Colón Theater
507 S. El Paso Street,
El Paso,
TX
79901
507 S. El Paso Street,
El Paso,
TX
79901
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments found
A Photo of the Colon Theatre I took in Jan 2012..
Randy A Carlisle – Historical Photographer
Is that the crest hanging above what was the screen in the 1/24/09 shot I posted earlier?
I am a Colon… It was really awesome for me and my family to get a tour of this theater. The family crest hangs in the theater today. I’m glad I got to share this experience with my mother, to remember when she and my father, Joseph Blas Colon used to go on dates during their youth in El Paso. My father is now deceased but I have many memories and proud to be a Colon. By the way… The accent mark is supposed to go over the second “o.”. (iPad does not have special characters so I can’t type it here.)
El Colon is described in detail in Cynthia Farah Haines “Showtime! From Opera Houses to Picture Palaces in El Paso” (Texas Western Press 2006).
tisloews……..You’re absolutely right, a whole lot better!!
Thanks Larry, COLOGNE does smell better.
Please note spelling of theatre, in neon, above marquee. There is an ACCENT mark between the L & O. It would be pronounced the same as COLOGNE.
This theatre has nothing to do with the human bowel system.
Nice shots of the COLON THEATRE no pun intended.
Here is an October 1972 ad from the El Paso Herald-Post:
http://tinyurl.com/osqyzv
1980 Night Photo
The above photos are a sad commentary to what was a pretty decent movie theatre. Very haunting, in a sense.
Closer view…
View link
Here’s a shot of the interior taken Jan 2009. At least they didn’t gut out the interior…. The portholes for the projector are still on the back wall. Taken from the balcony.
View link
Colon is the Spanish name for Columbus, the explorer. As indicated above, it is pronounced with the accent/emphasis on the second ‘o’ syllable.
Cristobal Colon is Christopher Columbus. There is also an accent in the first name – over the “o” so that’s where the emphasis is.
This theater was open as a movie house in 1976. It was a store when I last saw it in 1995.
I appreciate someone taking the time to explain the true pronunciation. Since I am of the Colon heritage, I am use to people not pronouncing my name properly. We take pride in our last names and our family ties, that anyone would want it pronounced as it should be. So thank you!
Thanks for the explanation Larry. I would have never thought to pronounce this theaters name as “COLOGNE”.
I agree. It’s high time we cleansed this page of all the colon jokes.
OK guys!!! The colon comments were, I have to admit, very funny.However, did it occur to anyone that there is an ACCENT mark between the L and O to change the pronunciation. The theatre name would be pronounced the same as COLOGNE.
Was that from a colonoscopy?
Here is a more recent look at the Colon.
Wow, it’s hard to believe the street in that area is completely clear of both cars and pedestrians. I passed by there this past Saturday and it’s always swamped. To be fair, it is very close to a major border crossing.
Here are two undated photos from the Library of Congress:
http://tinyurl.com/2ke53f
http://tinyurl.com/34erhq
The Colón opened in 1919 with “Rigoletto” performed by an Italian company. It later showed Mexican movies.
Okay, back to the Colon jokes.
The Colon was recently twinned – it’s now the Semi-Colon.
This is a recent photo of the Colon Theater building.