SAN ANTONIO (AP) - To someone walking up West Houston Street, the art deco Alameda Theater - with its soaring, 86-foot marquee - looks pretty much as show business entrepreneur Gaetano “Tano” Lucchese envisioned it when the theater opened in 1949 as the largest Spanish-language movie and vaudeville palace in the country. But that’s just the façade, which was restored in 2000, a positive step on a long, often rocky road to reopen the historic theater. Inside, the heart of what was once “little Mexico” shows the signs of more than two decades of neglect. It’s dark and dusty, crammed full of old furniture. That could change as quickly as next year if Ernest Bromley’s vision for the Alameda becomes reality.
An important step in the restoration process has just been taken: the completion of backstage improvements this month.
“This is a sacred place,” said Bromley, the San Antonio advertising executive who is chairman of Alameda Theater Inc., a nonprofit organization that is the master leaseholder on the Alameda, city property since 1994. “All the great artists of the Mexican golden age - Pedro Infante, Maria Felix, Vicente Fernandez - performed here. Cantinflas performed here 11 times. This was little Mexico - shopping, dining, theater row.
“Right here you had KCOR radio, the first Mexican American Chamber of Commerce in the country and the Mexican Consulate. Gus Garcia, the civil rights litigator, had his offices here. The building was built with Mexican steel. It was a hotbed for the Spanish-speaking world. Tano was not a political activist, but what he did with his money was activism.”
The initial phase of transforming the dormant theater into a modern performing arts space reached completion this month, the San Antonio Express-News (https://bit.ly/1iaGYRW) reported.
Behind the scenes, workers busted out the back wall to double the size of the stage and install a modern stagehouse with the infrastructure to host everything from touring Broadway productions to standup comics.
“Our intent is to restore this theater pretty much the way it was - but to modernize it and make it flexible enough for television, theater, dance, concerts, opera and comedy,” said San Antonio architect Kellis Almond, who specializes in the restoration of old theaters and has worked for years on the Alameda.
Designed by architect N. Straus Nayfach, who was best known for his homes in the Monticello Park Historic District, the Alameda “has been called one of the finest examples of Mexican-American architecture in the United States,” Almond said.
Funded with $6 million in Bexar County venue tax bonds and $1.1 million in city funding, the $7.1 million first phase of a planned $25 million renovation includes dressing rooms, offices, an orchestra pit and a loading dock capable of accommodating a 53-foot tractor/trailer full of sets, props and equipment.
“I’d love to see productions like (the Tony Award-winning musical) ’In the Heights’ in there or groups like Ballet Hispanico out of New York,” Bromley said. “I’d like to see comedy in there, particularly Latino comics. I’d like to screen movies as well, classic Mexican movies that may have premiered at the Alameda back in the day. I’d like to host an international film festival. And I’d like to see us rent to local groups; I’ve talked to Jump-Start Performance Co. and Arts San Antonio.
“I don’t see us producing content initially because that’s too expensive,” he added. “But I do see the Alameda growing our creative economy in terms of utilizing local talent. And with the school there, it will create careers for young people.”
Last year, the Henry Ford Academy: Alameda School for Art + Design moved into the theater complex, occupying two floors of the iconic Casa de Mexico International Building, which houses the theater. The tuition-free charter school signed a 10-year lease.
“The Alameda has such a tradition, particularly relative to the Hispanic community and to that part of the city,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who was mayor when the city purchased the theater in 1994. “Trying to get the doors back open has been a long, complicated process over 20 years. (The county has) done our part with the backstage area, and the school is in there. So it’s being used. But it’s got a ways to go. The issue now is to raise additional funds.”
Bromley hopes to take advantage of public TIRZ, or Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, funding that could generate $10 million. But he has to raise matching funds for future renovations.
Phase II ($7 million) includes mechanical and electrical for a fully functioning stagehouse and a finished intermission lobby space with a new concession stand. Phase III ($7 million) includes the completion of the restoration of the theater’s famous murals, heating and air-conditioning, concession areas and toilets, carpet, lighting and technical platforms, and new seating.
“We’re going to use wider seating with more legroom, so capacity will actually go down from 2,500 to 2,000,” Bromley said.
Completion of theatrical stage lighting and a digital sound system is at the heart of the final phase ($4 million), which also will see the restoration of the lobby and mezzanine.
But Bromley said he’s raised only about $50,000, mostly from poster sales of artist Jesse Trevino’s iconic painting of the Alameda. He’s also set up a seat sponsorship plan but is awaiting a decision on downtown TIRZ funding.
“It’s real slow,” Bromley said of fundraising. “What I need are major gifts from individuals and foundations, but a lot of people I’m talking to want to be a part of this match.”
Lori Houston, Center City Development & Operations director, said the city will make a decision on TIRZ funding soon.
“The city is supportive of the project,” she wrote in an email, “and is working with the county on a potential funding plan. The city will present an item to the Houston Street TIRZ in the next two months.”
Bromley remains optimistic. He’ll continue “pushing” to open the theater in 2015 with a variety show “that is a smorgasbord of what this theater is capable of doing.” A member of the Public Broadcasting System board, he plans to approach public television for opening night funding and a possible live broadcast.
In the long history of the Alameda Theater’s restoration, which includes a break with one-time sister entity the Museo Alameda in Market Square, more than one opening date has been projected only to pass with the doors still closed.
Is it the Alameda’s time, finally? Securing the backstage is a positive step, Almond said.
Bromley’s passion for the Alameda restoration is palpable. His first visit there at age 11 “left an indelible impression,” he said.
“This place is very special to me and my family,” he added.
Today, his first stop with visitors - and potential funding sources - is the ladies room, an opulent example of modern design where women used to being segregated to the balcony in other theaters could comb their hair, touch up their makeup and sneak a smoke.
“The Alameda,” Bromley said, “is uniquely San Antonio. It tells our Mexican-American story. It personifies who we are.”
___
Information from: San Antonio Express-News, https://www.mysanantonio.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.