From the time of its opening in the 1920s, the Pompano Theater, located in the 300 block of NE First Street, operated on the edge of profitability.

By the early 1960s, the movie house was showing its age and was finding it hard to compete with the more modern theaters, such as the Gateway, in Fort Lauderdale.

Still, the management tried to put a positive slant on the situation. An advertisement for the theater claimed, "Many folks are finding that the quality of our sound projection and entertaining subjects are far superior to anything in Fort Lauderdale where it costs more."