For 50 years, the Palace Theater was the hub of Main Street, Downtown McComb. It started in 1939 when two brothers, Najeeb and Haleem Solomon, took half their store and made it into a movie theater, which became the iconic Palace Theater.
“For fifty years, this was the place to be,” shared Jamey Hewitt with the Palace Theater Foundation. “If the latest feature film didn’t draw people in, the popcorn’s irresistible smell did, so we’re told.”
Like many downtowns throughout the US, McComb, Mississippi stopped growing. The Palace closed in 1979, and the building was donated and sat vacant for most of the following decades. Falling into serious disrepair, it became an eyesore.
“There was talk of tearing it down,” shared Hewitt. “But Jason and I couldn’t let that happen and saw all-new possibilities hiding in plain sight.”
With love for music and entertainment and their hometown of McComb, Jamey Hewitt, and Jason Von started drawing up plans, took ownership of the building, and got to work on an all-new possibility for McComb.
“There were plenty of surprises, including termites and pigeons,” explained Hewitt. “Structural engineering, masonry repointing, and installing a dozen thirty-foot steel beams and a brand-new roof were foundational.”
It would take more than Hewitt and Von’s hands-on efforts to see this project through. They relied on a handful of donations and help from other local skilled artisans. But the finish line seemed impossible at times until another McComb native stepped in to help see their vision through.
Gary Solomon, Sr., who was in eighth grade when his family left McComb and moved to New Orleans, was looking for an opportunity to give back to McComb. Solomon, Sr is quoted saying, “All our family values came from McComb. Our whole life was there.”
“The Solomon siblings wanted to make a real difference in McComb,” shared Hewitt. “Solomon, Sr. immediately brought in a few needed resources and ideas, starting with the award-winning Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Architects.”
The Solomon Family created the Palace Theater Foundation, a 501(c)(3) established to preserve this historic landmark into perpetuity and expand preservation in service of McComb. Today, the Palace Theater doesn’t show movies anymore, but it is a remarkable multipurpose community venue designed for the community’s people, businesses, and organizations. It allows more events, activities, and reasons to visit Downtown McComb.
“Revitalizing the Palace Theater is good news for the restaurants and local businesses already established here,” explained Hewitt. “It also creates new opportunities for more businesses to open. It’s fun to see people planning special events close to home, inviting people to McComb for weddings and reunions instead of taking them out of town.”
While the Palace Theater is renovated enough for successful events, there is still work left to do and plans in place to restore it to all its glory. You can help see the vision to full capacity by participating in the Palace Theater Foundation’s raffle, which gives you two chances to win box seats to see Taylor Swift in New Orleans on Saturday, October 26, 2024.
Raffle tickets are $100 a piece, and drawings will be held on September 14, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. CST and September 21, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. CST. One winner will win a pair of box seats. Thanks to the generous donation of the tickets by the Solomon Family, all proceeds will go directly to the Place Theater Foundation to continue restoring and maintaining this iconic building. You can purchase raffle tickets here.
*All photos are courtesy of the Palace Theater.
