Tower Theatre
1201 Westheimer Road,
Houston,
TX
77006
1201 Westheimer Road,
Houston,
TX
77006
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc.
Architects: W. Scott Dunne
Functions: Restaurant
Styles: Art Deco
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Oct 24, 2010 — "The Alamo"...Happy 50th!
- Oct 13, 2010 — Happy 55th, Todd-AO & "Oklahoma!"
- Nov 18, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Ben-Hur"
- Oct 30, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Sleeping Beauty"
- Aug 25, 2006 — Houston interstate theaters
The Tower Theatre was opened February 14, 1936 with Miriam Hopkins in “Barbary Coast”. It was built for and operated by Interstate Theatres Inc. Since closing it served as a nightclub in the 1980’s known as Decadance at the Tower, then became a Hollywood Video, and by 2011 a Tex-Mex restaurant.
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Recent comments (view all 40 comments)
Visited El Real Tex Mex in November 2011. The marquee looks very nice, and overall things look about as good as you can expect for a theater converted to a restaurant.
I think the Tower was used for some of the Sensurround pictures of the mid-1970s…I saw Earthquake there when it first opened.
Saw “Singing in the Rain” and “The Sound of Music” here on re-releases. Great memories.
Designed by Dallas architect W. Scott Dunne for Interstate Theaters (1936). The photo above shows the building after its conversion to a Mexican restaurant. Only the facade and marquee survive.
Historic photos of the building as a theater are at: http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/tower.html
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/60 to 12/31/63. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/60 Porgy and Bess 02/17/60 House of Intrigue 02/24/60 Three Murderesses 03/02/60 The Third Voice 03/16/60 The Rack 03/23/60 The Moon is Blue 03/30/60 The Man with the Golden Arm 04/06/60 The Mating Time 04/13/60 Ulysses 04/20/60 Once More, With Feeling 04/27/60 Ben-Hur 10/26/60 The Alamo 03/29/61 Exodus 05/31/61 The Millionairess 06/07/61 Dentist in the Chair 06/21/61 Carry on Constable 07/12/61 La Dolce Vita 08/30/61 On the Double 09/13/61 Fanny 10/04/61 Man in the Moon 10/11/61 The Bridge 10/25/61 Double Bunk 11/01/61 The King and I 11/22/61 Blood and Roses 11/29/61 The Invasion Quartet 12/06/61 Raintree County 12/20/61 King of Kings 02/21/62 No Love for Johnnie 02/28/62 Two Women 03/07/62 The Hustler 03/14/62 Between Time and Eternity 03/21/62 Purple Noon 04/04/62 West Side Story 07/18/62 Jessica 08/01/62 Only Two Can Play 08/08/62 Mister Roberts 08/15/62 Bus Stop/The Seven Year Itch 08/22/62 That Touch of Mink 09/19/62 The Best of Enemies 09/26/62 Sayonara 10/03/62 I Like Money (Mr. Topaze) 10/10/62 El Cid 10/24/62 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 10/31/62 Father of the Bride 11/07/62 The Longest Day 02/27/63 Mutiny on the Bounty 05/15/63 Madame 05/22/63 Crooks Anonymous 05/29/63 The Mind Benders 06/05/63 An American in Paris 06/12/63 The Pied Piper of Hamelin 06/19/63 Auntie Mame 06/26/63 Cleopatra
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/64 to 12/31/69. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 12/18/63 The Cardinal 02/19/64 Charade 03/18/64 The Ceremony 03/15/64 No, My Darling Daughter 04/01/64 Notorious/Spellbound 04/08/64 The Fall of the Roman Empire 06/24/64 The Long Ships 07/08/64 The Pink Panther 09/23/64 Behold a Pale Horse 10/07/64 Mediterranean Holiday 10/14/64 The Third Secret 10/21/64 Four Days in November 10/28/64 That Man from Rio 11/04/64 The Conjugal Bed 11/11/64 My Fair Lady 09/01/65 Lord Jim 10/13/64 The Great Race 02/16/66 The Agony and the Ecstasy 04/20/66 Juliet of the Spirits 05/11/66 Lord Love a Duck 05/25/66 Stop the World, I Want to Get Off 06/08/66 Ten Little Indians 06/29/66 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 10/05/66 The Idol 10/26/66 The Bible 04/12/67 The Taming of the Shrew 07/19/67 A Guide for the Married Man 10/18/67 Two Weeks in September 10/25/67 Gone With the Wind 09/25/68 I’ll Never Forget What’s-‘Is-Name 10/02/68 Hot Millions 10/30/68 Finian’s Rainbow 02/05/69 The Shoes of the Fisherman 04/02/69 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 04/16/69 Mayerling 04/23/69 The Illustrated Man 05/14/69 Before Winter Comes 05/21/69 A Flea in Her Ear 05/28/69 Hard Contract 06/25/69 The Great Bank Robbery 07/23/69 The Gay Deceivers 08/27/69 Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe? 10/01/69 Justine 10/15/69 Camille 2000 11/05/69 Take the Money and Run 12/17/69 Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Movies that played at the Tower Theater in Houston, TX from 01/01/70 to 12/31/75. Research is from old microfilms of The Houston Post and The Houston Chronicle. The dates listed are the Wednesday of the opening week. 01/01/70 Goodbye, Mr. Chips 02/25/70 A Nice Girl Like Me 03/04/70 Putney Swope 03/18/70 Airport 08/26/70 Putney Swope 09/02/70 Move 10/14/70 Performance 10/28/70 The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker 11/11/70 WUSA 12/23/70 Little Fauss and Big Halsey 02/03/71 No Blade of Grass 02/24/71 Gimme Shelter 03/31/71 The Priest’s Wife 04/14/71 Making It 04/28/71 Waterloo 05/19/71 Dr. Strangelove 05/26/71 Villain 06/09/71 Windsplitter 06/30/71 Carnal Knowledge 10/30/71 The Devils 11/24/71 Dagmar’s Hot Pants, Inc. 12/08/71 Born to Win 12/15/71 Fiddler on the Roof 12/13/72 Man of La Mancha 03/14/73 The Sound of Music 06/27/73 The Friends of Eddie Coyle 07/18/73 Images 08/01/73 The Hireling 08/08/73 Romeo and Juliet 09/05/73 Get to Know Your Rabbit 09/12/73 Harold and Maude 09/26/73 Red Sky at Morning (That Same Summer) 10/03/73 The Naked Ape 10/17/73 The Sterile Cuckoo/Tell Me You Love Me, Junie Moon 10/24/73 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex/Bananas 10/31/73 Arnold 11/07/73 The New Land 12/19/73 The Seven-Ups 02/13/74 I Am a Dancer 02/20/74 Chariots of the Gods 03/06/74 The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe 03/20/74 Zardoz 04/24/74 Tis Pity, She’s a Whore 05/15/74 Fiddler on the Roof 05/22/74 The Super Cops 06/12/74 Andy Warhol’s L'Amour 06/19/74 The Conversation 07/24/74 Carnal Knowledge 09/11/74 Journey Through the Past 09/25/74 Escape to Nowhere 10/09/74 Love and Anarchy 10/16/74 Christina 10/23/74 Shanks 10/30/74 The Family 11/13/74 Earthquake 06/25/75 The French Connection II 08/27/75 A Touch of Class 09/03/75 Freebie and the Bean 09/10/75 A Clockwork Orange/Deliverance 09/17/75 2001: A Space Odyssey 09/24/75 Doctor Zhivago 10/08/75 Singin' in the Rain 10/15/75 Gone With the Wind 11/12/75 Psychic Killer 11/26/75 Lisztomania 12/17/75 The Greatest Story Ever Told 12/24/75 The Hindenburg
Opening night February 14, 1936 photo added courtesy of Bob Staskell.
Grand opening ad posted
Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The Tower’s year-long run is mentioned in the piece.