Roxy Theatre
Holbrook, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Roxy Theatre brings a little movie-night glow to Route 66 in Holbrook. Its street-facing marquee welcomes moviegoers right off Hopi Drive, keeping that familiar small-town theatre look along the Mother Road. First-run movies were still on the bill when this photo was taken. 11-05
The current Roxy opened in 1954 after an earlier theatre of the same name burned down. It closed in 1994 and sat dark for nearly a decade before reopening in 2003. Fortunately, this old movie house got another chance rather than becoming an empty storefront.
UPDATE: The Roxy remains open, showing new releases with modern digital projection and sound. Its historic marquee survives, so travelers can still trade a stretch of Route 66 pavement for a seat, some popcorn and a couple of hours at the movies. 09-26
Eloy Theatre (Demolished)
Eloy, AZ Photo courtesy Gorb70
The Eloy Theatre once brought a night at the movies to Main Street in this Arizona farming community. Also known as the Dust Bowl Theatre, its name recalled the migrant families who came west to work the surrounding cotton fields. Opening dates vary between 1939 and the early 1940s. 03-06
The theatre closed in 1989. By the time of the original update, a pastor from the nearby Apostolic Assembly church had plans to turn the old movie house into a cafe or gathering place. Later proposals envisioned restoring it as part of a community arts center, but none brought the theatre back into regular use.
UPDATE: The city purchased the property in 2011, but restoration costs ultimately proved too high. The Eloy Theatre was demolished in May 2024, along with the neighboring former Veterans Center. Its marquee and exterior signs are gone as well. 09-26
Carmen Theatre (Closed)
Tucson, AZ Photo courtesy Gorb70
The Carmen Theatre, better known as Teatro Carmen, looks a little different from the neon-covered movie houses found elsewhere in Tucson. Its mission-style facade and thick adobe walls fit right into the old streets of Barrio Viejo. No towering blade sign needed here. The building itself makes you stop and take a closer look. 02-07
Carmen Soto de Vásquez founded the theatre, which opened on May 20, 1915. Its first production was Cerebro y Corazón, or “Brain and Heart,” by Mexican playwright Teresa Farías de Isassi. Rather than simply showing Spanish-themed entertainment, Teatro Carmen became an important stage for Spanish-language theatre and Tucson’s Mexican cultural life.
Carmen Theatre
Tucson, AZ Photo courtesy Gorb70
Traveling companies brought performers such as Virginia Fábregas and María Teresa Montoya to the stage. Silent films eventually joined the program, and the building later took on an assortment of other jobs, including a ballroom, boxing venue, garage and African-American Elks lodge. Quite a career for one old adobe theatre.
UPDATE: Teatro Carmen is undergoing phased restoration, with plans for a performing-arts venue and restaurant. Preservation work has included reopening the historic facade arches, and special community programming has begun ahead of a full reopening. The old theatre is preparing for another turn in the spotlight. 09-26
Rialto Theatre
Tucson, TX Photo courtesy Gorb70
The Rialto Theatre marquee brings a familiar glow to Congress Street in downtown Tucson, Arizona. Across from Hotel Congress, the old theatre has watched plenty of changes roll through the neighborhood since opening on August 29, 1920, with the silent Western The Toll Gate. 03-07
Movies and vaudeville once shared the bill here. The Rialto later became the Paramount Theatre, then El Cine Plaza, showing Spanish-language films during the 1970s. After closing in 1984 and spending time as storage space, the building eventually found another audience through live music. Quite a few acts for one old theatre.
UPDATE: The Rialto remains open as a concert and performance venue operated by the nonprofit Rialto Theatre Foundation. Its restored neon marquee continues to welcome crowds along Congress Street, keeping the old movie house in the middle of the downtown action. 09-26
Fox Theatre
Tucson, AZ Photo courtesy Gorb70
The Fox Theatre brings a little movie-palace style to Congress Street in downtown Tucson. Its vertical neon sign and broad marquee make the entrance hard to miss, while the interior offers an unusual Southwestern take on Art Deco. This old Fox has more than a few desert touches beneath its roof. 04-07
Opened on April 11, 1930, the theatre welcomed movies and live entertainment with a celebration that spilled into the street. Congress Street was even waxed for dancing. After closing in 1974, the building spent roughly 25 years dark before a six-year restoration brought it back to life.
UPDATE: The Fox reopened on New Year’s Eve in 2005 and remains a venue for films, concerts and live performances. Its restored neon sign and marquee continue to light up Congress Street. 09-26
The Loft Cinema
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Loft Cinema marquee is a familiar sight along Tucson’s Speedway Boulevard, advertising films that do not always turn up at the neighborhood multiplex. The big roadside display has plenty of old-fashioned theatre personality, even if the movies beneath it are anything but predictable. 06-23
The Loft’s story began near the University of Arizona, where it opened as an art-film theatre in 1965. A period of adult-film screenings followed before Nancy Sher returned it to art-house programming in 1972 under the name New Loft Cinema. That chapter became the foundation for the independent cinema Tucson audiences know today.
The theatre moved to Speedway in 1991, taking over the former Showcase Cinema, which had opened in 1969. Its original Fremont Avenue building survived a few more years before the university demolished it in 1997 for a parking garage. So the move came before the bulldozers, not after.
The Loft Cinema was a soft porn theater. After the theater and other buildings in the complex were demolished to make way for a parking lot by the University of Arizona, the Loft reopened in the old Showcase Cinema building on E. Speedway. 06-23
The Loft Cinema
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Along the way, the Loft became a gathering place for film fans, with foreign films, documentaries, filmmaker appearances and midnight screenings. Its longtime association with The Rocky Horror Picture Show added another kind of audience participation. Not every movie theatre needs room for the Time Warp.
UPDATE: The Loft remains open as a nonprofit cinema, following its purchase by the Tucson Cinema Foundation in 2002. The Speedway location has expanded over the years, while its familiar marquee continues to announce another assortment of films along the roadside. 09-26
Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre brings a little movie-night glow to Route 66 in Holbrook. Its street-facing marquee welcomes moviegoers right off Hopi Drive, keeping that familiar small-town theatre look along the Mother Road. First-run movies were still on the bill when this photo was taken. 11-05
Eloy Theatre (Demolished)
Carmen Theatre (Closed)
Carmen Theatre
Rialto Theatre
The Loft Cinema
The Loft Cinema
