I worked here back in my early twenties. there were all sorts of stories about a guy who died behind the screen in this theater…and some of the folks around there said he still haunted the theater. funny thing is that to turn off the lights in the main theater auditorium, you had to go behind the stage…which then meant that, to exit the auditorium, you had to walk the entire length of the auditorium, from front to the entry doors in the back…and you had to do this in pitch black darkness. I cannot count the amount of people i terrified during this evening ritual. It was delicious…
I still remember one of the assistant managers named Joel…a really good guy. He ordered some films for a staff party…and he actually ordered THE THIRD MAN for me, because he’d heard me weeks before talking about how i wished i could see that film on the big screen in THAT theater. Good memories…
on a recent visit to Houston, peered in through the glass doors. saw some spanish religious signage, which leads me to believe that this place may have been some sort of mexican church for a bit before it was locked up. the porch area smelled of must and urine. very sad. i wish i could get in there for 15 minutes…
Beautiful!
I’d never break up the set, if I didn’t have to. The economy, being what it is, may dictate that you have to do the unthinkable…but if at all possible, KEEP THEM TOGETHER! :)
I remember seeing many films here…one memorable night in particular seeing Burt Reynolds in ‘Hooper’ with my dad.
In the early 90’s when this theater was in limbo, i remember going in one afternoon and talking to the old hispanic man who owned it: Al Zarazama. He saw that I really had the passion for the old cinemas, which surprised him, as I was only in my early 20’s then. The big theaters were just killing him and he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He told me that day that I should try to get some investors…and if I did, hed sell the theater to me. I was 23 or 24…it was an impossible dream fro me to even ponder. But I think about that sometimes.
I saw every single Star Wars film here…from SW in 77 to Jedi in 83. I remember riding my bike up to this theater in the summer of 1980 with my friends and seeing The Empire Strikes Back…week after week. Good memories. There was a great Shakey’s Pizza right next door.
I worked at the Saks in the early/mid 90’s. I was working for Landmark and spent much of my early employment there at the River Oaks on West Gray…but when shifts became open at the Saks, I jumped on it and worked the majority of my time there…till I left that job. Loved it…it really hqad an ambiance…youd enter through a lobby and in front of you were LONG escalators that went down in to the lower level lobby. Painted on the walls were huge murals of Hollywood heroes…Gable, Theda Bara, John Wayne, Harold Lloyd, etc. I still remember an overnite employee-and-friends-of-employees-only screening of PULP FICTION one night at 3 AM…2 days before the movie was to open. I miss that place…I wonder if it’s still standing?
Im a collector of various movie paper…old one sheets, lobby cards and other incidental items. I am in my mid-30’s but feel like i was born QUITE out of time. I am fascinated with the old movie palaces and have quite a collection of items from these…thought you all would be interested in the following: i have several of the original, bound volumes of daily box reports from the New Mission, Castro, Alhambra, and Royal Theaters…all San Francisco movie palaces. The years I have are all 1929-1939…I have MANY volumes. EVERY single day is represented, with deposit slips and every single report…including film titles, opening marks, ticket sales and deposits, refund slips (if any…including reasons for refunds), and also a listing of the features that competitors were playing for each day. Its very interesting, for instance, to see the bad day that one theater had…then you notice that the competitor was playing ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ or ‘THE VAGABOND’. All marked by hand, signed by the managers…including deposit slips pasted onto the back of each days receipts. I got these from a collector in trade for some other paper…and it’s fascinating. A personal treat was seeing ‘Charlie Chans Chance’ listed in one of the daily reports: it played for 3 days and did pretty well. It’s now a lost film. It gives me chills.
I worked here back in my early twenties. there were all sorts of stories about a guy who died behind the screen in this theater…and some of the folks around there said he still haunted the theater. funny thing is that to turn off the lights in the main theater auditorium, you had to go behind the stage…which then meant that, to exit the auditorium, you had to walk the entire length of the auditorium, from front to the entry doors in the back…and you had to do this in pitch black darkness. I cannot count the amount of people i terrified during this evening ritual. It was delicious…
I still remember one of the assistant managers named Joel…a really good guy. He ordered some films for a staff party…and he actually ordered THE THIRD MAN for me, because he’d heard me weeks before talking about how i wished i could see that film on the big screen in THAT theater. Good memories…
on a recent visit to Houston, peered in through the glass doors. saw some spanish religious signage, which leads me to believe that this place may have been some sort of mexican church for a bit before it was locked up. the porch area smelled of must and urine. very sad. i wish i could get in there for 15 minutes…
just returned from a Houston visit.
as of winter 2008, this theater is gone.
completely razed to the ground…like it never was there.
The great lost classic LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT had it’s NYC opening here in 1927.
Beautiful!
I’d never break up the set, if I didn’t have to. The economy, being what it is, may dictate that you have to do the unthinkable…but if at all possible, KEEP THEM TOGETHER! :)
Im jealous!
I remember seeing many films here…one memorable night in particular seeing Burt Reynolds in ‘Hooper’ with my dad.
In the early 90’s when this theater was in limbo, i remember going in one afternoon and talking to the old hispanic man who owned it: Al Zarazama. He saw that I really had the passion for the old cinemas, which surprised him, as I was only in my early 20’s then. The big theaters were just killing him and he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He told me that day that I should try to get some investors…and if I did, hed sell the theater to me. I was 23 or 24…it was an impossible dream fro me to even ponder. But I think about that sometimes.
I saw every single Star Wars film here…from SW in 77 to Jedi in 83. I remember riding my bike up to this theater in the summer of 1980 with my friends and seeing The Empire Strikes Back…week after week. Good memories. There was a great Shakey’s Pizza right next door.
I worked at the Saks in the early/mid 90’s. I was working for Landmark and spent much of my early employment there at the River Oaks on West Gray…but when shifts became open at the Saks, I jumped on it and worked the majority of my time there…till I left that job. Loved it…it really hqad an ambiance…youd enter through a lobby and in front of you were LONG escalators that went down in to the lower level lobby. Painted on the walls were huge murals of Hollywood heroes…Gable, Theda Bara, John Wayne, Harold Lloyd, etc. I still remember an overnite employee-and-friends-of-employees-only screening of PULP FICTION one night at 3 AM…2 days before the movie was to open. I miss that place…I wonder if it’s still standing?
Hi…
Im a collector of various movie paper…old one sheets, lobby cards and other incidental items. I am in my mid-30’s but feel like i was born QUITE out of time. I am fascinated with the old movie palaces and have quite a collection of items from these…thought you all would be interested in the following: i have several of the original, bound volumes of daily box reports from the New Mission, Castro, Alhambra, and Royal Theaters…all San Francisco movie palaces. The years I have are all 1929-1939…I have MANY volumes. EVERY single day is represented, with deposit slips and every single report…including film titles, opening marks, ticket sales and deposits, refund slips (if any…including reasons for refunds), and also a listing of the features that competitors were playing for each day. Its very interesting, for instance, to see the bad day that one theater had…then you notice that the competitor was playing ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ or ‘THE VAGABOND’. All marked by hand, signed by the managers…including deposit slips pasted onto the back of each days receipts. I got these from a collector in trade for some other paper…and it’s fascinating. A personal treat was seeing ‘Charlie Chans Chance’ listed in one of the daily reports: it played for 3 days and did pretty well. It’s now a lost film. It gives me chills.
-jermaine