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San Antonio’s grand Mexican movie palace, the Alameda Theater, has sat empty for the last 36 years.
It was a keystone landmark for the city’s Mexican American community living on the historic West Side, and a draw for Mexican stars during the Golden Age of cinema.
Artists like Pedro Infante, María Félix, and Cantinflas frequently brought the glamour to this historic theater that opened in 1949 on San Antonio’s racially segregated West Side.
Sarah Zenaida Gould, executive director of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI), said that the theater served as a sort of dividing line along the San Pedro Creek between Mexican downtown and Anglo downtown.
"And this was an opportunity for families of San Antonio's West Side (to) go and have this premium experience in this gorgeous Art Deco building," she said. "Amazing amenities, luxurious bathrooms, and a gorgeous lobby filled with art, telling the story of the merging of our two cultures here. Just this idea that within a world where racial equality was still a long ways off, there was this kind of bubble where you could sit wherever you wanted and you could take your whole family."
Its highlights included massive blacklight murals that told the history of Mexico on one side of the seating area, and the history of Texas on the other. The murals bookended an audience that symbolized a merging of the two histories.
The Alameda is just part of a larger building known as the International Building. Gould said it may even house more history than the Alameda itself.
"Then the other half of the building they called Casa de Mexico. It was filled with offices and businesses of some of the leading Mexican Americans in the community. It's where the very first in the nation Mexican Chamber of Commerce opened," said Gould. "LULAC leader and lawyer, Alonso Perales, the person who wrote the constitution for LULAC, had his office there. Gus Garcia had an office there at one point. Pete Tijerina, a co-founder of MALDEF. State Senator Gregory Luna had his office there. At one point, La Raza Unida Party had an office there. So I mean it's just, like, history in that building."
The Alameda Theater closed its doors in the 1980s, following the trend of other downtown movie palaces that were losing audiences to the more popular movie plexes.
Former movie palaces like the Majestic and Aztec theaters have found new life as live entertainment venues in San Antonio. But the Alameda remains closed.
Plans to renovate the theater are underway. The current restoration effort dates back nearly a decade. Investments from the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, and other partners have kept the effort alive. The Alameda Theater Conservancy projects an opening no earlier than 2028.
Mari Tamez, Heritage Outreach Manager with the Bexar Heritage Center, said the heritage center inside the downtown Bexar County Courthouse is currently hosting an exhibit for Hispanic Heritage Month that celebrates the Alameda.
"We have the 1949 film projector of the Alameda as part of our permanent collection," said Tamez. "We have two murals that were painted by an artist who actually did the murals on San Pedro Creek, they will be shown there for everyone to see. And then we have a video that was done by the Alameda (Conservancy on) the history of the Alameda."
Tamez says the Alameda should never become a relic of the past that lives only in memory.
"We don't want it to be a hidden history," she said. "We want it to be a memory that continues to live on. Unfortunately, we have too many hidden histories of our Hispanic contributions to this region and to this United States."
The Bexar Heritage Center is hosting a symposium discussing the Alameda Theater’s past, present, and future. Speakers are Sarah Zenaida Gould, Pete Cortez of La Familia Cortez Restaurants, and Hector Saldaña curator with the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. The moderator is journalist Elaine Ayala.
"We're hoping to hear about all of the hidden jewels that maybe folks are not familiar with," said Tamez. "That was one of the things that I found so enlightening because that's right in our backyard, right? The largest black light mural in the country, and you don't hear about this very often, and it is one of the aspects that I'm hoping that the group having the conversation about the Alameda will share with the visitors."
The symposium starts Friday, Oct. 2, at 9 a.m. at the Double Height Courtroom inside the Bexar County Courthouse.
MACRI invites anyone who has a story to share about the Alameda Theater to join them for History Harvest: Alameda Theater Memories, Sat. Oct. 17, 10 a.m.-noon. Staff will collect oral histories about the Alameda and the Casa de Mexico. Bring your stories, photos, handbills, newspaper clippings, and other documents.
