Marion Theatre Ocala, FL Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack The Marion Theatre gives downtown Ocala a bright reminder of the movie-palace era. Its vertical sign draws your attention above the sidewalk, while the Art Deco facade makes the building recognizable from farther down the block. It’s the sort of entrance that made going to the movies feel like an occasion before you reached the ticket booth. Opened in 1941, the Marion offered audiences a stylish auditorium and the welcome comfort of air conditioning during Florida’s hot summers. Decorative walls and ceiling details carried the architectural theme inside, giving patrons more to appreciate than the feature on the screen. Those surviving elements later became important parts of efforts to renew the theater. UPDATE: Here is an update on the Marion Theatre in Ocala. We have just begun a $1.3 million dollar renovation project on the theatre and it projected to be finished in July of 2007. More information can be found at Ocala.com. Many thanks to Brian Sofsky for update. 01-07 UPDATE: Here are a couple of photos of the inside of the Marion Theatre showing work in progress. Many thanks to Brian Sofsky for update. 02-07 UPDATE: The Marion Theatre is open and active, presenting classic films, live music, comedy, and special events under Reilly Arts Center management. In September 2026, it celebrated its 85th anniversary with a screening of Aloma of the South Seas, the same movie that opened the theater in 1941. The restoration described in the earlier updates culminated in an August 2007 reopening, beginning another chapter for this downtown landmark. Good to see the Marion still giving people a reason to head downtown for a show. 11-26   Marion Theatre interior photos Ocala, FL Photo courtesy Brian Sofsky Marion Theatre interior photos Ocala, FL Photo courtesy Brian Sofsky

Edison Theatre (Closed)
Fort Myers, FL
Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack

The Edison Theatre still looks like a movie house even without its original marquee. Vertical bands and colorful Art Deco detailing give the downtown Fort Myers building a distinctive frontage. The entrance may no longer lead to an evening at the pictures, but the exterior leaves plenty of clues about its earlier purpose.

Opened in 1941, the theater took its name from Thomas Edison, whose winter estate remains one of the city’s best-known historic attractions. It operated for nearly four decades before closing around 1980. The building later reached another audience through George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, with its facade appearing in the 1985 film’s downtown opening sequence.

UPDATE: The Edison Theatre is now being used as office. 05-13

UPDATE: The former Edison Theatre has been adapted for office use. Its old neon marquee is gone, but the streamlined exterior survives, preserving a recognizable piece of Fort Myers’ entertainment history—and an unexpected landmark for fans of Romero’s zombie films. 08-26

Seminole Theatre (Demolished)
Tampa, FL
Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack

The Seminole Theatre building retained hints of its movie-house beginnings long after its prominent neon sign disappeared. Along Tampa’s Florida Avenue, the smaller replacement lettering couldn’t quite conceal the structure’s earlier role. It was still possible to picture a ticket line where a different congregation later gathered.

Opened in 1924, the Seminole served neighborhood audiences before finding another purpose as a church. Praise Cathedral occupied the building when this photograph was taken, extending its use as a gathering place after the movies ended. That conversion allowed the structure to survive for years beyond its original entertainment career, although much of its theatrical advertising had already been lost.

UPDATE: The former Seminole Theatre was demolished in 2016 following years of deterioration. The building no longer stands, and the site was subsequently reported vacant. Photographs preserve its later church-era appearance as well as the remaining outlines of the old neighborhood cinema. 08-26

Springs Theatre (Closed)
Tampa, FL
Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack

The Springs Theatre recalls the years when Tampa’s Sulphur Springs neighborhood was a recreation destination. Its Nebraska Avenue facade belonged to a district where visitors once came to swim, shop, and find entertainment. Nearby landmarks such as Alpine Liquor provide other reminders of the area’s long commercial history.

Opened in 1945, the theater continued the neighborhood’s entertainment role as a local movie house. Later, the building accommodated music-related uses, including rehearsal activity, before a more substantial restoration gave it another purpose. The transition made use of an enclosed performance space that no longer needed to depend on regular movie audiences.

UPDATE: The Springs Theatre has been restored and adapted as a recording studio, soundstage, and production facility. Its recognizable theater frontage remains along Nebraska Avenue. Good to see the building continuing to support entertainment, even though the work taking place inside differs from its original picture-show days. 08-26

Polk Theatre
Lakeland, FL
Photo courtesy Steve/Back on Tack

The glowing Polk Theater sign gives downtown Lakeland a little movie-palace glamour. Rising along Florida Avenue, the vertical display announces a building designed to make an evening out feel special. Inside, the atmospheric auditorium resembles a Mediterranean courtyard beneath a star-filled sky, extending the spectacle well beyond the sidewalk.

Opened in 1928, the roughly 1,400-seat theater was an early local adopter of air conditioning, using cool water from an artesian well. Its entertainment history includes a 1956 appearance by Elvis Presley during his rapid rise to fame. When changing moviegoing habits threatened the Polk’s future, community preservation efforts in the 1980s helped secure another chapter for the downtown landmark.

UPDATE: The Polk Theatre continues hosting films, concerts, live performances, and community events. Its restored neon sign remains a recognizable feature of downtown Lakeland, welcoming audiences to a theater that still offers something quite different from a suburban multiplex. 08-26

Strand Theatre (Closed)
Key West, FL
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

The Strand Theatre sign still gives Duval Street the appearance of a place where another movie might be starting soon. Beneath the illuminated marquee, however, customers now enter a drugstore. The contrast makes this Key West landmark an interesting example of a theater retaining its roadside identity after the screen has gone dark. 01-09

Opened in the early 1920s, the Strand entertained moviegoers for decades before closing as a cinema in the 1980s. Later uses included a nightclub and a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! attraction. Conversion to retail substantially changed the auditorium, although the surviving balcony and elaborate Spanish Baroque-style facade retained connections to the building’s theatrical past.

UPDATE: The former Strand continues operating as a Walgreens. Its historic marquee and vertical neon sign remain part of the Duval Street streetscape, preserving the most visible features of the old movie house even though the business inside serves a different purpose. 08-26