The Azteca Theater (Teatro Azteca) is a historic Art Deco theater in the Chinatown district of Fresno, California, built by Gustavo Acosta in 1948. The theater was the first Spanish language cinema in the San Joaquin Valley, serving a growing population of Mexican-Americans in California's Central Valley. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. [1]
The theater was designed by Fresno firm, Johnson & Moore Consulting Engineers who designed the Biola Theater and Johnson was involved earlier in some of the facade work on the Warnors Theater in Fresno. It officially opened on 30 November 1948. [1]
In 1956 Acosta leased the Azteca Theater to Arturo Tirado [1] who is closely associated with the theater and entertainment in the Hispanic community into the 1980s when he retired. In 1961 Tirado was President of the Spanish Pictures Exhibitors Association representing 300 movie theaters in the United States. His father Romualdo Tirado was well known in California theater and a Cantinflas.
Known as the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, Cantinflas, Pedro Infante, María Félix, Agustín Lara, Pedro Vargas, Miguel Aceves Mejía, Pedro Armendáriz, Antonio Aguilar and José Alfredo Jiménez were among the luminaries seen at the Azteca Theater. [2]
Besides popular films from the Mexican Cinema, singers and theatrical acts frequented the stage. The theater was a rallying point for César Chávez on 24 March 1966 when he made his march from Delano to Sacramento. [1]
The Azteca closed in the late 1980s and was partially reopening in 1999 with an art gallery and events. In 2014, the theater was restored. [3]
The Azteca Theater is a 2-story brick masonry building constructed in a late Art Deco style. [1] A statue of Bruce Lee stands in the lobby, a hint of the fact that the theater would also play kung-fu movies. [3] The walls of the dressing room in the backstage have signatures of many artists that performed in the theater. [2]
The wooden organ pipes that were part of the theater are now on display on the walls of the next door bar, A Love letter to Fresno. [4]
Fresno is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about 115 square miles (300 km2) and had a population of 542,107 as of the 2020 Census, making it the fifth-most populous city, in California, the most populous inland city in California, and the 34th-most populous city in the nation.
Mario Fortino Alfonso Moreno Reyes, known by the stage name Cantinflas, was a Mexican comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is considered to have been the most widely accomplished Mexican comedian and is well known throughout Latin America and Spain. His humor, loaded with Mexican linguistic features of intonation, vocabulary, and syntax, is beloved in all the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and in Spain and has given rise to a range of expressions including cantinflear, cantinflada, cantinflesco, and cantinflero.
El Teatro Campesino is a Chicano theatre company in California. Performing in both English and Spanish, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers and the Chicano Movement with the "full support of César Chávez." Originally based in Delano, California, during the Delano Strike, the theatre is currently based in San Juan Bautista, California.
Luis Miguel Valdez is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Regarded as the father of Chicano film and playwriting, Valdez is best known for his play Zoot Suit, his movie La Bamba, and his creation of El Teatro Campesino. A pioneer in the Chicano Movement, Valdez broadened the scope of theatre and arts of the Chicano community.
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Gloria Méndez Ramos, known professionally as Gloria Marín, was a Mexican actress. She was considered a celebrated female star of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.
Juan Felipe Herrera is an American poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist. Herrera was the 21st United States Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017. He is a major figure in the literary field of Chicano poetry.
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S. Charles Lee was an American architect recognized as one of the most prolific and distinguished motion picture theater designers on the West Coast.
Radio Bilingüe is a non-profit public radio network with Latino control and leadership, is the only United States national distributor of public radio programming in the Spanish language. It is based in Fresno, California.
Manuel Chavez Mora. Born in Zelza, California, 1919. Died in Los Angeles, California, 2001.
The Teatro Puerto Rico was a music hall focused on the Latino community in the South Bronx section of New York City. During the 1940s to 1950s it presented la farándula, a vaudeville-style package of Spanish-language events, and attracted entertainers from all over Latin America. In the late 1960s, the neighborhood where the theater was located was in decline and the theater closed its doors until 1994. That year a real estate developer invested funds in renovations. After two years in operation, a political scandal involving misappropriated public funds forced the permanent closure of the theater. The building which the theater once occupied is now used as a place of religious worship.
Reportaje is a 1953 Mexican film. The film brought together an extraordinary ensemble cast of the most important stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and was held for charitable purposes for the A.N.D.A (Asociación Nacional de Actores) of México.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Fresno, California, USA.
Mario Ramirez Reyes, also known to Hispanic audiences as El Comodín is a Mexican actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer of film, television, and theater who gained notoriety when he headlined the most luxurious theater show of the 90’s in Mexico: "El Show de las Estrellas" which set attendance records at prominent theaters Teatro Lírico, Aldama, Fru-Fru, Venustiano Carranza, and Teatro Blanquita in Mexico as well as then popular Hispanic theaters in the United States Teatro Los Pinos, Teatro Bay, and Teatro México.
The Unknown Policeman is a 1941 Mexican comedy film directed and co-written by Miguel M. Delgado and starring Cantinflas, Mapy Cortés, Daniel "Chino" Herrera and Gloria Marín. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jorge Fernandez.
Neither Blood nor Sand is a 1941 Mexican comedy film directed by Alejandro Galindo and starring Cantinflas, Susana Guízar and Elvia Salcedo. It was intended as a parody of the big-budget Hollywood film Blood and Sand, which portrays the world of bullfighting.
If I Were a Congressman is a 1952 Mexican comedy film directed by Miguel M. Delgado and starring Cantinflas, Gloria Mange and Andrés Soler.
Events in the year 1960 in Mexico.