Plaza Theater
1610 Central Avenue,
Charlotte,
NC
28205
1610 Central Avenue,
Charlotte,
NC
28205
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Consolidated Theatres, Pussycat Theatres
Architects: Marion Rossiter Marsh
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Plaza Pussycat Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Nov 18, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Ben-Hur"
By the early-1940’s “street car stops” were common in Charlotte. They were found in suburban areas across the city at the end of a line or at a major turn. Such a turn occurred at Central Avenue and a street named the Plaza. Many of the buildings at this “turn”, including an elementary school and the Plaza Theater, were designed by architect M. R. Marsh, of Hawkins-Kibler Associates. The trolly service ended in 1938 but the business district continued to grow for another 15 years.
The Plaza Theater opened September 18, 1941 with “Alice Faye in "That Night in Rio”. Alton B. Carver listed as its manager. In 1956 the first shopping center opened in Charlotte. Shopping centers offered lots of auto parking, and the pedestrian “street car strips” began to decline. The Plaza Theater was a lovely neighborhood theater, but by the 1960’s it was a second run discount movie house. On June 4, 1975 it became the Plaza Pussycat Theatre and ran X-Rated movies. The first program was “Angel Above - and the Devil Below” & “Miss September”. It was later closed for a while and was then taken over by American Mini-Cinemas and operated for a while as a discount house. The neighborhood continued to decline.
The Plaza/Midwood neighborhood has made a come-back, but it was too late for the old movie house, which was closed on August 16, 1987 with Honey Wilder in “Private Teacher” & “Little Oral Annie in ”“Succulent”. It was demolished a year later and a bank now sits on the site.
Contributed by
Robby from Charlotte
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
In the 50’s and up to the mid-60’s, the Plaza Theater was where you went to see the first run engagements of MGM movies.
BEN-HUR had its first Charlotte showing there in 1960.
— MHF
That HAVCO INTERNATIONAL PICTURES recently screened “THE BOOTLEGGERS” at the PLAZA. It was showned to a private audience mainly of bookers. And a film like “THE BOOTLEGGERS” should do great in that area. {Boxoffice March 4 1974}
I need that big book that you have of all the movie theatre info you have Mike.
Tisloews,All i did and you could have done it was save every old BOXOFFICE magazine i would find at work and exploring old theatres. The owner of the KNOX THEATRE passed away .I reprinted a small part of his obit.
THe last operator was “American Mini Cinemas Grier Haddon, manager. Grier operated the Plaza as a porn theater for a while. The answering machine had the hilarious message for the managers line"This is you know who, and Im you know where doing you know what , with you know who, so you know what to do” or something like that.
Grier ran a small store front theater in Dilworth that showed porn, and regular movies. It had vending machines for a concession stand.When it closed, he went to Florida, bought some kind of a franchise deal where he showed midnight movies onsite at apartment complexes. He was from the Haddon Brick Company family in Charlotte. His 85 year old father used to sit in the concession stand and sometimes sell tickets. He wore an expensive suit sometimes.
Grier also ran the Trans Lux Theater in Kannapolis as a dollar theater for a little while, after Entertainment World closed it. ( see trans lux inflight theater)
He kept monkees in a cage behind the Plaza for several years.
“BEN-HUR” was a reserved seat engagement in North Carolina in 1960.
“OLIVER!” also played here as a reserved seat engagement at the Plaza in early,1969. It was the only showing of the film in the two Carolinas with two showings within performances.
I’m thinking that this was the movie that took over after THE GRADUATE with Dustin Hoffman played for weeks throughout Christmas of 1967 till mid-1968 or early 1969.
My dad was the manager of the Plaza Theater 1950-1952. I’ve got pictures will post when I can dig them out! Saturday matinee was always fun. We actually had people like Lash Larue, R Scott, Gene Autry and Johnny Mac Brown come to the theater to promote their film. Good old days , I was young!
The Plaza theatre opened on September 18th. 1941
Plaza theatre opening Thu, Sep 18, 1941 – 15 · The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) · Newspapers.com
This became the Plaza Pussycat “Sophisticated entertainment for the discriminating adult” on June 4th, 1975. Another ad posted.
The Plaza Theatre closed in the early morning of Sunday, August 16, 1987 likely with Honey Wilder in “Private Teacher” and Little Oral Annie in “Succulent” as those were the last advertised titles. One year later (August 23, 1987), the building’s demolition commenced.