Juarez Theatre
222 E. University Drive,
Edinburg,
TX
78539
222 E. University Drive,
Edinburg,
TX
78539
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This web page about Spanish language movie theaters in Edinburg clears up some of the history of this theater. It was open by 1930 as the Valley Theatre, and became the Juarez Theatre in 1939 or 1940. The Juarez was still in operation at least as late as 1966, when it was mentioned in the August 8 issue of Boxoffice as being under the management of Jim Longoria, who also operated the Citrus Theatre and had just renamed his former Aztec Theatre to the Century Theatre.
Also, the spelling of the theater’s name still needs to be corrected to Juarez, as in Benito Juárez, the Mexican President for whom it was most likely named.
I’ve set Street View to the correct address. In the most recent listing I can find on the Internet, the building was occupied by the office of attorney Lemuel Lopez, but an obituary reveals that Lopez died in a hang gliding accident on October 13, 2010, so the building might be vacant now.
Street View is currently stuck on the wrong side of the courthouse square. The address 222 E. University Drive is on the south side of the street, one door west of 13th Avenue and sandwiched between two nondescript buildings housing a pool hall and a mortgage company. The theater building looked like it was vacant at the time Google’s camera went by. It’s a very distinctive brick building of rather Moorish appearance. I don’t know if it looked like that when it was the Juarez Theater. If it did, it had an awfully narrow entrance for a 600-seat house, and the theater itself was quite narrow, but very deep.
I do not remember the Juarez, but do remember the Aztec and the Citrus.
East Harriman is now East University in Edinburg, Tx. The movie Theatre’s name was Juarez.
Many issues of Boxoffice Magazine from the 1940s and 1950s mention a Juarez Theatre in Edinburg, but none mention a Juraz Theatre. I suppose it’s possible the name has been changed from Juarez to Juraz. Maybe somebody stole an “e” from the sign and they couldn’t afford to replace it, so they shifted the remaining letters about?
The March 18, 1930, issue of Motion Picture Times ran an item saying that L.J. Montague, owner of the Valley Theatre, was building a new 350-seat house that would show Mexican movies. This might have been either the Juarez or the Aztec. Both of those houses were in operation by 1942, and I’ve found no mentions of either of them by name earlier than that year. Montague also operated the Aztec, until 1946, when he sold all three of his Edinburg houses.
The July 2, 1949, issue of Boxoffice said that the Juarez Theatre was being remodeled, and that its seating capacity would be increased from 400 to 600. The July 23 issue the same year said that the expansion of the building had been completed and new seats were being installed.
The most recent mention of the Juarez I’ve found in Boxoffice is from 1966. As I said above, there are no mentions of a Juraz Theatre at all.
I thought about that. Cinematour and the Mike Rivest site have the theater as Juraz. I couldn’t find any info on a theater by either name.
East Harriman Boulevard doesn’t seem to exist in Edinburg. West Harriman runs into W. University. There are some law offices at 222 W. University, so it’s possible that the street address is incorrect or has been changed. If anyone is familiar with this area, let me know.