Strand Theater

Judging from the photos, which show that the Strand had a false front on a building with a gabled roof, it probably dated from no later than the 1910s. It was most likely the new theater being built by E.G. Hower, as reported in the August 21, 1915, issue of The Motion Picture World.

Hower, the first person to exhibit movies in Trinidad, had been manager of the town’s opera house (closed in 1906, according to that year’s edition of Julius Cahn’s Theatrical Guide) and had, in the early 1910s, operated a storefront movie house called the Crystal Theatre, located on Main Street. His 1915 project was to be the first theater in Trinidad built expressly to present movies.

I attended the Strand in the 60’s and early 70’s. It was on Commercial St. It showed B movies like Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter. On Wednesdays they showed spanish movies.