In the Dark in New Mexico
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
The sophisticated Lensic Theatre on Santa Fe's San Francisco Street still reigns as the capital city's premier movie theatre decades after it first opened on June 24, 1931. With the Lensic and subsequent cinemas built for Burro Alley in 1939, and the Arco and El Paseo (both in 1948), partners Nathan Salmon and E. John Greer Sr. dominated the Santa Fe movie scene.
During the 1930s as part of the Gibraltar theatre chain, the Lensic offered a sumptuous menu of entertainment, including lavish lobby displays, local talent shows and even New Year's Eve extravaganzas. An unforgettable evening at the Lensic was the 1940 premiere of Warner Bros.'
Santa Fe Trail, attended by Gov. John Miles, along with stars Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland.
World War II marked the closing of a sensational era for movie patrons in New Mexico. Small towns in every nook and cranny of the vast state could afford to build and support a cinema. After the war, however, the demographic and cultural landscape of New Mexico began to shift as veterans and their young families began migrating to cities and university towns to take advantage of a GI Bill education. Pursuing the American dream, many looked back but never returned to their small-town roots.
Though ever popular in the 1950s, movies began to share center stage in the popular imagination with television and automobiles. Movies and cars were married in 1933, as the first drive-in theatre was built in Camden, New Jersey. By 1960, more than 3,500 drive-in theatres dotted the American landscape. Drive-in movie theatres appeared at the fringes of every significant city in New Mexico, but they too have disappeared, leaving in their wake remembrances of summer passions, scratchy speakers and B-movie marathons. Today, only four drive-in theatres remain operating in New Mexico.
Only a few of the grand New Mexico movie theatres have been able to resist the unfortunate trend towards multiplexes and modular theatres. Albuquerque's behemoth 24-screen Century Rio complex, opened in 1997, is more than ample proof that times have changed.
Centenary celebrations offer the chance to reflect upon past glory and hard-earned achievements; they also serve as inspiration for what the future could hold. New Mexico movie patrons may count themselves fortunate, in this 100-year milestone of cinematic history, that many historic theatres remain. They are not only architectural landmarks, but sentimental ones as well.
Elmo Baca holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from Yale University. He is the director of New Mexico Main Street, a statewide downtown revitalization program of the Economic Development Department. He writes frequently for New Mexico Magazine and has authored several books on Southwestern design.
