State Theater
719 Congress Avenue,
Austin,
TX
78701
719 Congress Avenue,
Austin,
TX
78701
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 16 comments
Reddit link with a January 18, 1956 photo. In the comments of that link there are three bonus pics.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/7ojewx/austinites_line_up_to_see_the_lone_ranger_in/
This opened on December 25th, 1935. Grand opening ad below and in the photo section.
Hi Southern Comfort. I wonder if you would consider contacting me at your convenience. Thanks in advance.
Unfortunately the size limit that photos added to CT receive upon uploading them, does not do all of them justice. If you were to download both images away from CT and inspect them full size as some other CT members have in the past, you will see the differences. Various building details, store names etc. are legible in the image I uploaded, but yes not the marquee in this instance. My “habit” of uploading “crisper” photos, as well as many more previously unseen photos in general, is at over 2400 in 11 years. I also credited the original photographer and used the copyright attribution, that the previous/07/17/12 poster may not have known. Your critique however is appreciated and duly noted.
Crisper version of the 1947 photo added, photo credit Neal Douglass. Courtesy of the Austin History Center. Color added by the Traces Of Texas Facebook page.
1959 marquee photo added, credit & courtesy of the Austin History Center Facebook page.
To Pawnshop, it is both a movie theater and live theater now. We have a roll down screen and can do digital presentations there now. The blade out front has been restored and turned back on in the first week of Oct. 2013. New neon tubes, wiring and cleaned up and polished face of the blade.
I saw Popeye and Dragonslayer as a double feature there in the mid 1980’s for $1, strange mix. I heard later that the State had been turned into a Heavy Metal club and that made me sad because I assumed that meant that it would be trashed so badly that there would never be movies there again. I was very happy to discover that she is a movie house again and I will catch a film there soon!
It’s too bad that very nice old marquee ca’t be used because of the tree blocking any view of it; I’m just betting that, in Austin, you’d have a hard time getting a permit to cut the tree.
A photo from December 2009:
View link
Very Nice looking theatre.
Here is a photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ylycymh
The State and Paramount can be seen in this photo:
http://tinyurl.com/nrua3u
A 1990 photo of the closed State Theater in Austin.
Marquee photo:
View link
The Film Daily Yearbook,1941 gives a seating capacity of 907 for the State Theatre. In the 1950 edition of F.D.Y. seating is given as 997.