Mexico Theatre
2420 N. Fitzhugh Avenue,
Dallas,
TX
75204
2420 N. Fitzhugh Avenue,
Dallas,
TX
75204
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As a child I remember in the early 70’s this theater located near the corner of Fitzhugh Avenue and Capitol Street in East Dallas. It was called the Coronet at that time and showed adult movies. I’m sure it had been there decades already. I’m not sure of the previous history.
In the mid-70’s, it changed its name to the Edison and became an art house venue that I seem to recall it being associated with the Granada Theatre on Greenville Avenue, which was also an art house. They would post monthly sheets with a calender of the movies they would be showing that entire month.
In 1978, my father, who was operating the Arcadia as a Spanish-language theater, rented the Edison and had the name changed to the Mexico Theatre. I helped run the two arc-carbon projectors. We also showed minight movies there briefly in 1979 for the Asian community. I believe my father finally closed it in 1982-3.
I remember it sat vacant for a few years and about 1986 or so it was torn down. There were some remaining black and white tiles from the entrance still there in the ground for years. There was a grocery store built on the site. I believe that the store, too, is now closed.
Contributed by
Ruben
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Ruben – That’s really great, when someone whose family ran the theater can make the entry. Very intersesting. If you can ever think of anything else, please add it. Thanks!
“They showed the old movie theater, and half of it was gone.” Scott Ward
This theater has an interesting history. As near as I can tell from mentions of it in Boxoffice Magazine, it opened as the Gay Theatre in 1943. It was named for its original owner, Bernard Gay, who entered military service shortly after the theater opened. His wife ran the house for a while, but it was sold for the first time about 1944. The Gay Theatre is mentioned in a few issues of Boxoffice over the next couple of years, with different owners mentioned each time.
An item in the December 4, 1948, issue of Boxoffice said that Alfred Sack, of Sack Amusement Enterprises, had bought the Gay Theatre, which had opened and closed five times under different owners in the previous five years, and would remodel it to become an art house called the Coronet. Architect Raymond Smith drew the plans for the remodeling.
The Coronet was scheduled to open on December 28, 1948, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of December 18 that year. It was to be the first full-time art house in Dallas.
The January 8, 1949 issue of Boxoffice reported on the opening of the Coronet, which had taken place as scheduled. The art film policy was successful, and the house is mentioned frequently in various issues of Boxoffice through the 1960s.
Alfred Sack’s obituary was published in March 10, 1969, issue of Boxoffice. It said that he had continued to operate the Coronet until 1968.
Then the Coronet was apparently operated by Sam Chernoff for a few years, until he sold it to OCOC Corporation in 1974. Apparently, OCOC was the company that converted the Coronet into a porn house.
The house next appears in the December 6, 1976, issue of Boxoffice. There an item cites a Dallas Times Herald article saying that the Albuquerque-based company Movies Incorporated was operating the former Coronet as the Edison Theatre, with a revival-art film policy. (This item contains some errors, such as saying that the house had opened as the Gay Theatre in 1948, and giving the first owner’s name as I. Gay. Apparently the Boxoffice copy writer didn’t double check the Times Herald article’s claims against Boxoffice’s own files.)
Then the April 24, 1978 issue of Boxoffice says that Ramon Medrana (other issues of Boxoffice spell his name Medrano, which is probably correct) of the Arcadia Theatre had bought the Edison Theatre, and Movies Incorporated had taken over the Granada Theatre.
This little theater, as the Coronet, showed a pristine print of Ben-Hur in the summer of 1977 – only time I was inside, because such fare was not the norm here. I believe most of their features were 16mm by that time, but I could be wrong about the film gauge. Definitely skin-flicks, though. Noticed an odd design flaw: the rear wall of the auditorium was at an angle to the screen – don’t remember it affecting the projection, though – perhaps the projectors were installed at an angle to the front wall of the booth. Enjoyed the show, though.