Tag: Movie-Theaters

Downtown, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: UNLESS, OF COURSE, THEY SHOW URBAN COWBOY EVERY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT “In regard to Sundance Cinemas, thatâ€™s potentially great news, but honestly, I wonder if it wonâ€™t succumb to the same fate as its predecessor. Even if it manages to reel in the handful of film buffs gasping for air in this sprawling sea of easily titillated Transformers, it still has to deal with being in a somewhat awkward spot. I just donâ€™t see the independent film crowd planning a night of avant-garde cinema and theme bar hopping. Yee-haw, Thaddeus! Ride that bull.” [kilray, commenting on Report: Sundance Cinemas Replacing Angelika Film Center at Bayou Place; Bar Smorgasbord Moving in Upstairs]

77002, Bars and Clubs, Comments, Downtown, Movie-Theaters, Nightlife, Openings and Closings

02/10/11 7:25pm

Report: Sundance Cinemas Replacing Angelika Film Center at Bayou Place; Bar Smorgasbord Moving in Upstairs

Downtown, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

18 Comments

The city of Houston and the Cordish Company are “deep into negotiations” with Sundance Cinemas to take over the former Angelika Theater spot at Bayou Place, Steven Thomson reports. Robert Redford’s Sundance Group has operated 2 Sundance Cinemas since 2007 — an 8-screen complex in San Francisco and a 6-screen multiplex in Madison, Wisconsin. If Sundance does end up taking over the vacant Angelika space at 510 Texas St. and maintains all existing screens, it would tie with the Sundance Kabuki Cinema near Pacific Heights as the largest complex in the small chain. The company appears to have scaled back the aggressive expansion plans it announced 4 years ago, which included new theaters in Chicago and Denver. The Angelika Film Center closed suddenly last summer.

77002, Angelika Film Center, Bars and Clubs, Bayou Place, Leasing, Movie-Theaters, Nightlife, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Theming

Montrose

11/15/10 6:28pm

Lard Almighty: Tower Theatre’s Coming Attraction Is Grease II

Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants

13 Comments

A reader sends word that a TABC alcohol-license notice posted on the side of the former Tower Theatre at 1201 Westheimer — where Hollywood Video was sent packing late last year — reveals the name of the old-style Tex-Mex restaurant former Houston Press food critic Robb Walsh and Iron Chef contestant Bryan Caswell will be inserting into the long-gutted moviehouse. As announced in the Press‘s food blog earlier this month, it’ll be El Real Tex Mex Cafe. Alas, no notice has yet been posted warning customers of the restaurant’s special featured ingredient:

77006, Montrose, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings, Public Health, Renovations, Restaurants

08/30/10 12:30pm

Angelika Theater Update: Who’s on Deck?

Downtown, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

15 Comments

ANGELIKA THEATER UPDATE: WHO’S ON DECK? From a statement issued this morning by Gary Rhodes, Bayou Place Limited Partnership’s general manager: “The Angelika Film Center had a terrific run at Bayou Place over the past 13 years. We had hoped that they would stay longer but unfortunately, after saying they would commit, Angelika changed its mind. It is amazing to think how far downtown Houston has evolved since Bayou Place first opened and helped spark the rebirth of downtown. . . . We will be upgrading Angelika with an operator of the highest quality and we will be making the announcement shortly.” [MyFox Houston; previously on Swamplot]

77002, Bayou Place, Downtown, Leasing, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings

08/30/10 9:27am

Downtown Shutdown: Angelika Film Center Goes Noir

Downtown, Openings and Closings, Retail

23 Comments

Some managers at Downtown’s Angelika Film Center who showed up for work Sunday morning didnâ€™t know any better than customers showing up for the Sunday morning matinees of Eat Pray Love and Farewell that the indie theater had been shuttered overnight. “After 13 years of continued service to the Houston community,” read a note posted on an empty ticket-booth window and papered-over front doors, “the Angelika’s lease has been terminated by the Angelika’s landlord, Bayou Place Limited Partnership, an affiliate of the Cordish Company.” But Cordish officials weren’t even returning phone calls from the Chronicle. Anyone want to tell us what really happened?

77002, Attractions, Bayou Place, Downtown, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings

07/22/10 12:54pm

Aurora Picture Show’s Original Movie House Has a Buyer

Buying and Selling, Quicklink, Sunset Heights

15 Comments

AURORA PICTURE SHOW’S ORIGINAL MOVIE HOUSE HAS A BUYER The woman who’s buying the former home of the Aurora Picture Show from microcinema pioneer Andrea Grover plans on starting her own new film and arts organization and running it out of the former Sunset Height Church of Christ at 800 Aurora St. Artist, filmmaker, and law student Cressandra Thibodeaux‘s name for her new concept: 14 Pews. She hopes to host theater and film productions, weddings, art exhibitions, classes, and workshops in the space, along with occasional screenings from . . . Aurora Picture Show. Writer Steven Thomsen gets Thibodeaux to gush: “‘I’m going through a divorce and thought that Houston would be the best place to lick my wounds,’ she tells CultureMap. ‘It’s always treated me like a forgiving lover who wraps me in her warm moist arms. And the moment I landed at the airport I was engulfed in her warm moistness. . . . I have spent 10 years tossing ideas and projects at the walls in Los Angeles,’ she explains. ‘I came to Houston and in one week everything I tossed stuck to the walls. I credit the humidity.’” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Kenny Haner

77009, Attractions, Buying and Selling, Event Spaces, Movie-Theaters, Sunset Heights

Montrose

06/15/10 8:54am

Critic’s Choice: Tower Theatre Will Go Tex-Mex

Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants

21 Comments

Permitting has already begun for a new Tex-Mex restaurant in Montrose, which will be neatly inserted into the former Tower Theater building on Westheimer at Yoakum. The marquee on the Art Deco building has already been restored to neon-and-fluorescent glory. Next up: rebuilding the theater’s former balcony, removed when the building was gutted and converted to a Hollywood Video store a few years back. The yet-to-be-named restaurant will be a joint project of Bill Floyd and Bryan Caswell of Reef and former Houston Press restaurant critic Robb Walsh, who’s written several Tex-Mex cookbooks. My Table reports the new restaurant is scheduled to open at the beginning of 2011.

Heard on the Street [My Table SideDish]
Previously on Swamplot: The Tower Theatre Puts No Name in Lights, Drive-By and Walk-By Reports on the Tower Theatreâ€™s New Headliner, Whatâ€™s Playing at the Tower Theatre?, Going Attractions: Hollywood Video Gives Up on the Tower Theatre

Photo: Matthew Rutledge [license]

77006, Montrose, Movie-Theaters, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Restaurants

05/24/10 6:33pm

Goodbye, Aurora Picture Show: Houston’s Best Known Movie House, Up for Sale

Homes for Sale, Religious Facilities, Renovations, Sunset Heights

3 Comments

Home theater specialist Andrea Grover is leaving Houston — and selling the Sunset Heights church-turned-movie-theater-turned-residence where she founded a well-known local arts organization 13 years ago. For the 10 years that it operated on Aurora St. just east of Main, Aurora Picture Show featured a ridiculous range of obscure and not-quite-as-obscure film and video screenings in its sanctuary space, along with 13 weddings and a couple of memorial services. Then 2 years ago, Grover explains, the microcinema went south — to Montrose:

Aurora relocated its office and library to a bungalow in “Doville” (the neighborhood affectionately named after Dominique de Menil). Their programming has been nomadic and site-specific in order to attract new audiences and activate different sites in Houston. This strategy has worked extremely well for the organization, which has seen increased attendance and membership as a result of catering to Houston’s love for new experiences and one-of-a-kind events. I retired at the end of 2008, and Aurora is doing so well that I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner!

The house includes a movie chapel with pew seating for 96, audio-video equipment, and a “disused baptistry,” along with a small freestanding outhouse for theatergoers that was “designed by a well-known architect (Michael Bell), though you would never guess it,” writes Grover.

The home comes with a trailer, too:

77009, Attractions, Churches, Homes for Sale, Movie-Theaters, Religious Facilities, Renovations, Sunset Heights

Bankruptcies

05/18/10 11:01am

Waiting for the Renaissance: What Could $32 Million Buy at Greenspoint Mall?

Greenspoint, Malls, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renovations

34 Comments

The Triyar Cannon Group has been threatening to give shopworn Greenspoint Mall a $32 million makeover since 2006. Most of what appears to be planned shows up in this knock-’em-down video: a new outdoor plaza at the mall’s east entrance, and a connected 22-story office building off Greenspoint Dr., designed by Ziegler Cooper. Just last week, demolition began on the vacant JCPenney building, site of a proposed Premiere Cinema multiplex that’s supposed to share a new parking garage with the tower. Not in the plans, but already happened anyway: the closing of Sears.

When will the rest of this happen?

77060, Bankruptcies, Demolitions, Greenspoint, Malls, Movie-Theaters, New Construction, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Renovations, TIRZs

Crime

05/12/10 2:41pm

Comment of the Day: The Report from Greenspoint Mall

Greenspoint, Malls, Quicklink

1 Comment

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE REPORT FROM GREENSPOINT MALL “. . . A huge swath of it is basically closed (the part near Dillards)â€“ storefronts with lots of signs letting you know they are available. There are still quite a few mall staples, as well as an unusual number of mom-and-pop operations. I was there today just after 1 pm. There were people around, including folks apparently from nearby offices doing some lunch shopping or eating in the food court. But the number of people seemed sparse. That said, it is a long haul to any other movie theater from there, and there are a lot of people who live and work in the area. And Iâ€™m fairly sure the mall is one of the safest places aroundâ€“it has a large Harris County Sheriff/HPD station in the mall! The parking lot is full of police cars.” [RWB, commenting on Before the Movies Start: Whatâ€™s Eating JCPenney at the Greenspoint Mall]

77060, Crime, Demolitions, Greenspoint, Malls, Movie-Theaters

Demolitions

05/10/10 3:32pm

Before the Movies Start: What’s Eating JCPenney at the Greenspoint Mall

Greenspoint, Malls, New Construction

22 Comments

A new Premiere Cinemas multiplex is now under construction at Greenspoint Mall — if, that is, you count demolition as part of the construction process. Early this morning, demolition crews began their assault on the long-vacant JCPenney building standing rudely in the way of the new theater.

The new theater is expected to be part of a $32 million facelift for the mall. The Greenspoint District Facebook page reports that the original plans for the theater called for a total of 20 screens.

Greenspoint District [Facebook, via Swamplot inbox]

Photo: Greenspoint District

77060, Demolitions, Greenspoint, Malls, Movie-Theaters, New Construction

Comments

05/03/10 3:50pm

Comment of the Day: The Tower Theatre, Back To the Future

Leasing, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Quicklink

3 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE TOWER THEATRE, BACK TO THE FUTURE “But if we donâ€™t get the sign from 1955 to 1985 before the lightning storm, Annise Parker will never be born!” [Evan7257, commenting on The Tower Theatre Puts No Name in Lights] Photo: Swampot inbox

77006, Comments, Leasing, Lower Westheimer, Mayor Parker, Montrose, Movie-Theaters

Leasing

05/03/10 10:01am

The Tower Theatre Puts No Name in Lights

Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Renovations

4 Comments

A reader reports on the newest bright spot on Lower Westheimer:

My photo isn’t terribly good, but it will at least give you an idea of what they’re up to with the new marquee.Â Half of the upper neon is working and the marquee is completely operational.Â Even without everything functioning, it already puts the River Oaks to shame. It’s still not going to be as outrageous as the original setup with the taller spire and even more neon, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Previously on Swamplot: Drive-By and Walk-By Reports on the Tower Theatreâ€™s New Headliner, Whatâ€™s Playing at the Tower Theatre?, and Going Attractions: Hollywood Video Gives Up on the Tower Theatre

Photo: Swamplot inbox

77006, Leasing, Lower Westheimer, Montrose, Movie-Theaters, Outdoor Lighting, Renovations

Adaptive Reuse

04/29/10 2:40pm

The DeLuxe Theater’s Next Act: Fifth Ward Zydeco Library

Fifth Ward, Proposed Developments, Renovations

8 Comments

The long-discussed renovation of the Fifth Ward’s long-vacant DeLuxe Theatre on Lyons Ave. is a little closer to actually happening since yesterday’s city council approval of a contract with Smith & Company Architects for its part of the $6.8 million project.

Drawings have not been released, but the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation’s website for the theater says that the building’s south facade will be restored to its original appearance. The movie theater was built in 1941, but reopened in 1971 as an art gallery. The 15,000-sq.-ft. shell has been empty for more than 30 years. And now the innards will be reimagined: