The Central Theatre, located at the northeast corner of Central Ave and Short Emery St, was at the heart of the Central Avenue business district known as the Scrub. It was built in the early 1920s under suspicious permits, possibly leading to the collapse of the façade in 1923. It was rebuilt. Segregation was widespread in 1934 when this photo was taken. The Scrub was an African American neighborhood started by emancipated enslaved people after the Civil War and became a hub for Black lives in the area. Notice the two banner trucks in front, driven around the community to advertise the latest feature. There are no records of the Central Theatre advertising movies like other theaters did. There are, however, several articles discussing events at the “negro theater”. The facility had a stage and hosted theatrical events and boxing matches as well. Some oral histories available locally describe the unity and energy experienced by residents in the Scrub in its heyday.

In the mid-1950s, Emery Street was closed off and the Central Park Village housing project was constructed. As the grip of segregation lightened in the mid-1960s following the abolition of Jim Crow laws, some residents moved away, and blight began to set in as inner-city struggles increased. A racial disturbance and subsequent fire in 1967 left much of the area in ruins. The controversial Urban Renewal Program leveled the business district in 1974. To stimulate growth, the Tampa City Council adopted the Central Park Community Redevelopment Plan in June 2006, and in 2007, the old 483-unit village was demolished. Housing and Urban Development gave the Tampa Housing Authority $30 million to plan and build Perry Harvey Park and in 2009 plans for Encore!, an energy-efficient master planned community were unveiled. The Ella building, named after jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, who once stayed in the district, opened in 2012. Behind this wall, a pool and parking lot are now where the Central Theatre once stood  

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