Tampa Theatre
Built in 1926, the Tampa Theater is one of America’s most sophisticated movie palaces and a beloved community landmark. Theatergoers will enjoy world-class entertainment under a realistic night sky and twinkling stars in a romantic Mediterranean courtyard filled with vintage statues, flowers and gargoyles. Like other movie palaces across the country, the Tampa theater was very popular when it opened. For the first time in history, the common man had access to luxury – for 25 cents! But by the 1960s, times had changed. The rise of television and the move to the suburbs had a profound effect on the movie palaces that lit up the main streets of the United States. Audiences fell, costs rose, and many of our country’s best movie palaces were torn down.
In 1973, the Tampa theater suffered the same fate. But the citizens of Tampa rallied. Committees and community leaders joined in and soon reached an agreement with the city to save the theater. Today, the theater is managed by the Tampa Theater Foundation, a non-profit organization. Tampa Theater’s single auditorium is one of the busiest venues of its kind in the United States, hosting more than 600 events each year, including a full schedule of first-rate and classic films, concerts, special events, corporate events, tours and educational programs. . . A catapult of the imagination since 1926, the nonprofit Tampa Theater is a passionately preserved historic landmark and one of America’s best-preserved examples of grand movie palace architecture. Don’t forget to check out this place in Tampa too.
Its mission is to build community through unique entertainment in an iconic landmark. The theater has a wide selection of independent, foreign and documentary films. It is Tampa’s only non-profit movie palace, and its members, donors and corporate sponsors, as well as ticket and concession sales, cover operating costs. It has often been used as a backdrop for films, music videos and local programs. Community support and input are crucial to the theater’s continued vitality. Despite its success, the theater earns only about 60% of its annual operating budget from ticket and concession revenue. Donations to the Tampa Theater Foundation help bridge the gap and keep theater accessible and affordable for all. If you are in need of a foundation repair, click here.
