The Beginning
Remembering the Roxy
The Quonset-style hut sits just off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Macon, Georgia. A glass pane on each of the front doors is broken. The sign out front is for The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith. But, it appears the faith has left this building.
The larger broken pane provides the only window into a front foyer where furniture pieces, dust and trash have collected. It’s too dark to see more than a couple of feet, but it’s clear the building has not been in use for a while.
I had noticed the place before. It is surrounded mostly by empty lots. The metal domed roof stands out as you drive by. I’d wondered in passing what it might have been. Someone told me it was a Quonset hut — buildings originally made for a World War II era U.S. Navy who needed structures that could be easily shipped and assembled. I don’t think they were meant to last. But, this one stands — technically, a “historic” building if the tax record showing a construction date of 1940 is accurate.
It wasn’t until I worked with students on a project to capture some of Macon’s unique music history that I learned more about the place.
This had been the former Roxy Theatre, a place where African-Americans gathered to watch movies, hear music and show off their talents. It had a history rich beyond its unique look.
For that project, we interviewed Hamp “King Bee” Swain, a DJ for the former WIBB who is credited with launching the career of James Brown. Swain said he also once hosted an hour-long talent show called “Teenage Party” at the old Roxy Theatre. He said a very young Otis Redding made some of his first fans playing those shows.
I find some old pictures of the place and it looks remarkably the same as it did in its heyday. The marquee and box office are gone but the building’s unique architectural style is unmistakable.
Swain also said while the show started at the Roxy, it later moved to the nearby Douglass Theatre, which has a widely recognized place in music history.
So what happened to the Roxy? Why had it been forgotten while other sites were restored and revered? Was the mass-produced style of the building enough to doom it to abandonment? I tucked these questions away for another day, but I always slowed down when I had to drive by.
This fall, I am back on the Roxy and have plans with students from the Center for Collaborative Journalism’s Civic & Community Journalism to dig in a little more and see what else we can find out. When I tell people about the project, there is inevitably the question about where it is and then the intrigue with what it might have been.
We recently took a walk down to the old Roxy. We looked around. We talked about how cool the place might have been. We left a note in case someone is still checking on the place. We wondered which of the old doors in the back led to the stage. We all want to go inside.
When did the Roxy open? Why did it close? Who is still living that saw shows there as a teen or maybe even an adult? Why is a place so pivotal to its place in time so unknown? What does it look like inside?
We’ll spend the rest of the semester trying to find answers to all the unknowns.
We’ve got ambitious plans.
We plan to share what we find here.
Reach out to us: #RememberRoxy or RememberingtheRoxy@gmail.com
