Historic Houston Theaters

[blue92]

Just did a google search for the Majestic and the Metropolitan theaters of Houston and the search came up with the same photos for the 2 theaters. Is there a place that would have photos of each of these theaters that are of each theater? And what ended up in their locations once they were torn down? Also were there any other theaters in downtown Houston that were as grand as these 2 were?

Edited March 12, 2014 by blue92

[FilioScotia]

Houston had three big one-screen first run movie houses, all built in the 1920s.

 

The Metropolitan at 1018 Main Street, was just two doors down from the Loew's State at 1014 Main.

 

You can't tell from the front, but the Loew's was very luxurious on the inside. You felt like you were walking into the palace at Versailles.

 

Their websites include photos of their interior.

 

Metropolitan:   http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1702

 

Loew's State:  http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1703

 

The Majestic Theater was several blocks away at 908 Rusk, and it was the grandest movie palace of all. 

 

Majestic:         http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1672

 

It's been years since I've been in downtown Houston so I have no idea what is in those locations now.

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2014 by FilioScotia

[mollusk]

All three have been down for decades.  The 1000 block of Main now contains a building named (of all things) 1000 Main, IIRC built for Reliant right before deregulation and breaking it up into three components.  908 Rusk was replaced by 801 Travis, built about 30 years ago to house Allied Bank of Texas' (eventually, Wells Fargo's) back room operations, and now just a nice, low key building with multiple tenants, mostly small companies and professional offices.

[Earlydays]

The Egyptian theme (in the Majestic) was very popular in the 20's in movie theaters around the country due to the discovery of King Tut's tomb.

[Amsterdam]

I've got some old video footage of Houston movie theaters but I don't how to post the Youtube link. Help?

[LarryDierker]

just copy the link from youtube and paste it in the dialog box where you type these posts

[Amsterdam]

The link won't paste...and I'm no computer dummy.

[Purpledevil]

If you are using a phone to access HAIF, try switching to the full site version. I have no problems posting pics, links, or what have you from the full version. The mobile version gives me problems posting anything except general text.

[Amsterdam]

Here we go! I can copy and paste on my $200.00 Kindle Fire but not on my $900.00 Dell desktop computer. So here we go; from 1988, a few old Houston theaters vefore they vanished.

[mollusk]

Right above where you type in a response, there is a toolbar.  Towards the middle of the lower row, there is an icon that looks a bit like a couple links of chain - click on that and another dialog will pop up and you can put the URL in that.

[57Tbird]

Is this the one?

[Amsterdam]

That's it, thanks. I finally pasted it using my Kindle. Don't know why it wouldn't copy and past on my Dell desktop.

[9075]

Thanks for posting.  I remember the animated neon of the Bellaire/Bel Air, and it was nice to see it again.

[LarryDierker]

instead of right clicking and selecting paste from the menu, try using Ctrl +V to paste. I have this issue sometimes where when I right click  there is no paste option.

[Purpledevil]

Holy Moses, you've got the McLendon Triple in there. That's awesome, Amsterdam. Thanks for thinking of the old Garden Oaks on Shepherd, back in the 80s. Back in the 80s, G.O. returned to English titles, abandoning the peliculas Mexicanas they had been showing for several years, and my wife (gf at the time) and I went to see Police Academy 2 there. She had never been to G.O. before, so I wanted to take her. I mean, after all, if you've ever been inside the theater you know she is one beautiful old girl. Anyway, about 45 minutes into the movie, two guys begin to bicker down front. Suddenly, they both stand up and start throwing punches. The smaller guy pulls out a knife, stabs the bigger dude, and needless to say the theater empties. Haven't set foot in G.O. since. I've been tempted to attend a service of the Grace Church that occupies the theater and pharmacy next door currently, just to see what it looks like now, after all these years. Sure wish you'd have gotten the old Airline and Shepherd Drive-Ins back when that video was produced. The bullseye neons that were on the old Airline were stunningly beautiful and the first thing you saw going northbound on 45 back then.

Shepherd had the huge palm tree on its screen, facing Shepherd. I had a buddy that lived on Stuebner Airline, right behind it, and we snuck under that fence to see a show on a "few" occasions back in the early 80s, before it was closed and became Reddy Ice. Great job, bud. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[mkultra25]

Shepherd had the huge palm tree on its screen, facing Shepherd. I had a buddy that lived on Stuebner Airline, right behind it, and we snuck under that fence to see a show on a "few" occasions back in the early 80s, before it was closed and became Reddy Ice. Great job, bud. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

I can't drive by the Reddy Ice (formerly Sparkle Ice) plant without my gaze instinctively alighting on the most visible remnant of the old drive-in: the concrete base that the Reddy Ice sign is mounted in. It's the same one that the theater's marquee used to be mounted in. 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8524199,-95.4121105,3a,35y,80.12h,90.54t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sfX6Q9pRdAAcAeHHnT7UwOw!2e0

 

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/30580/photos/97249

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

cool! The McLendon Triple!

 

I was 15 when we went there in 1980. Urban Cowboy was all the rage... Some kids from Canada, eh, were visiting- they had just gone to Gilley's to ride the bull.

We piled into our cars and cruised up Alt 90 to see some movies. Since I was the smallest one, I got shoved into the trunk along with another small dude named Craig and a tall guy named Steve- all to save the 50 cents a head admission charge... LOL

 

We saw Jamie Le Curtis in Prom Night and some other flick... Fun times!

[FilioScotia]

In the early 70s my wife and I lived in a neighborhood off Hiram Clarke near the McClendon Triple Drive-in. In '71 we went through a few months of very tight finances, so to make some extra money I took a job working in the concession stand at the Mac Triple. Six nights a week till close to midnight.

 

My reward was the minimum wage and a bag of leftover hamburgers and hot dogs I took home every night. Seeing that snack-bar in this video really brings back memories.

 

Can someone tell me where the Colonial Theater was? I lived in and around Houston for many years but I don't remember ever seeing it. And I'm assuming the Cole Theater was in Richmond or Rosenberg. Right?

Edited September 8, 2014 by FilioScotia

[Purpledevil]

Filio, the "Colonial" was at 3310 Fulton. When I was a young man, it was a ballroom, having closed down as a movie theater, originally and creatively named the Fulton. My 10th grade year, they built an addition on it and reopened it as a theater, only it was a Mexican theater showing peliculas, and used the name Colonial. I always thought that double marquee was the ugliest thing. It has been demolished for awhile now, some 15-20 years, I guesstimate.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/24877

Edit: forgot to add theaters original name of theater. Added Cinema Treasures link.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Purpledevil

[FilioScotia]

OK, I remember the Fulton from my teenage years, but I didn't know it later became the Colonial.  Thanks.

 

I have another memory of my nights at the McClendon Triple and it began in the 50s when i was in high school in Pasadena. Like most Pasadena kids I spent a lot of time at the Capitan Theater, and like most young and horny teenagers I always hoped to meet a girl and do some making out on the back row or in the balcony.

 

One night in 1960 a girl and I got caught making out - heavily - and one of the ushers escorted us to the lobby where he reported us to the manager, a guy named Bill Scott. He kicked us out and told me I was banned for life.

 

Fast forward to 1971. I was married with two kids, working in the radio business and moonlighting at the Mac Triple for the extra money. One night the manager took me to the projection booth to show me their new projectors and introduce me to the projectionist. Guess who it was. Bill Scott, the old Capitan Manager, and even 11 years later he remembered me.

 

We had a good laugh over running into each other again so many years later, and he expressed amazement that I appeared to be making something of myself as a radio broadcaster. Only half  joking, he said I had no business working two jobs, and I needed to get a better day job. He was right, and I did. That was more than 40 years ago and I remember it like it was last night.

 

Edited September 8, 2014 by FilioScotia

[Amsterdam]

We had a good laugh over running into each other again so many years later, and he expressed amazement that I appeared to be making something of myself as a radio broadcaster. Only half  joking, he said I had no business working two jobs, and I needed to get a better day job. He was right, and I did. That was more than 40 years ago and I remember it like it was last night.

 

I hope you did what I did and got the hell out of radio!  I got sick of working 2 jobs and getting fired on a yearly basis.

[Amsterdam]

Yeah, the McClendon Triple may be gone but we've got the Showboat! I go all the time. I even had a chat with the owner about one night or two during summer, showing old 1950's cheesy monster movie and inviting the local vintage car company to bring their hot rods. I think it would be a hit.

 

[FilioScotia]

OK Amsterdam, you have my attention. When did you work in radio? And where?  I'll tell you mine if you'll tell me yours.

 

I worked in radio from 1965 through 2010, most in Houston. When I was doing the two job thing I wrote about I was at KPRC Radio doing local news. That was when KPRC TV and Radio were in the same building on Post Oak behind the Galleria. I was there in 72 when the whole operation moved to 8181 Southwest Freeway.

 

In the late 70s I was at KTRH doing call-in shows. In the 80s I worked at a couple of stations in east Texas, then back to KTRH in the late 80s and early 90s.

 

I retired in 2010 after 18 years at Houston Public Radio KUHF FM. I tried getting out of radio several times over those years but I could never find any other job I liked as much as I liked radio. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[devonhart]

The McClendon shot almost got me teary, sad to see the decay.

[Amsterdam]

Hey Filio,

 

I'm afraid my career in radio was short-lived. Beginning in 1982, I started my radio career at Alvin Community College. I was both production and music director at KACC. You may remember Brian Hill, Kathy Forsythe and a few other folks who came from that station. I ended up working at KSRR (97 Rock) and KLOL. I ran the board, screened calls and interned for Moby. I finally ended up at a small station in Bay City, KMKS. Even though I LOVED radio, I just couldn't make enough money. I wanted something more secure. You know the story. Great times. I really miss radio.

[FilioScotia]

You tell a common story. For every person who manages to get a good paying radio job, there are dozens - hundreds - thousands - of others who struggle for a few years and give up on it. I was one of the lucky ones. I got started in the 60s when it was a lot easier to get that first job than it is now. I stayed with radio because it was the only thing I knew how to do well enough to stay employed. I tried to get out of radio several times over the years, but I always went back because I found that I was unemployable outside a radio station. 

 

When I retired in 2010, after 45 years behind microphones, it occurred to me that I had spent my entire adult working life doing something I was good at and loved doing. And most of the time I worked with some of the finest people I ever knew. Being able to say that is a blessing. You and I both know a lot of people who can't say that.

 

One of my bosses had a good way of putting our work in the right perspective. From time to time, he would remind us that for every one of us who earns his or her pay talking on the radio, there are thousands of people out there in the real world who would gladly come in and do what we do for free. That thought has a way of making you thankful for what you have.

[57Tbird]

Filio,

Do you go back far enough to know Tim Nolan and Bob Byron?  I listened to them faithfully.  What a riot they were.  I believe they were on KPRC.  I'll always remember one morning when they told everyone to keep their telephones covered because SWB was going to be blowing the dust out of the phone lines.

[FilioScotia]

They were a hoot weren't they?  Tim and Bob were at KPRC when I went to work there in 1969, when the format was very middle of the road and seriously out of date. It had little or no appeal for anybody under the age of 40.

 

In 1970, a new program director was brought in to bring the format and sound up to date to aim for a younger audience, All the DJ's were replaced, including T&B. The new PD Buzz Lawrence became the solo morning man. Bob Byron retired, but Tim Nolan stayed on doing off-the-air work for a time. He retired in 1972 when the station moved out of the Post Oak bldg to the big new station on the SW Fwy.

[Subdude]

Looks like the Alabama had already been converted to Bookstop by then.  The last movie I remember seeing there was "Tootsie".

 

 

[Earlydays]

I remember seeing "The Sound of Music" there in 1965.....it was at the Alabama for more than a year!