The Strand Amusement Co. incorporated and built the Strand Theater in 1915, the same year the city hall was built. A sister Strand Theater had just opened on Broadway in New York. For $100,000, they intentionally avoided the “garish” interior looks of other theaters, preferring an artistic décor with clean lines and Moorish and Spanish design. The building at Twiggs and Tampa Street was designed with 20-foot-deep shops along Tampa Street, built small enough not to take up room in the 1,000-seat theater. As standard in the early 20th century, the theater was equipped with a pipe organ. It opened on October 15, 1915, with “The Juggernaut,” a silent movie about a train disaster.

The air-conditioned Tampa Theater opening in 1926 made it difficult for the Strand to compete. They closed in 1931. Florida State Theaters, owners of several other movie houses, re-opened the spot in October 1942 as the New Strand, but it still struggled to compete. It closed in the late 1940s. Maas Brothers department store, as seen in the original Burgert photo, was taking over the block then. They remodeled the building and moved in in 1949, opening their budget fashion center here.  As the popularity of retail waned in downtown, many stores suffered. Maas Brothers closed in 1991, leaving the Strand building empty. It was demolished in 2006, along with the rest of the block, to build condominiums. That never happened.  It is now a parking lot.

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved