Opened on September 1, 1948 by the Claughton Theaters chain. The ‘free’ matinee performance was Shirley Temple in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and the evening show was Peggy Cummins in “Green Grass of Wyoming”. The Trail Theatre was a sub-run, 960-seat movie theatre for most of it’s life. Spanish subtitled and Spanish films ruled through the 1960’s through to the 1980’s with Cuban themed live politcal satire and bawdy comedy plays taking over the house in the 1990’s along with the occasional live musical act. Closed in Spring of 2006 for code violations, conveniently when the comedy (“Dick & Pusy”) offended some locals, the Trail Theatre was up for grabs once again.

Located on Tamiami Trail (8th Street) and 37th Avenue (Douglas Road), the Trail Theatre is within Coral Gables city limits and therefore does not technically qualify as a Calle Ocho locale. Previous efforts to join the once triving Coral Gables first-runs failed as well as that cluster was closer to Miracle Mile.

A 1984 effort for an exclusive run of Talking Heads' “Stop Making Sense” with quadrophonic sound failed miserably but first subtitled runs of blockbusters such as “The Godfather” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” always filled the house along with any Cantinflas re-release.