Mapping Memory: Harlem Theater
Posted on February 7, 2024 by Candice Fairchild
A light beams onto your face, fragmenting the flickering glow of the theater screen. You squint in dismay, swallowing down the last bite of your snack past a lump in your throat. Caught. A floorwalker bends over your shoulder, a disapproving look on his face that you can barely make out past the glare of his flashlight. Moments like this bring Down the Bay鈥檚 Harlem Theater to life in the spoken memories of Leon Howard, interviewed by Dr. Kern Jackson:
Kern Jackson: 鈥淪peaking of the Harlem Theater, did the floorwalker ever catch you eating something鈥滾eon Howard: 鈥淥h yeah, the floorwalker caught us doing everything. I can't think of the name of this famous floor walker; he used to wear a sun visor, and he had this big flashlight. Next thing you know, he would creep up on you and he鈥檇 shine that light right down in your face. And if you were out of order, he would march you right out of that theater. Saw some good movies at the Harlem Theater.鈥�
This 1955 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the location of the Harlem Theater (the
large pink building at the corner of Selma and South Dearborn Streets). Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette
is the blue building across the street. Map courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The Harlem Theater, which flourished as a mainstay of the Down the Bay community during the Jim Crow era of de jure segregation, is sustained in the memories of the folks of Down the Bay. With each mention of the theater, they transport us there, taking us on a cinematic journey of our own. Housed across the street from Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette, the local hangout as Henry Hobdy describes it, the Harlem Theater became a hub for adults seeking a sandwich and a drink while children eagerly filled the theater for a little entertainment:
"And then, next thing, you find them鈥攁cross the street from the Harlem Theater was a place called Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette. Oh, you ever heard of that? It's on Elmira Street, between Washington and Dearborn Street. I don't know if it鈥檚 still there or not. But that's where they would all hang out at. They鈥檒l come back off the ship, and they would party at Pope Luncheonette.鈥� -
The Harlem Theater and Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette. Courtesy of Mobile Housing Board Collection,
The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 秘密研究所.
Alexis Herman recalls the theater and Pope鈥檚, combing through the neighborhood map in her mind:
鈥淭alk about Pope鈥檚 and the theater, the Harlem Theater, that鈥檚 where I went every Sunday. Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette was the other place but it was a bar so kids couldn鈥檛 go over there. But during the day you could go and get a sandwich and get a take-out, that was okay. But the movie theaters Down the Bay was called the Harlem Theater and you got a dime every Sunday and that鈥檚 where all the Down the Bay kids went in the afternoon, was to the Harlem Theater. I forgot about the movie theater. We did have that and you say, 鈥淲hat did we do?鈥� we did go to the Harlem Theater, I remember that too. I鈥檓 literally visually now going through these different neighborhoods to see what I can remember. I remember Fletcher鈥檚, I remember the Harlem Theater, I remember by school, church, the neighborhoods, I see it all now. I was a gathering place, yep, the movies. The scent of Pope鈥檚 Luncheonette鈥檚 finest, the sound of the floorwalkers looming footsteps, and the flashes of the week鈥檚 latest screening are etched in the minds of those who sought entertainment and community at the Harlem Theater. With every mention of the theater, it becomes a site for multiplicity, housing the melding memories of all of its visitors.鈥�
This post is part of a series entitled 鈥淢apping Memory,鈥� in which I take a look at various locations from the Down the Bay community by listening to the vocalized memories of community members. I draw from the archive of oral history interviews conducted as part of the Down the Bay Oral History Project.
Candice Fairchild is a second-year Ph.D. student in English at the University of Alabama. Candice has worked as a transcriber for the Down the Bay Oral History Project and finds inspiration for her blog posts from her experience listening to and transcribing those interviews.
Check out her other posts about the project:
Feeding the Community: Narrative Sustenance and Down the Bay