This 75-year-old SC movie theater is ‘coming back to life.’ When it’ll open its doors
The familiar pink and green neon lights will shine on Hampton’s Lee Avenue as the smell of buttery popcorn fills the lobby and people shuffle to their seats for one of Hollywood’s latest movies.
After an $80,000 fundraising effort, this will be the first weekend the Palmetto Theater will feel as it did when it opened 75 years ago.
“This beautiful building is coming back to life,” Hampton Friends of the Arts executive director Heather Bruemmer said who drove the fundraising efforts with board chairman John Wright.
An anonymous donor kickstarted the efforts to bring first-run movies back to downtown Hampton with a $50,000 contribution in hopes of making the theater the hub of activity it once was in the early days of the community, Bruemmer said.
Now, the building which was built in 1946 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, has a new movie screen that drops down and rolls back up, digital projection, surround sound, fiber internet that has speeds up to 1G, fresh paint and refurbished interior, repairs to the stage and roof, and improvements to the concert sound and lighting.
Bruemmer said the upgrade “has been cleverly engineered” so the building can still host concerts, stage plays and more in addition to movies with the same quality projection and sound customers would experience at a large cinema in a bigger city.
There’s also new chandeliers and murals in the restrooms that were inspired by a piece of hardware found during the project that’s believed to be a piece of one of the original theater seats with an Art Deco design.
“The atmosphere is incredible,” she said. “It’s an elegant space and you get a feeling of being transported back to a time when people would get dressed up and go to the movies. It’s a much more glamorous space than if you had visited us a year or two ago.”
Although there’s not a concession stand in place yet, snacks like popcorn, soda, and pizza will be available for purchase in the nearby Art Alley and delivered to moviegoers’ seats. Seating capacity is at 220 right now.
Tickets for movie showings will be $8 with a Sunday matinee price of $6.50.
“We tried to keep the prices relatively low because we want everybody to be able to come out and enjoy the building,” Bruemmer said.
Money raised will go back to the community, Bruemmer said, for programs like art lessons, plays and musicals.
Local high school students will be hired to staff the theater through the internship program Jobs for America’s Graduates.
At least two weekends a month will be dedicated to showing movies in order to leave the schedule open for other events, but the option exists to run movies during the week or more often.
The Palmetto Gallery, which is located inside the theater, will always have local art on display for guests to see. The current display is photography from Girl Scouts who worked with local photographer Nick Ginn.
The 75th Anniversary Grand Re-opening Gala is 7 p.m. Friday with the premiere of “Respect,” a newly released Aretha Franklin biopic followed by showings at 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Bruemmer said the re-opening has been a long time in the making and she hopes locals and visitors enjoy it.
“(The arts council doesn’t) do art for arts sake,” she said. “We do art for the sake of economic and community development. We’re always looking at what is the benefit to the community.”
More information about the theater and its events or to purchase tickets can be found at palmettotheater.org.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 2:29 PM.
