The Plaza Theater was the crowning jewel of 1920s development on West Congress Street in Tucson and the only indoor Spanish language theater in Southern Arizona. The theater was designed by renowned local Tucson architect Roy Place in 1930 for A. Kaufman a local commercial developer and pioneer merchant and leased to Los Angeles theater operator Joe Gross. Kaufman declared the night before opening that he;
"regarded the Plaza as Tucson's own theater, since all local employes [ sic ] had been hired for the construction of the building with equipment and contracting coming from Tucson sources whenever possible."
Built on the corner of West Congress and Plaza Streets (later Court Avenue) the exterior was constructed in a Spanish Revival style with cast ornamental details framing the upper windows and red clay barrel roof tiles. The ground floor included two commercial storefronts. By the 1940s the original marquee had been enlarged and the lower level window and door configuration changed. The decorative cast terracotta Spanish revival details and original neon sign remained intact.
The interior decorations were described at the time of opening as "being typical of the old southwest motif. The auditorium will have seating capacity of 650 and will be modern in every respect with ample heating, ventilating and cooling systems. Acoustic plastering will be used throughout and is designed along the most modern methods for the projection of sound pictures." When constructed the building had a state-of-the-art RCA projector and sound equipment, "the walls lined with a highly absorbent material to insure perfect acoustics."
The theater was purchased by Arizona 'theater czar' Nick Diamos, also the owner of the Tucson Lyric Theater and involved in the development of Tucson's Fox Theatre. Artist Ted DeGrazia was the theater manager for three years in the late 1930s.
At the time of demolition the Plaza was owned by Abelardo M. Campillo and Jesus M. Granillo. The last owners were forced from their property by the City of Tucson and its urban renewal program. The owners reminded the city "that if the Plaza goes, nothing of the Old City will be left in the area."
The plaza was demolished on May 15, 1969.
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is home to the University of Arizona. It is the second-largest city in Arizona behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,629 in the 2020 United States census, while the population of the entire Tucson metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is 1,043,433. The Tucson MSA forms part of the larger Tucson-Nogales combined statistical area. Both Tucson and Phoenix anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 miles (174 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (100 km) north of the United States–Mexico border.
The Fox Theatre is a performing arts center located at 2211 Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, near the Grand Circus Park Historic District. Opened in 1928 as a flagship movie palace in the Fox Theatres chain, it was at over 5,000 seats the largest theater in the city. Designed by theater architect C. Howard Crane, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Fox Theatres was a large chain of movie theaters in the United States dating from the 1920s either built by Fox Film studio owner William Fox, or subsequently merged in 1929 by Fox with the West Coast Theatres chain, to form the Fox West Coast Theatres chain. Fox West Coast went into bankruptcy and was sold to The National Theatres Corporation, led by Charles Skouras, on November 19, 1934, for $17,000,000.00. Eugene Klein later became CEO of National, and turned it into the conglomerate National General. Mann Theatres bought National General's theatres in 1973.
KMSB is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU-TV ; Tegna maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of CBS affiliate KOLD-TV, for the provision of studio space and technical services and the production of local newscasts for KMSB. The three stations share studios on North Business Park Drive on the northwest side of Tucson. KMSB's lone transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow; as a result of the transmitter's location, residents in the northern part of Tucson, Oro Valley, and Marana do not receive adequate reception of the station.
KOLD-TV is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television, which provides certain services to Fox affiliate KMSB and dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU-TV under a shared services agreement (SSA) with Tegna Inc. The three stations share studios on North Business Park Drive on the northwest side of Tucson. KOLD-TV's primary transmitter is atop Mount Bigelow, with a secondary transmitter atop the Tucson Mountains west of the city to fill in gaps in coverage.
The Arlington Theatre is a historic movie theatre in Santa Barbara, California, United States. Combining the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles of architecture, it the largest movie theater and principal performing arts venue the city. In addition to regular screenings and artists, it is home to many events associated with the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The Rialto Theatre is a performance theater and concert venue located on Congress Street in downtown Tucson, Pima County, southern Arizona. The cinema−theater and surrounding Rialto Building commercial block were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Hotel Congress is a federally recognized historic building located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was built in 1918 and designed by the Los Angeles architectural firm William and Alexander Curlett as part of an expansion of Congress Street and in conjunction with the theatrical venue Rialto Theatre, which sits north of Congress Street. The rear of the building faces the historic Amtrak Southern Pacific train station, built by Southern Pacific in 1907. In addition to being a hotel, the Hotel Congress building also houses a restaurant, bar and music venue. The name "The Congress Hotel" was chosen through a naming competition organized by the Arizona Daily Star newspaper in 1918. The winning suggestion was announced on April 30, 1918, and it was submitted by Dorit Dinkel, who won $15 worth of baby bonds for having their name chosen. The Hotel Congress and its owners since 1985, Richard Oseran and Shana Oseran, have been a key cultural institution and boosters in the early 21st-century redevelopment of Downtown Tucson.
El Con Center is an open-air shopping mall in the city of Tucson, Arizona, United States anchored by Cinemark Theatres, Target, The Home Depot, Walmart, Ross (30,220 ft.2), Burlington (65,680 ft.2), and Marshalls. There is 1 vacant anchor store that was once JCPenney. The oldest mall in metropolitan Tucson, El Con Mall, as it was known since its opening in 1960, was renamed in May 2014 at the time of its sale for $81.7 million to Stan Kroenke, owner of numerous sports properties including Arsenal F.C. and the Los Angeles Rams.
The Fox Tucson Theatre is located in downtown Tucson, Arizona, United States. The theater opened on April 11, 1930 as a performance space in downtown Tucson. It hosts a wide spectrum of events and concerts featuring a variety of performing talent, ranging from ballets, to jazz, contemporary pop, world music and rock acts.
The Plaza Theatre is a historic building in El Paso, Texas, United States, built in 1930. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks, and remains operational today. The theatre is a National Historic Building of Significance featuring the 2,050-seat Kendall Kidd Performance Hall, and the smaller 200-seat Philanthropy Theatre. It hosts Broadway productions, musical concerts, individual performers and the annual Plaza Classic Film Festival.
Roy Place was a Tucson, Arizona architect.
Charles William Bolsius was a Dutch-born American painter. He was born in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, the youngest in an upper-middle-class bourgeoisie family. His father ran the regional Gas Works and Bolsius formally studied art in The Hague before emigrating to the United States and moving to New Mexico in the early 1930s. He quickly assimilated into the art communities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe showing with the significant artist of the period. Bolsius had artistically matured within Dutch - German Expressionism. His woodblock handprints, using subject matter from the American West, capitalized on flat, bold, stark patterns and rough-hewn effects that were hallmarks of the expressionist woodblock tradition. His heavy light-filled moody paintings with cloudy brooding skies combined expressionistic influences with expansive western landscapes and the optimism of American impressionism. His work was critically recognized and exhibited at major museums and galleries throughout New Mexico and Arizona.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
The Loft Cinema is a nonprofit art house cinema located in Tucson, Arizona. The Loft Cinema screens first-run independent American and foreign films and documentaries, as well as classic art films and special events. The theatre has 3 screens with a seating capacity that ranges from 90 to 370. The largest auditorium is equipped with reel-to-reel 35 mm and 70 mm projectors, in addition to a digital projector and was renovated in 2017 to be fully accessible.
Santa Rita Hotel was a historic building located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. It was designed by architect Henry Trost in the Mission Revival Style and built in 1903 by Quintus Monier. The hotel was considered the finest hotel in the Arizona Territory at the time of its opening.
Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort is a hotel in Catalina Foothills, near Tucson, Arizona. It began in 1929 as a private boarding school for girls. It was converted into a guest ranch after World War II.
The Pima County Legal Services Building is a 20-storey government office building located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. It is the third tallest building in Tucson.
The Teatro Carmen was Tucson's first Spanish-language theater. From 1915 until it closed in the 1920s, it was the foremost theater for Spanish-language productions and a community center for Tucson's Mexican community. It is in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood.