Granada Theatre
808-812 Broadway Street,
Plainview,
TX
79072
808-812 Broadway Street,
Plainview,
TX
79072
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 17 comments
Website now established at this URL: HistoricGranada.com
Facebook page: Search for Granada Theater Plainview
Thanks to all for help in finding original artifacts, photos, posters and anything related to the “original” Granada in Plainview, Texas.
The historic Granada has been purchased by the grandson of one of its former partners. Plans to restore the theater are now underway. Persons with historical information, pictures, artifacts are encouraged to contact. Website and other social media information coming soon to further enhance the restoration process. The Granada is coming back!
Yes for sale on Ebay. Due to my distance from Plainview(13 hours drive)i decided i cant renovate this theater. I didnt think threw the distance when i bought the theater.
Theater for sale again on e-bay….
From March 2012 an image of the Granada Theatre in Plainview.
The Granada has just been sold and plans to re-open it as a live theater in late 2013. The buyer also bought the Lynn Theater in Gonzales Texas along with the Edna Theater in Edna texas. Both open 2012 after renovations. The Theater will be brought back to life for a late 2013 opening.
As of July 2011
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabegrote/5955916259/in/photostream
Here is a 1984 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d4c8eu
New story on the Granada: In its heyday, Granada was truly grand 03-23-2008
Link:
View link
To view 1930 photos of the Granada exterior and sky job auditorium type in word “theatre”,
View link
Posted on 12/12/04: May 2, 1964 Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews are starring in Walt Disney´s “Mary Poppins†at the Granada Theater.
I believe “Mary Poppins” premiered in the latter half of 1964. The May date seems much too early, especially for a town the size of Plainview. Was this a sneak preview screening? Or is 1964 a typo for 1965?
A new story on the Granada in the Plainview Daily Herald:
“Granada once was grand showplace 01-08-2007”
View link
Here are some interesting postings from the Plainview Daily Herald newspaper’s “back in time” column:
Nov. 13, 1935: The Lions Club will stage a men´s burlesque show and a bathing beauty show Dec. 3-4 at the Granada.
May 17, 1936: High school commencement for 130 seniors will be Thursday morning at the Granada Theater.
Aug. 29, 1935: The Lions Minstrel Show is scheduled for Oct. 16 at The Granada Theater with Dr. C.M. Clough as manager.
Van Johnson and Esther Williams are starring in “Thrill of a Romance†at the Granada while Gregory Peck is starring in “The Keys of the Kingdom†at the Fair.
Johnny Weissmueller is starring in “Tarzan and the Amazons†at the Granada and Johnny Mack Brown is starring in “Gun Smoke†at the Fair.
Sept. 4, 1955: Bob Hope is starring in the “Seven Little Foys†at the Granada Theater.
The atmospherics were great. Even the rest rooms were fancy. Atmosphere destroyed mostly when it was split into a twin. I saw the original release of Star Wars there. Say Tron as well. It was ugly after the split.
This is from the story referenced in the post above:
The Granada was different. Nowadays I’d call it a movie palace; back then, I just knew it was a vast and wonderful place where yelling was unthinkable. A ceiling studded with dim stars was suspended over walls that simulated a castle, with Spanish shawls draped over fake balconies and dripping fountains set into niches. (We learned to avoid those fountains. If we sat too near them, the sound of the water sent us on frequent trips to the restroom.) At the center of it all was a screen of truly monumental dimensions, thundering with the exploits of pirates, knights, Walt Disney characters, and atomic-mutant monsters on a rampage.
I distinctly remember more than one afternoon when I thought, sitting there in the plushly upholstered splendor of the Granada, “I wish the whole world was like this.†A decade later, Donna Reed brought that sentiment into our living rooms. She created, inhabited and exemplified a world in which parents were strong and loving and relatively affluent, adolescents were polite and well-adjusted, problems were relatively minor and endings were always happy. Watching, we knew it was ludicrously unreal, but we couldn’t help wishing the whole world could be like that.
Story on the Fair & Granada theaters in Plainview:
View link
I love the Boller Brothers' Atmospherics- Much more subdued than an Eberson & I’d go out on a limb to say a little more realistic. Other Spanish/Moorish style Boller Brother’s Atmospherics from the same era are the Granada in Kansas City, KS. The Crown-Uptown in Wichita, KS & the Poncan in Ponca City, OK. All of these still stand & sound quite similar to the Granada in Plainview, TX.
The Granada most definitely was an atmospheric. There were softly twinkling “stars” in the ceiling, but I don’t recall the drifting “clouds” that some atmospherics displayed. The auditorium was decorated to suggest a Spanish courtyard, with ivy climbing the walls and shawls draped over the balcony railings. What I remember most vividly, however, is that there was a fountain in a niche on each side of the auditorium. We kids learned to avoid sitting near them, because the sound of the dripping water sent us running to the restroom throughout the movie.