures look nothing like the theater I remember which sat back off the street and had an attractive front...maybe it was remodeled
different in the 1950's...I went there a few times on Saturday mornings for several years until it closed...cost 10 cents at first then went up to a quarter just before it closed