The Texas Theatre in 2008 (Photo by Michael Dorosh)
Editor’s Choice — Best Theater:
Texas Theatre
Everybody’s heard of the Texas Theatre. Situated there at 231 W. Jefferson Blvd., it’s an Oak Cliff landmark — a legend with a dark past harking back to one of our country’s — and Dallas’ — darkest days. Because that’s where Dallas police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald less than two hours after Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy in downtown Dallas, and less than 30 minutes after the assassin gunned down police officer J.D. Tippitt about a mile away at the corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue.
The Texas Theatre is not just Dallas history, it’s U.S. history. But there’s so much more to Texas Theatre than Lee Harvey Oswald.
When it opened on April 21, 1931, as a single-screen venue the Texas Theatre was the largest suburban movie theater Dallas. Built by C.R. McHenry, it was part of a chain of theaters nationally that were owned by Howard Hughes. It was the first theater in Dallas to have air conditioning, and it boasted a host of other state-of-the-art luxuries.
Twenty-six years after the Kennedy assassination, the theater closed in 1989, only to be purchased in 1990 by the Texas Theatre Historical Society, allowing Oliver Stone to remodel its facade to use in his movie, JFK, in 1991. But upkeep proved to be to costly for TTHS, and the venue closed again in 1992. Don Dubois of Texas Rosewin-Midway Properties bought the theater in 1993, saving it from the wrecking ball, but two years later, tragedy struck again when a five-alarm fire nearly destroyed the building. And once again Texas Theatre was closed.
Pedro Villa made plans to buy Texas Theatre in 1996 to keep it from being demolished to make way for a furniture warehouse. But when he couldn’t get the necessary financing, ownership reverted to Rosewin-Midway Properties. And the fire-damaged Texas Theatre set empty for several years — until 2001 when the Oak Cliff Foundation secured $1.6 million frrom the Dallas Neighborhood Renaissance Partnership then raised another $2 million to get started on renovations that ultimately cost about $9 million.
Aviation Cinemas signed a lease to operate Texas Theatre as an independent and repertory cinema. The venue closed again in 2020 amid the ravages of the COVID pandemic, but that made time for another remodel before it opened in September 2021 as a two-screen venue with a 835-seat capacity.
These days, Texas Theatre offers a full line-up of movies — new and classics — as well as playing host to a number of series and programs and live shows, including many events of special interest to the LGBTQ+ community, including Cinéwilde, the country’s longest-ru ning monthly LGBTQ film series, and live performances like the recent one-night-only presentation of A Twink and a Redhead: A Musical Comedy.
Texas Theatre is just about top-notch entertainment — on film and live. And it’s more than just its morbid place in U.S. history. It is an homage to resilience, to perserverance and to vision. That’s why Texas Theatre is the Editor’s Choice for Best Theatre AND Best History!
— Tammye Nash
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