Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Houston: opportunities, young)

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by outafocus

"The Empire Strikes Back" was the first 70MM film I ever ran. It was at the Northwest 10 (at the time). We also ran it in 35MM in another auditorium. The 70MM projector came from the Woodlawn, but we installed a very sophisticated 6 track amplification system complete with Altec Lansing Voice Of The Theatre speakers in the auditorium!

Well, you certainly did run that movie for me, that's where I saw it for the first time....and the second....and the third....

[huckster]

That theater at Nogalitos and Division, vaguely. At the northeast corner facing Nogalitos I can only remember the building. It was already closed when I was a little bitty kid but I remember the old building looking exactly like a theater. Grandfather lived on Division Ave., so I can remember this.
I recall the theaters at Callaghan and Ingram too. Those were built much later on, like the seventies.
Also recalled well is the line to see the movie in 1970 , "The Exorcist". At the Laurel, the line from the ticket booth extended all the way around the corner to the back of the building. Also, if correctly recalled, the film was "held over" for 52 weeks there. I waited for the hoopla to die down, so once I drove over and saw the line to get inside the theater so shocked was I, I instead went back to the neighborhood and waited to see the little girl's head spin around puking up pea soup much later on.
Also watched there at the Laurel were, Godfather and Papillion.
Old Drive-ins around San Antonio?
What about the Circle 81 Drive-in theater right down Nogalitos ? ($) One Dollar and Twenty Five Cents per carload was the total admission price, that was the cheapest Drive-in around town...I remember.

Originally Posted by outafocus

I remember it was a bad fire, and I seem to remember it was multi alarms or someone got hurt or killed. I doubt they rebuilt it then. I seldom go to that part of town, but it probably was at Nogalitos and Division. My Theater Almanac shows the address was 3950 Nogalitos.


There were a lot of theatres I never even saw, let alone worked! I did see Bambi at the Highland Theatre on Hackberry in 1957. The Hi-Ho still stands on South Presa St. It was a quonset hut theatre! I never saw a movie there but was good friends with the owner in later years. The Star was on Government Hill, and the Ritz was just east of downtown. The South San was on Quintana Street. One theatre that was relatively new that few remember was the Cine Mexico twin theatre built at the Centeno marketplace on Castroville road in 1976. A drive in that few remember was the Roxy on Pleasanton Road @ Moursund. The Parkair Drive In on Clark@ Goliad, The El Charro DI on Merida @ Hamilton, the Fiesta DI on Commerce @ General McMullen. The ORIGINAL San Pedro Drive In was on San Pedro @ Rampart. There was a State Theatre, the Prince and Princess, the Obrego and the Nacional. the Palace,and the Joy. There are more, but those are the only ones that come to mind right now.


tcs, I don't remember the story of stopping the show and someone thinking the war was ending, but that sounds like something Mr. Reynolds would do!

[Basse Bud]

Outafocus,

Thanks for the info. Your knowledge of San Antonio theater history is amazing!

I recall the Prince on Houston St. but for the life of me, cannot remember a single movie that ran there.
Nor do I recall ever seeing anything there or at the theater in the Stauffer (sp) Bldg.

[Basse Bud]

Does anyone remember the building on North St. Marys that used to have the dances on the roof? Early to mid 60's?
Also had live entertainment from time to time. ( Remember seeing Doug Sahm and his rather large band at the time, playing one night in the early 60's) Anyone?

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by outafocus

I remember it was a bad fire, and I seem to remember it was multi alarms or someone got hurt or killed. I doubt they rebuilt it then. I seldom go to that part of town, but it probably was at Nogalitos and Division. My Theater Almanac shows the address was 3950 Nogalitos.


There were a lot of theatres I never even saw, let alone worked! I did see Bambi at the Highland Theatre on Hackberry in 1957. The Hi-Ho still stands on South Presa St. It was a quonset hut theatre! I never saw a movie there but was good friends with the owner in later years. The Star was on Government Hill, and the Ritz was just east of downtown. The South San was on Quintana Street. One theatre that was relatively new that few remember was the Cine Mexico twin theatre built at the Centeno marketplace on Castroville road in 1976. A drive in that few remember was the Roxy on Pleasanton Road @ Moursund. The Parkair Drive In on Clark@ Goliad, The El Charro DI on Merida @ Hamilton, the Fiesta DI on Commerce @ General McMullen. The ORIGINAL San Pedro Drive In was on San Pedro @ Rampart. There was a State Theatre, the Prince and Princess, the Obrego and the Nacional. the Palace,and the Joy. There are more, but those are the only ones that come to mind right now.


tcs, I don't remember the story of stopping the show and someone thinking the war was ending, but that sounds like something Mr. Reynolds would do!

We might have gone to the Highlands when i was very young. The Hi-Ho I know we went to. The Harlandale was a shambles last i recall of it. My mother says we did go there which is likely since I grew up a couple blocks from it. I have copies of the Grand opening brochure from 1928.

I grew up passing the Roxy often as it sat closed. I'm quite sure we'd seen movies there at one time as well. We hit lots of drive-ins back in my youth. Downtown we would have visited the Majestic, Texas, and Aztec frequently. Some of the other neighborhood indoors we frequented were Woodlawn, Josephine, Broadway, San Pedro and Olmos. When Century South came along I imagine most of us went there as the small theaters were dying. I'm still looking for someone with pics or info on the Roxy. Info I found seems to say the Roxy was once a couple blocks or so north of Moursund /Pleasanton location we know. Maybe where Bellaire Elementary and Lila Cockrell apts and Handy Andy used to be.

BTW, just for those interested a new (smaller) Wal-Mart has been built across from the old Goodwill property which is now Guadalupe Lumber. Who'd a thunk? The Roxy's property now encloses a bank and a drainage reservoir of some sort.

[outafocus]

Originally Posted by Basse Bud

Outafocus,

Thanks for the info. Your knowledge of San Antonio theater history is amazing!

I recall the Prince on Houston St. but for the life of me, cannot remember a single movie that ran there.
Nor do I recall ever seeing anything there or at the theater in the Stauffer (sp) Bldg.

Thanks. I've done a lot of research on the theatres through the years, and I was lucky enough to meet, work for, and befriend many of the pioneers of the Texas movie industry before they passed on. Being in the projectionist union gave me a chance to work at virtually every theatre that was operating at the time. I also knew many projectionists that ran hand crank projectors and silent movies! They had a wealth of knowledge and stories that I just loved to hear.


The Prince became the new Teatro Nacional in the late 60s/ early 1970s. I worked many a shift there. They ran Spanish language films now and then, but most of the time we ran American movies with Spanish subtitles. When Spanish language films started losing popularity, the Nacional/Prince became the Dollar Theatre. They ran subrun straight American fare for $1. Before it closed for the last time they changed the name of the Dollar Theatre to the Plaza and ran B movies, mostly drive in fare. They charged $1.75-2.00


The big Spanish language films played at the Alameda. While working extra one day at the Alameda, I was lucky enough to meet the biggest star and richest man in Mexico. Mario Moreno Cantinflas!

[ranchodrive]

I remember the old Teatro Nacional was located on the 800 block of West Commerce downtown.
Before that it was known as the Teatro Zaragoza (1937)

For the most part, I recall the Prince theater ran B-movies. So did the Empire.
I usually went to the Texas, Majestic & Aztec theaters.
Sometimes the State Theater.
I was not allowed in the Joy theater.

I attended the world premier of “Davy Crockett” @ the
Majestic Theater in a time when there was two ticket offices
and entrances.

[Paka]

Obviously I have not read all 441 pages of post to ensure this has not already been mentioned, but at this time of the year sure miss the Downtown Joske's Christmas window displays!!!! That was so magical! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

[TiredandRetired]

Does anyone remember when they put fake snow in front of Monkey Wards at Wonderland and Santa was going to drop on a parachute and land into the middle of it. He ended up dropping way far away and nowhere near. I remember seeing this red and white guy landing miles away. It was still fun playing it the fake snow.

[Paka]

Originally Posted by TiredandRetired

Does anyone remember when they put fake snow in front of Monkey Wards at Wonderland and Santa was going to drop on a parachute and land into the middle of it. He ended up dropping way far away and nowhere near. I remember seeing this red and white guy landing miles away. It was still fun playing it the fake snow.

ABSOLUTELY!!!! We were there for the "nothing" event!