Several readers responded with their memories of the Paramount Theatre (featured last week), which was in downtown Atlanta from 1920-60.
Timothy J. Grogg’s Whitefoord Elementary School safety patrol belt provided him with free admission to Saturday morning movies at the Paramount.
“My buddy and I would each have about $2, catch the No. 18 South Decatur bus, see the free movie, eat at the Krystal in the Flatiron Building and return home with money left over,” wrote Grogg, who now lives in Roswell.
Like other movie houses of the day, the Paramount had a spectacular lobby, Atlanta’s Ron Brooks remembers.
“The interior had a huge marble staircase centered in the lobby with aisles down either side into the orchestra level,” he wrote. “The stairs led to a huge oval lobby on the balcony level. This lobby was beautifully furnished with sofas, chairs and a white grand piano. (It was) much smaller than the Fox, but was equal in elegance, as was the Roxy and the Loew’s.”
Elvis Presley played the Paramount in 1956, leading to a chance encounter for Chamblee’s John Grier, who took his girlfriend to one of the shows.
“Returning to my car after buying the tickets, four huge guys came toward me down the alley. One looked familiar, then I remembered the picture (of Elvis) my girlfriend had shown me. ‘Are you Elvis Presley?’ I asked. ‘Ah shore am,’ he replied. I asked for his autograph and got it. When I gave it to my girlfriend, she fainted.”
Michael Moore enjoyed watching horror movies at the Paramount and even has a photo of the theater in his study.
“Back then, you could board a bus on Ponce de Leon Avenue, as far out as Stone Mountain, and ride into the city,” wrote Moore, who lives in Alpharetta. “A movie ticket cost around 75 cents, as I recall, and we would then go across the street after the show for Krystals. I believe bus fare was 25 cents.”
Like many others, Tug Tuggle, who grew up in Stone Mountain, rode a bus downtown every Saturday morning. He and a friend would catch a movie at the Paramount (or Loew’s, depending on what was playing at the time), buy 10 Krystals each and then take them in to watch another movie in the afternoon.
“The Orange Teaco, which was right next door to the Loew’s, made the best malted milks,” he said.
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