El Portal Theatre

Richard D. King was apparently not the architect of the El Portal. A Southwest Builder & Contractor article from May 13, 1924, said that he was designing a theater and office building for Las Vegas, but that was four years before the El Portal opened. It’s pretty much certain that the architect of the El Portal was Charles Alexander MacNelledge, as the plaque on the building (seen on this page) says. I don’t know if King’s 1924 project was carried out or not, but if it was it has to be some other theater.

An extensive remodeling of the El Portal in 1961, including enlarging the lobby, some alterations to the auditorium, the installation of a new marquee and vertical sign, and redecoration throughout, was handled by architect J. Maher Weller, according to an article in the August 21 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year.

I’m in front of the El Portal right now. The Fremont light show is going on.

An appropriate movie to open in Vegas.

The “Fremont Street” experience is not for me. Old, crowded casinos, lots of pushing and shoving and too many tourists eating deep-fried Twinkies. I’ll stick with the Strip.

Here is another photo of the El Portal:
http://tinyurl.com/yqv5ld

I use to go this this theater all the time back in the ‘60s and '70s.
It was a beautiful theater with great big theater curtains and plush seats (plush by '60s standards) The first movie I saw there was with my dad and it was “The Dirty Dozen.”