The facade, blade sign and marquee have been beautifully restored. The neon really brightens up that stretch of H Street, which is beginning to make a comeback from decades of disinvestment and abandonment.
According to the National Register listing for the Royal, the theatre was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm of Tucker & Howell. It remained in use as a movie house until 1980 and has been Hogansville’s city hall since 1984. It’s really a remarkably sophisticated building for a small town — wonder how much (if any) of the original interior survives.
This theatre wasn’t much to look at, being pretty plain both outside and in. Even though it was located some distance from downtown and in a nondescript part of Lubbock, it showed first-run movies for a while in the 1950s and ‘60s — I think I remember seeing “Psycho” there. Not sure whether it’s still standing.
This may well have been the worst multiplex ever. All of the theatres were cramped, and one had a structural column right in the middle of it that blocked the view of the screen from several seats. Also, the third auditorium was isolated from the others, so you had to go inside through the main entrance on Connecticut Avenue, buy your ticket, then go back outside and walk around the corner to the entrance to the auditorium itself on R Street. Still, despite its quirks, the Janus showed some great films that I couldn’t have seen anywhere else in town.
The Granada most definitely was an atmospheric. There were softly twinkling “stars” in the ceiling, but I don’t recall the drifting “clouds” that some atmospherics displayed. The auditorium was decorated to suggest a Spanish courtyard, with ivy climbing the walls and shawls draped over the balcony railings. What I remember most vividly, however, is that there was a fountain in a niche on each side of the auditorium. We kids learned to avoid sitting near them, because the sound of the dripping water sent us running to the restroom throughout the movie.
Charles VanBibber’s list of Lubbock theatres brought back lots of good memories. I grew up in Lubbock, living there from 4th grade through college. I can offer a few random bits of info:
Missing from the list is the Village, which was located on 34th Street. It opened in the 1950s, I believe, and showed first-run features.
The Clifton was located directly across from the Lindsey, at the corner of Main and Avenue J. It too was a first-run house, though not nearly as elegant as the Lindsey. I saw my first 3-D movie, “Bwana Devil,” at the Clifton, and was so terrified that I ran out into the lobby.
A theatre called the El Capitan stood next to the Chief Theatre; I assume it must have been previously (or later?) called the Arcadia. It showed only Spanish-language films when I was a kid, so I never saw a movie there, but I remember that it had a very handsome neon sign.
Finally, there was a theatre called the Fine Arts on Broadway when I was a college student. I assume it originally had some other name. We went there to see “arty” films like “Zorba the Greek” and “A Taste of Honey” that never appeared in any other local theatre.
The facade, blade sign and marquee have been beautifully restored. The neon really brightens up that stretch of H Street, which is beginning to make a comeback from decades of disinvestment and abandonment.
According to the National Register listing for the Royal, the theatre was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm of Tucker & Howell. It remained in use as a movie house until 1980 and has been Hogansville’s city hall since 1984. It’s really a remarkably sophisticated building for a small town — wonder how much (if any) of the original interior survives.
This theatre wasn’t much to look at, being pretty plain both outside and in. Even though it was located some distance from downtown and in a nondescript part of Lubbock, it showed first-run movies for a while in the 1950s and ‘60s — I think I remember seeing “Psycho” there. Not sure whether it’s still standing.
This theatre is now closed. The building still stands, and I have not heard what’s planned for it.
This may well have been the worst multiplex ever. All of the theatres were cramped, and one had a structural column right in the middle of it that blocked the view of the screen from several seats. Also, the third auditorium was isolated from the others, so you had to go inside through the main entrance on Connecticut Avenue, buy your ticket, then go back outside and walk around the corner to the entrance to the auditorium itself on R Street. Still, despite its quirks, the Janus showed some great films that I couldn’t have seen anywhere else in town.
The Granada most definitely was an atmospheric. There were softly twinkling “stars” in the ceiling, but I don’t recall the drifting “clouds” that some atmospherics displayed. The auditorium was decorated to suggest a Spanish courtyard, with ivy climbing the walls and shawls draped over the balcony railings. What I remember most vividly, however, is that there was a fountain in a niche on each side of the auditorium. We kids learned to avoid sitting near them, because the sound of the dripping water sent us running to the restroom throughout the movie.
Charles VanBibber’s list of Lubbock theatres brought back lots of good memories. I grew up in Lubbock, living there from 4th grade through college. I can offer a few random bits of info:
Missing from the list is the Village, which was located on 34th Street. It opened in the 1950s, I believe, and showed first-run features.
The Clifton was located directly across from the Lindsey, at the corner of Main and Avenue J. It too was a first-run house, though not nearly as elegant as the Lindsey. I saw my first 3-D movie, “Bwana Devil,” at the Clifton, and was so terrified that I ran out into the lobby.
A theatre called the El Capitan stood next to the Chief Theatre; I assume it must have been previously (or later?) called the Arcadia. It showed only Spanish-language films when I was a kid, so I never saw a movie there, but I remember that it had a very handsome neon sign.
Finally, there was a theatre called the Fine Arts on Broadway when I was a college student. I assume it originally had some other name. We went there to see “arty” films like “Zorba the Greek” and “A Taste of Honey” that never appeared in any other local theatre.