Inside Jacksonville’s Historic — And Haunted? — Florida Theatre, Which Turns 100 Next Year

In the summer of 2020, the historic Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Fla., used the COVID-induced halt in touring to take care of some much-needed renovations. The former movie palace — which is now owned by the City of Jacksonville and the non-profit Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center — underwent capital improvements including new lighting, sound and video systems, as well as new seats — save for a pair in the balcony that were restored rather than replaced in honor of the theater’s ghostly friend, “J.”

According to multiple employees who spoke with Billboard, the grand, 1,900-seat movie palace — which took over a corner of Forsyth and Newman Streets that was formerly the site of a police station and jail — has hosted several paranormal specialists who claim to have witnessed ghostly activity in Section 500, Row E, Seat 2. This includes a figure seen sitting in the seat on video and sightings of what several have called an orb hovering over it. The alleged ghost haunting this spot got its name after a psychic consultant to a WJCT Public Television production said the apparition called himself J (either for Jay or Joy, an emotion the psychic said J felt for the theater). The psychic also noted that J was there to protect rather than harm.

“A lot of times when I’m in the theater, there’s only one seat that’s ever up, and it’s always the ghost seat,” says the theater’s marketing director Sarah Kraynik.

“There’s not a big sign [that] says ‘Ghost’ or ‘Beware of Ghost.’ It’s just, if you know, you know,” says Florida Theatre president Kevin Stone.

While the chairs look like all the others in the building, the theater gets calls from people throughout the year specifically asking to book the ghost seats, Stone says. The theater even sells a bumper sticker that reads, “I sat with the ghosts at the Florida Theatre.”

“There’s a little bit of a premium to those chairs,” says Stone. “It doesn’t hurt that the ghost seat is in the first row of the middle balcony, so there’s nobody in front of you.”

J may not be the only presence hanging around the ornate Mediterranean Revival building. Stone says construction workers have reported paint cans flying through the air and that multiple people have heard an electrical hum coming from unplugged items. Other strange occurrences, he says, include doors closing on their own and reports from theater staff of an unknown figure appearing in the projection booth.

“I can’t confirm or deny truth in that, but every now and then you get somebody who has a little feeling that there might be somebody there,” says Stone. “I haven’t encountered anything, but when I walk through the theater alone, I do acknowledge [out loud] that I come in peace.”

Of course, The Florida Theatre hasn’t survived nearly a century on lore alone. When it opened in 1927, the Jacksonville centerpiece was the largest movie palace in the state and sat on bustling Forsyth Street alongside five other movie houses. (The Florida Theatre is the only one of the six still standing.) The building incorporated French, Spanish and Italian motifs and furnishings; built in what is sometimes known as Spanish Eclectic Style, the theater features terrazzo and tile floors, decorative moldings, coffered ceilings and terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior.

Notably, the theater once boasted a Wurlitzer organ that was the second-largest Wurlitzer anywhere, according to the theater’s website, which also claims it was the first theater in the city with central air conditioning. Publix Theaters, the now-defunct arm of Paramount Pictures that constructed theaters, was the original owner of the building and had the foresight to add a stage big enough to accommodate live performances like Vaudeville acts.

The Florida Theatre did not become famous for live acts until 1956, when the King entered the building. The revue-style Elvis Presley Show was set to close out a seven-city tour on Aug. 10 and 11 at The Florida Theatre — the only venue in town that could host the 10,000 fans expected across both days of the show — with the iconic Hatch Show print hailing, “Hear him sing ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘Hound Dog’ and his other great recording hits.” The revue-style show — which included sets from The Jordanaires, Phil Maraquin, Frankie Connors and Blue Moon Boys — was scheduled to perform six shows over the two days. But the local Jacksonville government was concerned about the musician’s lewd on-stage behavior.

According to Stone, the legend goes that juvenile court judge Marion Gooding had arrest warrants ready for Presley — for “impairing the morals of minors” — if he shook those hips. “There’s a whole thing about [Presley] having to meet with the judge and promise that he wouldn’t have any of those lewd movements, and the lore is that’s what started his little smirk, his traditional Elvis smirk,” says Stone.

Black-and-white photos of the event show a row of police officers sitting in the orchestra pit facing a 21-year-old Presley instead of the crowd, largely made up of young women. “Traditionally, the officers are there to face outwards towards the crowd and [prevent] the crowd from working towards the stage, but it’s a line of police officers watching him,” says Stone, adding that Judge Gooding came and sat in an aisle seat in the back row to watch the show. Later, Judge Gooding’s son reportedly said his father actually allowed his daughters to attend the show despite his alleged reservations. “Elvis and [Judge Gooding] became friends, “ adds Stone. “Anytime Elvis came and played Jacksonville, he would get together with the judge.”

Following Presley’s shows, The Florida Theatre focused more on film. However, as multiplexes rose in popularity, the venue began losing money to the modern movie theaters and became run down, ultimately closing its doors in 1980. At the time, Jacksonville mayor Jake Godbold set out on a mission to reimagine the theater, which was then the last remaining movie palace in northeast Florida, according to the theater’s website. Along with a coalition of local agencies and non-profits, the city purchased the building for $1 million in 1981, setting off a $4 million renovation funded by the Arts Assembly of Jacksonville.

The renovation included sectioning off the lobby from the theater and restoring balcony seats (only 803 of the theater’s more than 1,900 seats were still functional when it closed in 1980). In 1982, the Florida Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The following year, it reopened. In the time since, the venue has focused on live entertainment, with shows by acts including Fleetwood Mac, John Prine, Bon Jovi, Roger Daltrey, Katt Williams and Chris Cornell. On average, the Florida Theatre hosts more than 200 shows per year. One highlight for the venue took place in 2015, when Jacksonville natives Lynyrd Skynyrd played the band’s first two albums in their entirety at the theater for AXS TV.

The theater continues to host special movie screenings — often with stars of the films in attendance — though it stopped screening movies in 35mm film around 2015. “We were still doing 35-millimeter movies on occasion, which was tough because the quality of the film was not good and people’s expectations are high-quality video, high-quality sound, and ours are crackling,” says Stone. “Then we had a Rocky Horror [Picture Show] incident where the projectionist missed a reel, and if you know Rocky Horror, you can’t skip over the “Time Warp.” The theater went fully digital after that.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down mass gatherings in 2020 and 2021, the Florida Theatre experienced an unexpected boom. Because Florida reopened events much earlier than other states, the theater’s “phone was ringing off the hook,” Stone says, “because we were one of very few [venues] willing to do shows.”

The theater hosted five shows in its first week of reopening in December 2020, with acts Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, .38 Special, comedian Brian Regan and Travis Tritt playing to limited-capacity crowds. Because of Florida’s laxer COVID-19 policies, acts who played there could make small runs throughout the state, from Jacksonville to Tampa to Orlando, to make the economics work.

“Don’t get me wrong, there were many people who didn’t want to perform or patrons who didn’t want to show up, and that was totally fine,” says Stone. “Nobody’s forcing you to do anything. But for the artists that wanted to perform and the people who wanted to see them, we were able to.”

Those shows helped keep the theater afloat during the pandemic, since the non-profit ownership was responsible for keeping up the interior of the building and staff paychecks. (The city was responsible for the building’s exterior.)

In 2026, the theater received no financial support from the state of Florida due to budget cuts, leading the theater to push local residents to attend shows and sign up for its membership program to help keep it afloat. “When needed, the community steps up for The Florida Theatre because the thought of this place not being here is not one that the community is willing to handle,” says Stone, who adds that the goal is to push the membership program — which offers show pre-sales, concierge ticketing services, access to the newly built PNC Lounge and discounted rates on events — and “become a financially self-sufficient organization, so we’re not reliant on these entities that, with a swipe of a pen, are like, ‘You’re out this year.’”

Next year, the Florida Theatre’s 100th anniversary celebration will focus on gaining more members and reminding residents of the venue’s cultural importance. “You’re not going to be able to drive through Jacksonville without seeing something that acknowledges that it’s the Florida Theatre’s birthday,” says Stone of the celebration, which will include special events for the community and perks for members. “We’re just trying to set the stage for the next 100 years.”