Lensic Performing Arts Center
211 W. San Francisco Street,
Santa Fe,
NM
87501
211 W. San Francisco Street,
Santa Fe,
NM
87501
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments found
This was the place where I saw Star Wars in ‘77. It was my small town equivalent of the Village Theater in Westwood.
I first came across the Lensic when I moved to area in 1993. I took in a movie (To Wong Fu with Love – Julie Numar?) just so I could take a look inside. There were rumors about closing it at the time. I haven’t been back to see the renovations, but I’m glad they removated it rather than close it.
No newspapers articles for this one?
This is a 2009 photo.
Another 1982 photo is here.
1982 Photo
1973 photo of the Lensic Theatre.
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Here is another photo of the Lensic Theater.
1987 photos of the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe here, here and here.
This is a 2008 photo.
Two recent photos of the Lensic can be seen here and here.
Another recent photo of the Lensic Theater can be seen here.
The Lensic needs to restore the vertical it looks to blah without it. brucec
This is a circa 1931 photo of the Lensic Theater.
Nice work! Your old buddy from Toronto Canada, now living in Manila, Willy M. –
Another photo of the Lensic Theater can be seen here.
Black and white image of the Lensic Theater.
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/378953398
This is a 2006 photo of the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Here is another photo of the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
This is a photo of the Lensic Theater.
ziggy: “I visited this theatre on November 6 to see the screening of ‘Gone With the Wind’…”
Hey, so did I! Um, wait. I don’t think it was November. Maybe you saw a re-run. I saw that movie at the Lensic on its first run. (Admission for kids 10 cents? or was that later?)
ziggy: “…The atmospheric auditorium has had all vestiges of tile roofs and plants removed, and the atmospheric dome has been replaced by a flat ceiling from which are suspended various light bridges, catwalks, and ducts…”
Hmmm… I recall the ceiling as very mysterious. Mostly dark but with (I think it was at the Lensic, if not some later theater in Albany) something reddish glowing in the corner(s)…as if a giant apple. [Maybe it was later, because I sort of associated it with that poisoned apple in Snow White.)
Will Dunklin: “I just spent a lovely vacation week in Santa Fe and was very fortunate to be able to see Buster Keaton’s silent comedy ‘Steamboat Bill’ presented with a live 6-piece orchestra at the Lensic…”
Now I’m confused. I saw a movie about a steamboat at the Lensic, but it was a talkie: I recall a repeated refrain, guy on the bridge saying “steamboat ‘round the bend!” (Was it Wallace Beery? couple of kids beside him?)
1999 photo, note the curved side and the different marquee:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/579476/579476
A couple exterior photos of the Lensic Theatre.
View link
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I went to the College of Santa Fe in the mid 1960’s. We always had an ‘inside’ joke about the Lensic. The name of the theater was spelled out on the walls inside… “LEN” on the left and “SIC” on the right (as noted above). We called it the (Look quickly left and say) Len (look quickly right and say) Sic. College kids. I remember seeing Mary Poppins there with my friends and enjoying it.
pac:
Thanks for your posting. Again, let me reiterate that the Lensic is a great place and I’m VERY glad to have been able to visit (my home is East Tennessee). You mention that you’re on staff there. So please tell me why if there is a house main, if there is cove lighting why weren’t these they used for “Steamboat Bill”? Certainly that was one occassion when they would have been absolutely appropriate to be highlighted.
Above, you mention “The ceiling had already been painted flat black (it is now dark blue) and the cloud projector and tapestry long gone – same with tile vestiges or plants.” When you say tapestry what do you mean? Boller Brothers theatres were often semi-atmospheric – a tent over the auditorium with the sky visible only at the edges. Is that how the Lensic was built? Were there stars? Why weren’t they restored? Surely the flat, grided ceiling I saw wasn’t original – be it blue or black.
Please tell us more about the renovation, how decisions were made and when it all happened. This site is to disseminate oral history to a wider audience. Please, this is your chance to fill out the story.
Will