Before World War 2 - Freedom Magazine Presents The History of Clearwater Florida Part VIII

The Road Back: Clearwater continues to grow as the threat of war looms

“Platform for Clearwater”

An evening in Clearwater in the mid-1930s could be spent in a variety of ways—a quiet dinner at the popular Garden Seat Restaurant on the bay or a Community Hall sing, or perhaps cooking classes in the City Hall Auditorium or a visit to the Clearwater Art Museum.

35 cents could get you into Clearwater’s Capitol Theater where, on April 7, 1937, “The Oklahoma Kid,” starring Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Lola Lane, showed with “The Mysterious Rider” and the serial, “Fighting Devil Dogs.”

As historian Michael Sanders has described it, youths enjoyed “going to town,” parking in front of one of the three drugstores on Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater—each of which featured “curb-hop” service—and sharing the latest news while sipping a coke or milk shake.