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  • Development
    Building Up Jax - Jacksonville Construction and Development Updates Each Saturday

    Building Up Jax: South Moon Under coming to SJTC

    Building Up Jax - Jacksonville Construction and Development Updates Each Saturday

    Building Up Jax: Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop coming to Mandarin

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    Building Up Jax - Jacksonville Construction and Development Updates Each Saturday

    Building Up Jax: Rockler Woodworking coming to SJTC

    Building Up Jax - Jacksonville Construction and Development Updates Each Saturday

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    Building Up Jax - Jacksonville Construction and Development Updates Each Saturday

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  • History
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    Florida Times-Union building

    Story of a Building: The Florida Times-Union Building

    Edgewood Bakery

    Remembering Edgewood Bakery: Once a Murray Hill Staple, Now an Empty Building

    jacksonville university

    A Brief History of Jacksonville University

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    Before Normandy Mall, There Was the Loew’s Normandy Drive-In Theatre

    Green Turtle Restaurant in Jacksonville, fl

    Remembering Joe Adeeb’s Green Turtle Restaurant

    San Marco Theater, San Marco, Jacksonville, FL

    Story of a Building: San Marco Theatre

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    JAX EVOLVED: San Marco Preservation Society Now Occupies South Jacksonville City Hall

    JAX EVOLVED: San Marco Preservation Society Now Occupies South Jacksonville City Hall

    Old St. Luke's Hospital jacksonville fl

    JAX EVOLVED: Old St. Luke’s Hospital Building Now Houses Jacksonville Historical Society

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    Old St. Andrew's Church building, Jacksonville, FL

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    Novel Coworking / Groover-Stewart Drug Company Building, 25 N. Market Street, Jacksonville, FL - Image copyright 2020 Google

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    JAX EVOLVED: From Brewster Hospital to North Florida Land Trust

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Before Normandy Mall, There Was the Loew’s Normandy Drive-In Theatre

by The Coastal
March 31, 2021
in History
Before Normandy Mall, There Was the Loew’s Normandy Drive-In Theatre
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In the earlier days of cinema, before multi-screen theaters rose to prominence, the hottest trend in movie-watching was the drive-in theater. Patrons could enjoy a movie from the comfort of their cars; it’s a concept that has seen a small revival recently as COVID-19 has made indoor theaters a danger zone.

Several drive-ins popped up throughout Jacksonville between the 1940s and 1960s, but few were as popular – or as large – as the Normandy Drive-In Theatre.

Normany Outdoor Theater, as it was first known, opened in the late ’40s at Normandy Boulevard and Lenox Avenue on the Westside. Designed by architect F. Earl DeLoe, the $250,000 outdoor theater could accommodate well over 1,000 vehicles. It featured a double-sided screen, with rows of parking on each side; additional land on the property became home to a large children’s playground and even a small petting zoo.

Photo via state archives

Initially managed by Tropical Park Theaters, the Normandy theater was acquired by Loew’s Theaters in 1955. Loew’s, a well-known East Coast theater operator, was just beginning to expand into drive-ins after years of operating single-screen movie houses.

Unfortunately, a change in Loew’s ownership – as well as the start of a change in movie-viewing habits – led to the company selling off many of its larger, more valuable properties for redevelopment. Sure enough, the Normandy’s property found a suitor; the theater was “demolished” in the mid-‘60s to make room for a new standalone Montgomery Ward department store. Within a few years, a local development group built an enclosed shopping mall around the existing Ward’s building, covering the remainder of the former theater property.

The theater has now been gone for over 50 years, and even the mall that replaced it has since been redeveloped. But many longtime Jax residents still have cherished memories of seeing movies at the Normandy Drive-In as children.

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The Coastal is a local magazine in Jacksonville, FL, founded in 2015 to bring you stories about the past, present, and future of the First Coast.

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