The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, did a show at the Deluxe in 1971 called “The Deluxe Show.” It was an exhibit of works by Black Houston artists. The catalog of the show is still around and probably has pictures of the theatre. I have the poster, but it’s a bit large for the scanner. The theatre exterior was pretty run down at that time. The theatre name was spelled De LUXE.
The De Luxe was at 3303 Lyons, the Roxy at 2737 – both very close to and on either side US 59/Eastex Fwy. The Venus was at 6515 Lyons – I have not been able to find an address for the Globe.
Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Michigan, established their first Texas operations at Freeport in the late 30s to produce magnesium from sea water. The town of Lake Jackson was created as a bedroom community for the influx of new Dow employees.
Alden B. Dow (http://www.abdow.org/abdow/abdow.htm), an architect who had studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the Dow brothers and he laid out the entire town of Lake Jackson and designed all the public buildings. He was not involved in the chemical company operations and never owned the theatre.
I spent many a Saturday afternoon at the Lake in the 50s at the double features. For a while, I was a monitor, patrolling the aisles wearing my Safety Patrol badge from Jr. Hi. I delivered the paper to John Huebel’s residence for a while.
My earliest memory of the Lake is going to see a Red Skelton film with my parents in the late 40s.
There may be better pics on the City of Lake Jackson website or the website of the Lake Jackson Historical Museum, but I can’t get them to come up tonight.
The above entry has been edited and botched.
I included links to 3 photos of the Ora which have been deleted.
One picture included a legend stating that the Ora was opened in 1949 and was Freeport’s first theater; I pointed out that was probably in error.
While investigating another theater in Freeport I encountered the owners who told me that theater had opened ca. 1940 or 1941, not the Ora.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, did a show at the Deluxe in 1971 called “The Deluxe Show.” It was an exhibit of works by Black Houston artists. The catalog of the show is still around and probably has pictures of the theatre. I have the poster, but it’s a bit large for the scanner. The theatre exterior was pretty run down at that time. The theatre name was spelled De LUXE.
The De Luxe was at 3303 Lyons, the Roxy at 2737 – both very close to and on either side US 59/Eastex Fwy. The Venus was at 6515 Lyons – I have not been able to find an address for the Globe.
Dow Chemical Co. of Midland, Michigan, established their first Texas operations at Freeport in the late 30s to produce magnesium from sea water. The town of Lake Jackson was created as a bedroom community for the influx of new Dow employees.
Alden B. Dow (http://www.abdow.org/abdow/abdow.htm), an architect who had studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the Dow brothers and he laid out the entire town of Lake Jackson and designed all the public buildings. He was not involved in the chemical company operations and never owned the theatre.
I spent many a Saturday afternoon at the Lake in the 50s at the double features. For a while, I was a monitor, patrolling the aisles wearing my Safety Patrol badge from Jr. Hi. I delivered the paper to John Huebel’s residence for a while.
My earliest memory of the Lake is going to see a Red Skelton film with my parents in the late 40s.
There may be better pics on the City of Lake Jackson website or the website of the Lake Jackson Historical Museum, but I can’t get them to come up tonight.