Tampa Theatre

Built in 1926 as one of America's most elaborate movie palaces, Tampa Theatre is a passionately protected City of Tampa landmark on Franklin Street downtown — a Mediterranean courtyard of old-world statues, flowers and gargoyles under a realistic night sky of twinkling stars, named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Rescued from demolition by the city and its citizens in 1973 and run since then by the nonprofit Tampa Theatre Inc., the venue's 1,238-seat Historic Duncan Auditorium and 43-seat John T. Taylor Screening Room host close to 1,000 events a year — first-run and classic films, concerts, theatre tours, education programs and a steady run of touring standup. Recent and upcoming bills include Chelsea Handler, Leslie Jones, Daniel Sloss, Bassem Youssef, Rickey Smiley, Matt McCusker, Max Amini, Phil Hanley and Zoltan Kaszas.