Santa Rosa Theatre

The Film Daily Yearbook, 1950 gives a seating capacity of 962.

The Santa Rosa theater was built in 1930 per HCAD records, and is owned by the MGJ Corporation (DBA Stars Theater) from Florida. Today, it is slated to become a medical center.

There are two small photos of the Santa Rosa Theater here and another one is here.

Here is a more recent photo of the Santa Rosa Theater.

Great photos 'Lost Memory'... thanks for the memories.
I worked there as an usher in 1955-1956.
This was a first class neighborhood theatre, operated by
Interstate Theatres Inc. They were famous for operating deluxe theatres throughout the Houston area. i.e. Wayside, Broadway, Eastwood, Garden Oakes, Fulton, North Main, Village, River Oakes,Alabama, and Tower, to name a few that I can remember.

the shopping center adjacent to the theater has been completed (and pitifully unoccupied). according to the construction crew, the theater may have a new life as a community center, but nothing has happened yet. there is also a nasty rumor that the santa rosa may be stucco'd like the shopping center...:(

I really hope that's not true. Richard Nickel said it best: "Architecture has two natural enemies: water and stupid men".

Here is a link to a photo of the Santa Rosa (probably as it looked new): http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=e_bb_1867 and as it looked under construction: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=e_bb_1868

These photos are from a great site featuring the Bob Bailey Photographic Studios archives 1932-1998. Also in his archives are photos of great theaters from Houston's past not listed on this site, such as the Queen and the Rainbow.

Oops! Forgot to mention that the images for the Santa Rosa under construction are dated April 2, 1947.
Check out this image http://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=e_bb_1773
It looks like it was built in the middle of nowhere!

the santa rosa is no more - demolition started on April 14, 2007

A few photos of the demolition can be seen here.

Dang! Another one bites the dust! Let us know what goes up in its place. Probably a generic something....McDonalds or Walgreens.

Bet you can count the number of vintage theaters left in Houston on one hand, now.

This city sucks when it comes to historical preservation. It's been proven that preservation is income-generating, particularly in a town like this, where old, quality structures are rare. This mentality is totally frustrating.

More demo photos here
http://www.arch-ive.org/santarosa/

Before the Santa Rosa was demolished, it looked like this.

Google Maps is interesting on the Santa Rosa. The aerial view shows the spot vacant, with only the old sidewalk markings remaining at the old entrance, but the street view still shows the elevation of the front of the theater.

Next time I'm in the area I need to take a photo of the sidewalk there. This was another building that I told myself for years that I needed to photograph, but never got around to it.

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ckt7sb

The Santa Rosa was one of several post-war Houston theaters designed for the Interstate Circuit by H.F. Pettigrew and John A. Worley of the Dallas firm of Pettigrew & Worley.

Was the Santa Rosa an adult theater in the 1980s known as the Stars Theater? Here is a 1984 photo of the Stars Theater.

I'm sure that's the same building in the 1983 photo ken mc linked to above. It looks like they painted everything but that strip of pink around the base of the box office. It also looks like they used letters from the name Santa Rosa to make the name Stars on the vertical sign.

The photo of the Stars Theater is the Santa Rosa Theater. I found a few sites that mention this theater operating as an adult theater/video store after it stopped showing Spanish language films. This website has a 1946 photo of the Santa Rosa before it opened.

The Santa Rosa opened on December 20, 1946. The premier feature was "Canyon Passage" with Dana Andrews and Brian Donlevy.