Avon Theater has been lovingly restored and transformed into a community performance space serving those in Avondale Estates and beyond. (Photo by Kelly Thompson)
Tucked at one end of Tudor Village in downtown Avondale Estates sits a historic performance venue. The Avon Theater is an intimate music and performance venue spanning 6,372-square-feet across two floors.
The building itself was constructed more than 100 years ago in 1924 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally serving as City Hall and the post office, it was rededicated as the Avon Theater in 1938.
Over the past century, Avon Theater has showcased a wide array of performances, including music, dance, boxing, wrestling, plays, musicals and even magic shows. Notable names who have performed at the venue include The Allman Brothers Band, R.E.M., Drivin N Cryin, the B-52s and, perhaps most famously, the one and only Elvis Presley.
The space can accommodate crowds of up to 280 people and boasts an expansive main floor area filled with high tops and dining tables, while the upstairs balcony offers seating for 60 with great views of the stage. Both floors have their own full bars.
Throughout its long and storied history, the theater has operated under a variety of names and served several purposes. At times it was called The Avon, Avondale Estates’ Old Towne Cinema, Our Way Cafe, the Metro Dance Company, Nickel and Dime recording studio and, most recently, 37 Main — but one thing that hasn’t changed in all those years is the venue’s status as a beacon for the arts in Avondale Estates.
In early 2025, the Avon Theater was officially reborn. Following the exit of 37 Main in 2024, which was an extension of a Buford-based live music venue known for tribute bands, Oakhurst Realty Partners was unsure of what to do with the historic property. After some deliberation and conversations with potential tenants, the partners had a novel idea: Keep the venue and manage it themselves as a community event venue.
As a nod to the venue’s rich history, the team painstakingly studied historic photos to recreate the Avon Theater sign, developing a new logo and branding that is at once fresh and updated, as well as a nod to the past. They hosted their first public event in February of 2025, and soon found their footing in the local music scene thanks to the hard work of the team they hired to manage the space.
John Schmarkey serves as Avon Theater’s general manager, and he brings a deep knowledge of the industry because he is also a musician himself. Schmarkey noted that with 37 Main, the venue felt a little bit disconnected from the city of Avondale Estates. “We want the city to cherish this jewel,” said Schmarkey. He knows what makes a venue better or worse for bands, and he has a genuine love for live music.
And for the team at Avon Theater, success isn’t just about pleasing the customers and the community; it’s also about adequately serving the musicians and bands. “We really, really want the industry to feel at home here,” Schmarkey asserted, pointing out the intentional lack of loopholes that other venues might impose to limit the performers, such as exclusive holds or excessive company fees. “We’re really trying to take all the good aspects of what venues used to have — that connection, not the disconnection — that you kind of feel sometimes.”
In its first year, the Avon Theater has hosted more than 65 performances featuring a number of local bands, including Yacht Rock Schooner, Mudcat, Shugah Munny, The Susi French Connection and Mothman Moth Band. They have also invested in new audio and lighting.
“Shugah Munny has had such an amazing experience playing at Avon Theater,” said Shugah Munny band member Lawson Wright. “Everything from their production to their management and hospitality really made us feel at home and made our performances take flight.”
“I mean, it’s really the perfect combination with the sense of history that you can’t replicate,” said Fisher Paty, one of the managing partners at Oakhurst Realty, who has been very hands-on with the recent reopening and all the renovations that the team has done at the space. He gestured at the old brick walls, pointing out that compared to many modern venues, they have the luxury of inheriting genuine, authentic music history as part of the concept for the venue.
“We’ve got almost 100 years of actual history, including the fact that Elvis played here and the Allman Brothers Band,” Paty continued. “That resonates. You know? People feel that.”
When asked about the viability of live music venues as a business model, Paty shared that while it’s a gratifying pursuit, it is not the easiest to manage. “There’s a lot of headwinds for the business we’re in,” explained Paty. “[Running a] music venue is not an easy business. It’s a tough business. But we’re committed to it because we think it’s the right thing for this space and this community and because of the history that we can capitalize and build off of. We believe we can be a going concern.”
Until now, the theater has provided beverages for sale through a partnership with Banjo Coffee. Today, the team is readying to get its liquor license and bring bar sales in-house, coincidentally at the same time the coffee shop is expanding its own footprint down the road. “They’ve been doing us a favor and helping us get started,” explained Paty, who noted that managing their own bar will make them more nimble and more open to opportunities that may present themselves, including more flexibility with door fees and refreshment costs. With no kitchen on the premises, the team offers food for events by bringing in local restaurants and food trucks. Schmarkey shared that he often cold-calls local restaurants to ask if they’d like to sell during a show, and the answer is typically a resounding yes. “It’s amazing. It brings in the community,” he said.
At the end of the day, the Avon Theater team feels strongly about the value of in-person live music, not only because they themselves love it but also because of the nebulous nature of AI-driven music and art that has infiltrated society and made it difficult to discern genuine, authentic talent through the internet. “It’s not spectacular if it’s not real. But when you’re here, you’re like, OK, they’re actually creating the sound. This is happening right now. This is a live moment,” said Paty.
When it comes to music performances, Schmarkey says there’s no substitute for seeing it live. “People vibe off each other. And when you’re hearing a great show, whatever genre of music it is, and you’re all feeling that, you know, you see people get excited and do funny, silly things that they may not otherwise do,” said Schmarkey. “That fills your cup up.”
The 2026 lineup at Avon Theater is already stacking up, with upcoming shows through June listed online as of this writing, including an all-ages ’90s alternative rock show featuring B4Y2K and special guest Velouria, a Pixies tribute band, taking place on Friday, January 23; and Hannah Dasher with special guests Jet Black Roses on Saturday, January 24. In February, expect an array of styles including Nepali music, reggae, British rock, Americana and a Grateful Dead tribute band.
“Go listen to some real music. Socialize with your neighbors; get to know people. It can restore your faith in humanity,” Paty continued. “And you feel the love in this space.”
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Isadora Pennington is senior editor of art + design and dance. An experienced writer and photographer with a deep love for the arts, Isadora founded the Sketchbook newsletter with Rough Draft Atlanta in 2022. She is also president of the Avondale Arts Alliance and director of the Avondale Arts Center.
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