Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
1301 Guadalupe Street,
San Antonio,
TX
78207
1301 Guadalupe Street,
San Antonio,
TX
78207
2 people
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The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center presents a seaon of events and develops the arts and culture of the Chicano and Latino people. A single story building but a good job was done on the color scheme when it was restored.
When it opened in 1940 as the Guadalupe Theatre, it ran a regular double bill, short subjects and cartoons. It succumbed to the economics of the 1960’s like many other stand alone theatres. It later became a flea market.
With the assistance of the mayor of San Antonio and council members loans were obtained for over a million dollars for renovation. The renovation started in 1983. It had its grand reopening in 1984 and is going strong today serving the community.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
from the Cameo Theatre Corporation: We bought our “west side sister” in 1980 to prevent it from being demolished. It was in pretty bad repair, but the city was interested in seeing the area revitalized and so we put it in a private developer’s hands to redevelop for the city. After a period (maybe 10 years?)the city got title to the property and it has been a very vital part of the Avenida Guadalupe Project.
This is a recent photo of the Guadalupe Theater.
The Guadalupe reopened in early 1972 as the Aztlan Theatre. The then owner of the Empire cleaned it up nicely and tried running American double features there. It did not do well. I saw “WUSA” starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward at the Aztlan. My best memory of the theatre was the ornate floor in the lobby, and a beautiful light blue traveler curtain that flowed gracefully when opened or closed. The projection room was outfitted with some ANCIENT Simplex Standard projectors. Even so, the picture quality was quite good. The only way up to the projection room was by a ladder fastened to the wall. It made getting the film up to it quite a chore! By 1973 the theatre was closed, and became the Guadalupe again.
Here is a 2007 view of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.
Here is a 1948 ad from the San Antonio Light:
http://tinyurl.com/ypkfkd
Additional photos can be seen here.
1984 Photo