Just found some links to a few photos from the interior. The first has some of the gallery that is housed in the building with some interior shots of the interior, the second link is of one of the interior murals, but it doesn’t do it justice unless you see it under the ultraviolet light, the third is of the marquee at night:
No, the interior murals are significant (read the earlier post!). However, as the entire interior is ungoing restoration, interior shots are not available and would not do it jjustice at this point.
The Hi-Ho Theater building is actually just off the corner of Linda Lou and South Presa, about 800 feet north of Southcross (which was Darchy Road) during the theater’s operation. The stagehouse and marquee are still identifiable. The building is used for storage by an adjacent business.
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Alameda by its Houston based operator while it was still in operation back in the mid 80’s a couple months after they torn down the Texas Theater. He was adamant that his theater would never suffer the same fate.
I returned to the theater in 2004 when it was included in a Houston Street tour promoted by the local public radio station. Although the seating in the main floor had been removed for the renovation, the huge wall murals on each side of the main auditorium depicting the history of Mexico and the history of Texas were still there, albeit with some water damage from the previous roof leaks. The 3D effect when they turned out the lights and let the murals glow was striking.
The guide spoke at some length regarding the assistance they were receiving from experts brought in by the Smithsonian who had been intensely studying the murals. Turns out they were interested, not just due to their size, but because their age (1948) predates other holdings they have of black-light florescent paintings from the 60’s pop art era. They want to use what they learn here to develop strategies to conserve and protect other artwork. The real sticky puzzle is the murals were painted with water soluble pigments and were created to be visible under normal as well as ultra-violet light. Ultra-violet light is one of the main ways in which conservators identify previously altered paintings, so whatever in-fill they use has to integrate seamlessly and still be undetectable under both lighting sources. An in-depth discussion on the challenges can be found at the Smithsonian’s website:
Pictures of the interior of the restored theater can be found here:
View link
Just found some links to a few photos from the interior. The first has some of the gallery that is housed in the building with some interior shots of the interior, the second link is of one of the interior murals, but it doesn’t do it justice unless you see it under the ultraviolet light, the third is of the marquee at night:
View link
View link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dulce/34533069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sethgaines/5609806/
No, the interior murals are significant (read the earlier post!). However, as the entire interior is ungoing restoration, interior shots are not available and would not do it jjustice at this point.
Don….you need to make your photo on Flicker “public”. It’s presently marked as “private” and not viewable.
The link to the mural study in the previous post left out the last “l”. My apologies to anyone who tried the old link. Here is the correct link:
http://www.thealameda.org/theatre_muralstudy.html
They are now announcing April 1st as the opening date.
The Hi-Ho Theater building is actually just off the corner of Linda Lou and South Presa, about 800 feet north of Southcross (which was Darchy Road) during the theater’s operation. The stagehouse and marquee are still identifiable. The building is used for storage by an adjacent business.
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Alameda by its Houston based operator while it was still in operation back in the mid 80’s a couple months after they torn down the Texas Theater. He was adamant that his theater would never suffer the same fate.
I returned to the theater in 2004 when it was included in a Houston Street tour promoted by the local public radio station. Although the seating in the main floor had been removed for the renovation, the huge wall murals on each side of the main auditorium depicting the history of Mexico and the history of Texas were still there, albeit with some water damage from the previous roof leaks. The 3D effect when they turned out the lights and let the murals glow was striking.
The guide spoke at some length regarding the assistance they were receiving from experts brought in by the Smithsonian who had been intensely studying the murals. Turns out they were interested, not just due to their size, but because their age (1948) predates other holdings they have of black-light florescent paintings from the 60’s pop art era. They want to use what they learn here to develop strategies to conserve and protect other artwork. The real sticky puzzle is the murals were painted with water soluble pigments and were created to be visible under normal as well as ultra-violet light. Ultra-violet light is one of the main ways in which conservators identify previously altered paintings, so whatever in-fill they use has to integrate seamlessly and still be undetectable under both lighting sources. An in-depth discussion on the challenges can be found at the Smithsonian’s website:
http://www.thealameda.org/theater_muralstudy.htm