Opening of Plaza Theater - 1930

Opening of Plaza Theater - 1930

A huge crowd accompanied the opening of the Plaza Theater on September 12, 1930. Designed as a modern film house with the flexibility of presenting stage shows, the Plaza eventually hosted popular traveling shows and movies. Its size (capacity of 2,410), elaborate decor, and technical innovations made it stand out: While the exterior facade was designed to be reminiscent of a Spanish mission-style parapet, patrons were awed by the interior, with its intricately painted ceilings, mosaic-tiled floors, decorative metal railings and sconces and antique furnishings (Spanish Colonial Revival style). Additionally, the Plaza offered electrically cooled drinking fountains, a nursery, a $850 marble and brass telecheck system that alert ushers when a seat became vacant, and a Brenograph machine that could throw over a thousand color effects onto the black-and-white scenes. However, in the 1950s, the Theater's patronage declined and by the 1970s it was sold. In the 1980s, the El Paso Community Foundation saved the Plaza from demolition and donated it to the City of El Paso in 1990. After, it was restored to its original splendor and today hosts concerts, shows, musicals and plays once again.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections, University of Texas at El Paso Library. Collection Name: Plaza Theater. Photo ID: Plaza_Theater.jpg.

Uploaded by: UTEP Library Special Collections

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Attendees at the Maud Sampson Williams ceremony El Paso, TX, March 24, 2022

Attendees at the Maud Sampson Williams ceremony El Paso, TX, ...

Attendees listen at dedication of historic marker, El Paso County Courthouse, March 24, 2022

Attendees listen at dedication of historic marker, El Paso ...

Eva Ross and Quisa Davis at Maud Sampson Williams marker dedication March 24, 2022

Eva Ross and Ouisa Davis at Maud Sampson Williams marker ...

League of Women Voters, County Judge Samaniego at the dedication of historic marker, March 24, 2022

League of Women Voters, County Judge Samaniego at the dedication ...

Site of Dr. Nixon’s landmark 1924 vote at 2317 Texas Avenue

You are at Historias: El Paso's Black History, Site # ...

“Race Riot” at Oregon & Mills

You are at Historias: El Paso's Black History, Site ...

“Race Riot” at Oregon & Mills

You are at Historias: El Paso's Black History, Site ...

3rd Shifters

It's all Gravey.

Beto O'Rourke gubernatorial candidate, El Paso Community Foundation, March 27, 2022

Beto O'Rourke gubernatorial candidate, El Paso Community ...

Title IX stamps 2022

Title IX stamps 2022

Villa Maria, homeless shelter, on cover of Loretto Magazine Spring 2014

Villa Maria, homeless shelter, on cover of Loretto Magazine ...

Historias: El Paso's Black History

The El Paso Museum of History invites the public to celebrate ...

Honoring Black History Month

In 2021, KTSM News Channel 9 hosted a Black History Month ...

L&F Academy in El Paso

Class 1 Thursday, April 21, 2022

Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot by Hank Willis Thomas

The past is always present. It is not always visible, but ...

Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot by Hank Willis Thomas

The past is always present. It is not always visible, but ...

Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot by Hank Willis Thomas

The past is always present. It is not always visible, but ...

home.search_collection