Cine Roble

The correct spelling of this theater is Cine Roble and my beloved father was the District Manager of Operadora de Teatros in northern Baja California. His legacy is well remembered amongst the pioneers of Tijuana and when my father retired back in the late 70's, Operadora de Teatros went bankrupt and sold the majority of the theater buildings to chilangos "residents of Mexico City". The chilangos have not done anything to revive or even use the property. My father's name was Don Aurelio Valdes Romero and he passed away on October 11, 2000.
I was a child when my father re-inaugurated Cine Roble in the late 60's and during this event, several movie stars and government officials came to this elegant inauguration. One of the celebrities was Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries and one of my family members has pictures of this event. Unfortunately, I'm not in speaking terms with this relative.
If you are interested in finding out more details, send me an email and I can give you the name of one of my older siblings that can provide more history details, because I was very young. I mainly focused on my father's love and not on all of his accomplishments within the northern baja california community. My father managed all of the theaters in Tijuana, Tecate, Ensenada, Mexicali and San Luis Rio Colorado from 1952 to 1979. He later became a well respected business man and continued to be pro active within the community. I am so honored to be his daughter.

Thank you,
Elizabeth Valdes

Elizabeth; Thank you for correcting the spelling of the name of Cine Roble. Also the for interesting personal insight into the management of this theatre by your father. I would be interested to know what the seating capacity for the theatre was, it is certainly a huge building.

I took a look around Tijuana and its theatre's last year. Sadly the Cine Roble, like several others sits empty, awaiting its fate.

Ken,
You are absolutely right about the abandonment of the theaters in Tijuana. I will try to find out the seating capacity for Cine Roble.
Thanks for your feedback.
Elizabeth

Elizabeth, i just discovered this site link, and i'm trilled to find out someone stills remember COTSA, I was born and raised in Tijuana, and I do remember our beloved theaters, I just cant express how sad I am to see the faith of such magnificent peaces of history and heritage.
But now I'm happy to know about this wonderful possibility of presserving at least the memory of this gems.
Anyway, please reply to my e-mail addresss marioborunda@hotmail.com, as I can can join you guys in any possible effort to add more info about this theaters.
Wathever happened to CINE VARIEDADES, on 2nd ave, I still remember the beautiful neon stars in the front of the structure... amazing.. let me know if I can contribute at least in taking pictures of the remainigs or else.
Yor new friend
Mario

CINEMA TIJUANA 7O, any pictures from the 70's, CINE ROBLE I attended to this very sad auction of the theater goods, I guess people whitout vision created this mess. CINE TEATRO on calle 7th, a beautiful arquitectural peace from the 30's ... I heard municipal government branch was trying to take care of it... go figure... CINE ZARAGOZA ..?? CINEMAS GEMELOS .. CINE BUJAZAN .. lets save at list the ticket booth!!! let me know how can I contribute with the pictures for the site....
Mario

Mario(white); here is a link to another cinema website where I have posted some photographs (click on 'Tour' against each theatre to see them):
http://www.cinematour.com/theatres/fo/MX/1.html

Hi Ken, thank you so much for the wonderful pictures, indeed a sad situation with this clasic cinemas, specially CINE BUJAZAN, I wonder how far we are from finding the way of making profit on remodeling every possible classic theater in the world.
Somehow re inventing the way people used to show up to the theater, big and spacious, rich in ornamental architecture and old fashion amenities.
I am not against modernism, but if I want to get into a little square cage, full of sofisticated technology and watch digital video quality, well.. plenty of places now days haa..
Anyway lets keep dreaming..

Hola Elizabeth, Mario, Ken and others,

My namer is Hunter and I've been working in motion picture production for 26 years, some of it in Mexico. I have always loved the old movie theaters in the US and Mexico. The other day I was in Agua Prieta, Sonora and saw Cine Arie, which has been closed for many years. It's across from a plaza and I have to wonder how many people really notice it anymore. I'm sure people miss the matinees and memorable evenings spent there.
I may not be able to re-open an old Mexican cinema but I do intend to bring my mobile cinema to many cities in Mexico. I'll be
screening films from Mexico's Gran Epoca de Oro(the golden era of
cinema). This includes films by Tin Tan, Cantiflas, Jorge Negrete,
Sara Garcia, Maria Fleix, Pedro Infante, Lola Beltran and others.
I'll be screening most of the films outdoors, all shows will be
free. Yes, there may be some problems in presenting such screenings.
The films technically belong to studios and distributors, though most of these films have long ago moved from cinemas to the home video market. These classics can be seen on spanish language TV but
they are usually shorter than the original and have lots of
commercials every 15 minutes. Who really owns these movies? The
Mexican people, that's who. Beyond traditional ownership of movies,
these are national treasures and a very significant part of Mexican
history & heritage.
My traveling cinema is called Highway Cinema. So far, I've
presented 650 free screenings. My tours have been in the US, Canada
and on the west coast of Mexico. In Mexico my cinema is called Mi
Cinito(my little cinema). Imagine the delight for a poor Mexican child to tell everyone where he's going, "A mi cinito!". However
brief, this child has his own cinema, his own cinema paradiso. It's
not mine, I'm just the delivery person who turns the projector on...
Though most of my shows were on the beach in small towns in
Mexico, I also showed movies in Mazatlan while I was teaching at the university there(Taller de Cine). One memorable screening there was in the open air lobby of the Angela Peralta Theater, a restored opera house. While living in Guadalajara I showed movies at the Cafe La Opera, at an art gallery and even on a few rooftops.
I'm presently completing my first feature film script, which I'll
be directing, co-producing and co-starring in. It's a spanish-language comedy about tourists in Mexico...
A note on Mexican cinemas: In Puerto Vallarta there is the Sala Elizabeth Taylor, a cinema that has been there for over 30 years. Though it was an elegant cinema with current feature films in it's heyday, during the past 15 years it's been an adult movie theater. How embarrasing for Liz Taylor, si? I've heard rumors that they are trying to revive it as a premiere movie house and to even
have La Muestra de Cine come to PV from Mexico City. La Muestra is
the annual international film festival presented by Cineteca
Nacional.
A note on US cinemas: In Douglas, Arizona, work is finally underway to restore the Grand Theater. Architect/builder Bruce Endres is presently restoring the ticket booth, next will be the new roof. The whole project will cost over $7 MIL. It's a wonderful old movie palace that's worth seeing when you're in the Tucson area.
A toast to the old cinemas,
Hunter
I have a small website if anyone wants to see it: www.HighwayCinema.homestead.com

Hunter,
Thank you for sharing your information. I'm so glad that at least someone still cares for these classic theaters and old time movies.
I wish you the best in your old cinema endeavors.
Elizabeth

1982 photo of the Cine Roble
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=123&CategoryID=3281&Category2ID=3224&List=1&SortField=ProductName%2cProductName&Level=2&ProductID=36564

another photo of the Cine Roble.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=123&CategoryID=3281&Category2ID=3224&List=1&SortField=ProductName%2cProductName&Level=2&ProductID=36566