River Oaks Theater

The address for the River Oaks Theatre is 2009 West Grey Street, Houston, Tx.

In the early 1950's, Interstate changed the policy of the River Oaks from neighborhood sub-run to art, foreign langange. It was very successful for many years having the exclusive Houston engagement. I don't think Houston had another art theater in those days. John Smith was the manager. I was the assistant at the Alabama in 1961 when Interstate transferred me to the River Oaks. The theater was playing SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON exclusive. After that, we followed with 101 DALMATIONS, THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR and THE PARENT TRAP. What a six months that was.

This is a awesome Theatre to see! Dont miss it when your in town!

Here is a vintage photo of the River Oaks Theater in Houston.

Recent marquee photo at this link:
http://www.motivationaltubing.com/right-on-track-movie/

This is a large photo of the River Oaks Theater in Houston. You won't need a magnifier to see it.

This is a recent (2006) photo of the River Oaks Theater in Houston.

The River Oaks faces demolition in 2008 by the premises owners to make way for high-rise condos.
The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance suggests that everyone that
has a concern to write a letter to the following person at Weingarten
Realty, and copy the Mayor and Council Member Ada Edwards with the
concerns. They recommend that the letter should include points such as the historical significance of the buildings, cultural significance of the theatre, that it meets the needs of the community it serves, and that there are few places in Houston where one can walk from their homes to enjoy shopping, dining, and entertainment.

This is the contact information:

Mr. Drew Alexander, CEO Weingarten Realty
PO Box 924133
Houston TX 77292-4133

cc Mayor Bill White City of Houston
PO Box 1562
Houston TX 77251

cc Council Member Ada Edwards City of Houston, District D
900 Bagby, First Floor
Houston TX 77002

Are there any interior shots? Were they destroyed when it was divided?

The theatre has some framed interior shots on the walls - I'll ask if they have copies to post.

eadkins, you said that the R.O. was, from the 50's, an art house, but, when they transferred you, in '61, it was showing a procession of Disney features. Clarify, please.
Did you ever know Ross Vallone? He was managing there in the early '70s.
Rog

I knew Ross Vollone from the Majestic.
As I remember, Disney wanted an exclusive open end deal on SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON at Christmas 1960. The Majestic and Metropolitan were booked with important Christmas films and the Tower had THE ALAMO. A year early, the Tower had played SLEEPING BEAUTY on an open end (6 weeks) run of which Disney was very pleased and wanted a similiar run on ROBINSON. I believe the River Oaks was the only first run theater available. ROBINSON turned out to be the HIT at Christmas and ended up playing the River Oaks for some 10 weeks. The Disney people were also very pleased and wanted their next films in the same theater. 101 DALMATIONS followed ROBINSON for some 7 weeks, followed by THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR for 8, THE PARENT TRAP for 10 etc.. It all ended at Christmas 1961 with BABES IN TOYLAND which was a flop. After that, the River Oaks went back to Art.

Stan--anyone on here, who lives in Houston--why can I find nothing on here about the Oak Village Theatre, which was on Long Point @ Gessner or the Windsor Cinerama?
Were they both too new?
The Oak Village was planned as the first twin screen theatre in town. They even had the 2nd projection booth--but they never got around to building the 2nd auditorium.
Roger

I find it interesting that Weingarten Realty brags about the historic nature of River Oaks, and its significant architecture, on the shopping center's Web site, and then proposes tearing part of it, and the theaters, down. After all, they openly state that it's a historic landmark.

"Aside from being one of Houston's premiere shopping, dining and entertainment experiences, River Oaks Shopping Center is also a historical landmark!

River Oaks Shopping Center is the oldest shopping center in Texas and the second oldest shopping center in the nation (Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri is the nation's oldest).

Hugh Potter, the center's designer, began building River Oaks Shopping Center in 1937.

River Oaks Shopping Center is one of Houston's premier examples of Modern architectural design. When you visit, take notice of its pair of curved sections facing Shepherd Drive, followed by the long horizontal units on either side of West Gray. These features are representative of typical Modern design. In addition, many classic '30's and '40's motifs and materials- rounded corners, "porthole" windows and light fixtures, black glass and stucco- can also be seen among the center's Modern design details."

http://www.riveroaksshoppingcenter.com/aboutcenter.htm

I mean, jeez, talk about wanting to have it both ways.

So far it's just a rumor - Neither Weingarten nor River Oaks Management have said any such thing. It's just been third party media coverage and I've yet to hear their source.

Apparently, tho--tenants have gotten this info from THEIR leasing agents. Seems like THEY would know the inside scoop.
About 12 ppl went to the City Council meeting yesterday. Some of the 12 were from a property owners' rights lobbying group, though.
US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee was there--speaking up for the center, too. Good to have her aboard.

This is a recent photo of the River Oaks Theater. The text with the photo claims that this theater is going to be demolished.

VICTORY We won to save a houston landmark thanks to the 23,ooo signitures here is the story from the houston chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4153487.html

I found a great article on the river oaks theater go to http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/movies/4172529.html

Ha! That photo explains why the old ticket box was in the Rocky storage room - they must have brought it out for that photo. Thanks for that link!

Dear roger scorpion here is an ad from the houston post dated june 27,1963 of the grand opening of the oak village theater located in the spring branch area of town. the opening film is Walt Disneys Miracle of the White Stallions starring Robert Taylor to view the ad go to


http://static.flickr.com/80/240647651_0f0691220e.jpg

This is the website to save the River Oaks Theater.

Thanx, William. Not very representative of the theatre, but it wasn't an architectural marvel outside or anything. It WAS a very nice theatre inside--w/a smoking loge, in which the seats had ashtrays on the backs, so viewers could ash their cigs in them. The original intention of making it a twin screen has a little trivial interest, too. Funny, that, in the ad, it gives the phone # as 'HO8-7948'. The 'HO' stood for 'homestead'. Not too long after that, phone #s here, started using the numeric equivalents, on the phone dials. 'HO*-7948' became '468-7948'. Now it's '713-468-7948', due to the fact that we have 3 area codes in town now--or WOULD be, had the theatre not become a furniture store. it's nteresting to see oshops in town, w/their phone #s long painted in their windows, which have never added their area codes.








Incidentally, the link you posted on 8/31, concerning

William, the links you provided on 8/31 & 9/10, to Chronicle articles, are null & void. Expired, apparently. What victory are you referring to? Which Houston landmark was saved w/23,000 signatures?

William, the links you provided on 8/31 & 9/10, to Chronicle articles, are null & void. Expired, apparently. What victory are you referring to? Which Houston landmark was saved w/23,000 signatures?

William, the links you provided on 8/31 & 9/10, to Chronicle articles, are null & void. Expired, apparently. What victory are you referring to? Which Houston landmark was saved w/23,000 signatures?

Sorry about those repeat posts. My computer jammed up. You'll note they're several minutes apart.

Sorry about those repeat posts. My computer jammed up. It wasn't doing anything, so I clicked 'submit' more than once. You'll note they're several minutes apart.

Mina, on 9/10, you said a pic explained about the ticket box being in the Rocky 'storage room'. What pic, what link & where is the 'Rocky storage room'?

Another action to take, if one is interested in saving the River Oaks & Alabama Theatres, is to contact the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance @ www.ghpa.org & see what they suggest. They're involved in the fight.

This is a recent night view of the River Oaks Theater.

Here is another recent photo of the River Oaks Theater.

KHOU article abut Preservation Texas adding the theatre (along with The Alabama) to their 2007 list of endangered historic places. While they have no legal control over things, they have a well-established presence in Austin.

Two night-time images of the RIVER OAKS that I took 3/18/07.
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/428855605
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/428855590

Hello! Even though I'm in North Carolina now, I have many fond memories of the River Oaks from back in the 70's when it showed the very best foreign, art-house & classic movies - sometimes double features! I first saw "The Seven Samurai" there, complete with intermission. I saw "Don't Look Now!", "Grand Hotel", "The Twentieth Century", "It Happened One Night",and "China Seas" there just to name a few. The River Oaks was kind of my Cinema Paradiso, if you know what I mean. Thanks to those who posted pictures!

Another recent photo of the River Oaks Theater can be seen here.

This is the River Oaks at night.

Is this theatre going to be saved. ?
It's a fine looking theatre.

Here is a more recent photo of the River Oaks Theater.

Another photo of the River Oaks Theater can be seen here.

The River Oaks is still open. This is a 2008 photo.

Sweet. We're already on the marquee for this weekend ;)

Current interior and exterior photos of the River Oaks and a historic exterior are online at www.houstondeco.org

The theater was designed by Pettigrew & Worley of Dallas.

This is a recent night view of the River Oaks.

I worked here back in my early twenties. there were all sorts of stories about a guy who died behind the screen in this theater...and some of the folks around there said he still haunted the theater. funny thing is that to turn off the lights in the main theater auditorium, you had to go behind the stage...which then meant that, to exit the auditorium, you had to walk the entire length of the auditorium, from front to the entry doors in the back...and you had to do this in pitch black darkness. I cannot count the amount of people i terrified during this evening ritual. It was delicious...
I still remember one of the assistant managers named Joel...a really good guy. He ordered some films for a staff party...and he actually ordered THE THIRD MAN for me, because he'd heard me weeks before talking about how i wished i could see that film on the big screen in THAT theater. Good memories...

1981 Photo

1983 Photo

1984 Photo

Here is a 2009 night photo.

This is a nice 2009 photo.

The River Oaks was designed by the Dallas firm of Pettigrew & Worley, according to an article by Helen Kent in the April 27, 1940, issue of Boxoffice Magazine. There were photos of both the River Oaks and the Alabama Theatre, designed by the same firm and built about the same time. Both were Interstate circuit houses.

H.F. Pettigrew and John A. Worley specialized in designing theaters, and were members of the Advisory Board of Boxoffice Magazine's Modern Theatre Planning Institute. In addition to the Alabama, other Houston theaters designed by Pettigrew & Worley include the Broadway, Fulton, Garden Oaks, and Santa Rosa. They designed theaters all over the region during this period, primarily for the Interstate circuit.

November 28, 1939 was opening day for the River Oaks. Hugh Potter, mentioned above, was the master of ceremonies for the grand opening. The River Oaks’ color scheme was maroon and cream, according to that day's news reports.

This page still needs an update for the architects.

Joe, that's a great find, thanks. I've brought it to the attention of the webmasters, who will likely add it soon. They do not read every post, so please feel free to use the "Contact Us" function to alert them of such important changes in the future.