Harbor Theatre

1377 Bay Street,
Florence, OR 97439

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Additional Info

Functions: Retail

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: Florence Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Front of theater

A classic Art Deco style movie house. The Florence Theatre was opened in 1938. It suffered damage from a fire in 1957. It was refurbished and reopened as the Harbor Theatre, which closed in 2003. The theatre became a shoe store from May 2004. By 2022 it is a clothing store.

Contributed by Jamers Genereaux

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

Evan39
Evan39 on April 1, 2005 at 3:35 pm

The theater closed a couple of years ago and has reopened as a shoe store called “On Your Feet Footwear.” The building was remodeled in the inside and a false wall was created to cordon off the back room storeage area for the shoes. Other than that the classy sign is still there as well as the box office. If the shoe store ever were to close it looks like the theater could easily come back to life again showing movies. The building is located in the old town section of Florence and is in a popular walking area.

daltondix
daltondix on July 30, 2007 at 10:16 pm

The Harbor was one of my favorite classic theaters and when recently visiting Florence again, I was appaled to find it turned into the cheap shoe store! I would love to see it come back again someday. It’s a real shame. There is a new (and boring) multiplex in the new town section- I wonder if it was built by the same owners that owned the Harbor, or if it just ran the Harbor out of business?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on June 11, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Here is part of a March 2003 article about the closure. You have to sign up for the news service if you want to read the rest.
http://tinyurl.com/6yfrbo

KenLayton
KenLayton on May 14, 2009 at 5:02 pm

The Harbor Theater was an independently owned theater. Coming Attractions Theatres operates that 1980’s four screen multiplex dump in the new section of town. They ran the Harbor out of business.

cinequip
cinequip on August 20, 2009 at 11:35 pm

The 4 screen multiplex recently closed, which leaves Florecne with no operating theatres. My family purchased the Harbor Theatre and Rhododendron Drive-In from Joe Lane in October of 1974. We ran the business until sale to James Genereaux in the early 1990’s. The Drive-In closed in 1979 and is now Miller Park. James closed the Harbor after many tough years fighting the 4-screener, and sold the building to On Your Feet shoe stores. Prior to the Sale, James carefully modified the building for retail use, with an eye on enabling a return to a theatre someday. There is a built up wood floor over the sloped and terraced theatre floor, and a false wall covering the stage and screen. The booth and cry room are intact. I removed the Motiograph AAA projectors, and they are now stored for possible future use.

The facade was recently repainted gray and the neon theatre sign covered with an outer face reading “Shoes”.

I am in the planning stages of creating a 35 year “return to the Rhody Drive-In” event on the actual drive-in site – Miller Park, for summer 2010. This will involve a large inflatable screen and high powered digital projection with FM Stereo Sound.

Jake Bottero
Jake Bottero on March 3, 2022 at 7:24 pm

It’s a clothing store these days.

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