Al Ray Art Theatre
5006 Fulton Street,
Houston,
TX
77009
5006 Fulton Street,
Houston,
TX
77009
1 person
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Additional Info
Styles: Atmospheric, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Lindale Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Lindale Theatre was located at 5006 Fulton Street, a block or two north of Cavalcade Street. It was opened on January 30, 1941 and the auditorium was decorated in an Atmospheric style with houses on the side walls each side of the proscenium. It showed foreign films from 1960 when it was renamed Al Ray Art Theatre. It later screen Spanish language movies and in the late-1960’s it became an adult theatre. It was closed in 1986. The building was used as a church for a while in the 1990’s.
It has since been demolished.
Contributed by
phil Gammage
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
David Welling’s book “Cinema Houston” mentions the Al Ray and notes that the building has been demolished.
Here are photos from 1983 and 1984:
http://tinyurl.com/cytgva
http://tinyurl.com/c5xz3t
The theater and the entire block was demolished – and replaced with a large luxury home completely out of place in my working-class neighborhood.
Onece they ran a Rudolph Valentino film. Some how they got hold of a nitrate print. The print caught fire and damaged the booth. I saw the damage. Not pretty.
Below history credit Retro Houston Facebook page.
“THE LINDALE, located at 5006 Fulton St. on Houston’s north side, opened on January 30, 1941. The 713 movie house was owned by Oskar Korn whose O. K. Theatres, Inc. circuit also owned the Globe, Port, Grand, Avalon, Galena, Venus and Midway theatres in the Houston area.
The Lindale, which offered matinees only on weekeds, was initially managed by Jimmie Dezendorf. It offered second run features, B-movies and serials with ticket prices at the time it opened were 20 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.
Competition from television and opening larger, more modern theatres like the Fulton and the Granada nearby caused attendance to the Lindale to fall off significantly in the early 1950s. The July 2, 1952 issue of Variety carried a brief story stating that The Lindale had been purchased by the Lin Oaks Baptist Church from OK Theatres for $125,000.00.
As television slowly eroded the need for the neighborhood bijous, the Lindale found new life in 1960 the hands of theatre empresarios Al Zarzana and Ray Boriski. The new owners transformed into a niche theatre than ran foreign and art house films, as well as selected revivals of Hollywood classics.
Like many older theatres, it eventually ran XXX rated movies, before being razed in the 1980s and is now the site of a massive, opulent house, that sits incongruously next to the Metro light rail and amid modest, single story homes."
There is currently an obscene McMansion at that location.
Opened on April 20th, 1960 with “Razzia sur la Chnouf” (1955)
Closed or stopped placing ads as Al Ray in 1986.