The Beacham

From the jail site to the vaudeville circuit

On December 9, 1921, the curtain rose on the site where the Orange County jail had once stood. Braxton Beacham Sr., mayor of the city in 1907, commissioned a vaudeville theater with acoustics as a priority, a three-manual Austin organ, and an electric marquee that was unique in Florida at the time. The first set featured The Wonderful Thing by Norma Talmadge, a Pathé newsreel, and The Boat by Buster Keaton. The theater joined the Straw Hat Circuit, and its stage hosted John Philip Sousa, the Ziegfeld Follies, and W. C. Fields. Later came the talkies, the 1954 CinemaScope with The Robe, and the 1964 Cinerama. During the civil rights movement, the silent protests of Reverend Nelson Pinder and the NAACP Youth Council forced integration in small steps: in 1963, the balcony began admitting African American audiences for limited screenings, and segregation in the club did not disappear until 1965. On September 28, 1975, it closed as a first-run cinema.

Aahz, the early morning that set the standard

the club avoided demolition by changing its purpose. From 1976 to 1981, it was the Great Southern Music Hall and brought national concerts back to the city center; over the years, that stage has seen Ray Charles, B. B. King, The Police, the Ramones, Pixies, and Slayer. In 1987, the building was protected as a local historic landmark; the following year, the owner obtained municipal permission to demolish it. In late 1988, Brad and Lisa Belletto occupied the weekends with an after-hours nightclub. The project, which started as Pure NRG, solidified into Aahz, the night that the public ended up calling Late Night: gothic and industrial rock during bar hours, and from 2:30 AM, new beat, progressive, balearic, and acid house until well into the morning. The decor, designed by Shayni Howen, painted a yellow brick road and placed a papier-mâché head of the Wizard of Oz behind the stage. In the DJ booth, Lisa Belletto, Kimball Collins, Dave Cannalte, and Chris Fortier took turns. The first US stop for Sasha and John Digweed took place here, and from that dance floor came much of the Orlando sound, the Florida breaks. In May 1994, now under the name Dekko's, the death of an attendee at a Reunion party cut those after-hours sets short. In 1997, a municipal ordinance set a 3:00 AM closing time for venues serving alcohol.

The theater that became a club again

Between 1992 and 2010, the same space was Dekko's, Zuma Beach Club, and Tabu. In 2011, it reclaimed the name The Beacham and paired with The Social, the neighboring club at 54 North Orange Avenue. The standing capacity is 1,250 people, between the main floor, the balcony, and the sky box, with an EAW KF740 line array stereo PA designed for electronic music, hip hop, and metal as well as for the band of the night. It continues to present itself as a 1921 theater and programs tours and club nights at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Washington Street: the box office is at the door and each date determines the schedule.