The Harbor Theatre

The Harbor Theatre operated from 1938 to 2003. Over the course of 70 years, the theatre offered a wide range of programming for the community. It was a central hub of the town's entertainment for most of the 20th century and well into the 21st. The theatre was limited to one screen and auditorium, which led to eventual closure following the opening of a four-screen multiplex in the city. Like many small town theatres, The Harbor Theatre showed primarily mainstream Hollywood films of the time and served as a central gathering area for residents and tourists of the seaside city. In the early days of the theater, it offered programming alternatives apart from movies. In 1939, the American Legion hosted a successful minstrel show inside the theatre. In the forties, they offered a Marinette show that was produced in the theatre, and the children enrolled in the local schools were taken on a field trip to see the show. The junior students at Siuslaw High School were even able to put on a show at the theatre in 1938. This shows that in its earliest days, the Harbor Theatre was more than just a movie theatre; it was the community's center for arts and entertainment. The movie-specific programming offered a lot of variety in its showings. They offered first-run Hollywood movies and blockbsuters that were popular during the time of their showing. In the earlier decades of the theatre’s presence they would sometimes do double features. They also hosted community moviegoing events that were representative of Florence’s downtown Bay Street culture. Despite, the theatre’s closure, the building still remains a beautiful landmark of the cinematic experiences and community that the Harbor Theatre’s programming offered.