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Back in the days of yore when I was a lad of eleven, Saturday mornings were Cub Scout pack meeting days. From there, me and some of my buddies would ride our bikes to the Ritz Theater on Main Street. The Ritz Theater, with approximately 500 seats, was about half the size of the Florida Theater and was known as a second-run house, showing re-runs of earlier big hits, at reduced prices. As I remember; a full length feature film, a serial chapter, a cartoon, the news and of course, previews of coming attractions.

The Ritz on Main St.

Flavor the above with a box of Milk Duds or a package of Necco (Nestle Candy Company) wafers and you get a hundred dollars worth of entertainment for 50 cents.

During the latter part of World War II the Ritz allowed colored patrons to occupy the balcony, accessed via the outside metal fire escape. After 1946 the Ace Theater on now 5th Street, opened and catered to the colored clientele.

With the popularity of television, people's entertainment activities changed and for many years downtown Sarasota was without a movie theater.

Nowadays theaters are like bananas (they come in bunches) because film makers, once again, have discovered how to make make-believe believable, and a $3.00 bag of popcorn is irresistible.

(editor's note:  originally the theater was known as the Virginian - click here to learn it's story.

The Virginian