Biola Theatre

In 1948, Mike Esponde left the Mendota cafe he had operated for 16 years and moved to Biola, where he built the Biola Theatre. Motion Picture Herald reported that it held 400 seats. The Biola Theatre had opened by January 1, 1949, when it was included in the Fresno Bee’s roundup of valley theaters.

Esponde died unexpectedly in May 1951. Months later, Carter Ashley and Bradley Fish signed a 10-year lease on the Biola Theatre with his widow.

In March 1954, Ashley closed the Biola “because of slow business,” according to the Herald, but the theatre advertised in the 1959 Fresno Central High School yearbook, listing its address as G Street in Biola.

The theatre, including a second-floor apartment with a private entrance, was listed for sale in a Fresno Bee classified advertisement in December 1965.

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