Mission Theatre

rjbuffalo on February 10, 2023 at 7:39 pm

The address is incorrect. The Mission Theatre was at 121 Central Avenue NW. In 1924, the Sunshine Building would be built directly across the street from it.

The cinema at 121 Central Avenue NW was opened on Wednesday, April 16, 1913, as the Lyric Theatre.

On Sunday, September 1, 1918, there was a change. The Lyric owners opened their new Lyric at 312 Central Avenue SW, and the old Lyric, under new ownership, was renamed the Ideal Theatre. The final advertisement for the Ideal Theatre was on Monday, June 11, 1928, and I presume it went dark afterwards.

On Saturday, February 22, 1930, the Ideal reopened as the Mission Theatre and remained in business through Monday, June 13, 1949.

Now, let’s think again about the Lyric. The owners of the Lyric opened their new Lyric on Sunday, September 1, 1918, and that was at 312 Central Avenue SW.

Where did the 315 address come from? It was a typographical error. Kistler Collister was at 315 Central Avenue NW, and later Montgomery Ward took over. There was never a theatre or cinema at 315.

What fascinates me about the Mission Theatre was its status as Albuquerque’s first “art house.” Beginning on Tuesday, April 14, 1936, and then two or three nights almost every week for the next several years, the Mission Theatre collaborated with UNM’s Foreign Language Group in presenting foreign films that would normally fly under the radar. In the summer of 1939, alas, there was a change, and the foreign films were all Mexican. The series came to an end in March 1941, shortly after UNM itself began presenting 16mm films from the Museum of Modern Art collection.

rivest266 on June 8, 2016 at 9:54 pm

Ads started to appear for this cinema on March 9th, 1930. Ad in Photo section