Park Theatre, 428 West Lafayette Street

Park Theatre, 428 West Lafayette Street. 1959 . Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

Falk Theater, 401 W Kennedy Blvd. 2021. © Chip Weiner

Marketing itself as the first motion picture house in Hyde Park, the Park Theater opened in December 1928. It was designed with some of the first “scientifically curved backs” and upholstered bottoms in the seats, making patrons comfortable watching motion pictures. It was surrounded by other popular buildings, including the Tampa Bay Hotel and the Lafayette Arcade, and positioned on one of the most traveled thoroughfares, Lafayette Street (now Kennedy Boulevard). The theater featured motion pictures, burlesque comedy acts, and film productions.

Local folklore says that the theater is haunted by the ghost of Bessie Snavely, an aspiring actress who hanged herself in a third-floor dressing room after finding out her husband was having an affair with a stagehand. In 1962, it was renamed the David Falk Memorial Theatre and was run by the University of Tampa as a performance facility. In the 1980s, the theater underwent an extensive restoration. It is now owned by the University of Tampa and used exclusively for live performances.

From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol.2

Park Theatre, 428 West Lafayette Street, street facade of Mediterranean Revival building. 1945. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

The Park Theatre On Lafayette Street At Night. Circa 1930s. Robertson and Fresh. Courtesy of the University of South Florida digital collection