Cine Encanto
Avenida Serapio Rendon 87,
Mexico City
Avenida Serapio Rendon 87,
Mexico City
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Mexico City probably had more jumbo cinemas than any other metropolis in the world. Opening in the midst of the Depression on 5th May 1937 with “Ayudame a vivir y El cazador blanco”(Help Me To Live, I’m A White Hunter), the modernistic Cine Encanto had 4,000 seats, with 2,000 on the ground floor and the rest in two steep balconies.
It suffered severe damage in an earthquake in 1957 and was demolished. Today the site houses a magazine & newspaper distribution centre which was built in the 1980’s.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
To permit so many seats, the auditorium gradually widened from the front to the rear of the house. This view, copied from a 1937 trade journal, was taken from the second balcony, in so-called “nosebleed heaven.” Mexico City itself could cause nosebleeds, due to its high altitude: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/encanto01.jpg
I think the business listed here is in the theater building:
http://tinyurl.com/2tgxcu
Here’s a night view of Cine Encanto’s spectacular exterior signage. The current attraction was 20th-Fox’s 1937 remake of “Seventh Heaven,” starring Simone Simon and James Stewart:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/encanto02.jpg
I frequently walk in front of this address and until recently I had no idea there had been a cinema there, my 92-year-old father confirmed this and he even told me he watched a movie or two at the Encanto (he worked only two blocks away). To update some of the info posted above, the whole building was demolished due to the heavy damage caused by the 1957 earthquake (most of the roof collapsed). Today no trace of the original building remains (as seen in Google Maps), and at the same address a magazine & newspaper distribution office was built in the 80’s. As a curious note, the sidewalk has raised several inches above normal street level and part of the warehouses in the back of the lot lie almost 5 feet below street level, which is consistent with the layout of the original building.