Iconic Montrose theater dormant once again
When Tex-Mex restaurant El Real abruptly shut its doors for good last Sunday, it came as a shock to some Houstonians who’d spent years dining in at the Montrose mainstay.
But to those who’ve grown up with the venue, similar changes stretch back to the late 1970s, when a once great movie theater was sold; a series of new tenants would occupy the iconic storefront.
That empty, locked building — the future of which is again up in the air — is a far cry from Valentine’s Day 1936, when Montrose’s love letter to cinema was born.
The grand opening was something straight out
of old Hollywood: Spotlights shot up straight into the sky while an orchestra rang in the all-new, neon-lit Tower Theatre, a 1,200-seat neighborhood cinema at Westheimer and Waugh.
Inside, then-Mayor Oscar Holcombe dedicated the site ahead of the theater’s first film, “The Barbary Coast,” starring Miriam Hopkins and Edward G. Robinson.
That was the scene described in author David Welling’s book “Cinema Houston,” and more than 60 years after its debut, though the Tower Theatre facade stuck around, little else remains.
The building has hosted awards ceremonies, a nightclub and a video store. It’s hosted plays, musical acts such as Tori Amos and the Pretenders, and at least one magician. Outside, slots for film posters adorn the walls, near where a ticket booth once stood. Inside, what used to be a projection booth forms a mezzanine with tables and, until recently, a movie screen occasionally played old films as patrons ate queso and fajitas.
But as the city changes, so, too, do its storefronts. And El Real is just the latest to come and go through those Westheimer doors.
“I love that building,” said Bryan Caswell, chef and coowner of El Real and Reef. “I grew up in the area, I went to grade school right down the street at St. Anne’s.
“It was just like the hub of the neighborhood I loved so much for so many years,” he said.
‘Wholesome entertainment’
A member of Karl Hoblitzelle’s Interstate theater chain, the Tower Theatre served Houston cinephiles for more than 40 years before shutting down. It was the second Interstate theater in Houston, after the North Main Theatre at 3730 N. Main. They were the first in long a line, with Hoblitzelle opening a theater every year between 1938 and 1942, Welling says on his Cinema Houston website.
“Each of his theatres strove to offer the best in wholesome entertainment, in an atmosphere of clean, safe comfort, and in the process, brought respectability to motion picture entertainment,” Welling says.
As the years passed, the Tower attempted to adapt with the times. With the 1955 premiere of “Oklahoma!”, the theater switched to widescreen, installing a curtain stretching from wall to wall. Later, as sales began to drop, its owners installed Sensurround speakers to correspond with the release of the 1974 film “Earthquake.”
But like so many other theaters, the Tower couldn’t sustain through hard times. It finally closed on Aug. 24, 1978, with “Jaws II” as its final feature, according to Welling.
“The sad fact is that most all of the historic theatres that the city once possessed are now gone,” Welling writes. “While a few still stand, they are mostly abandoned buildings that have long since been used to run a motion picture.”
The new Tower expanded its offerings to live events, such as concerts and plays. Its first show under new ownership was a November 1978 concert by Philip Glass, and it showcased a string of performances including “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” along with concerts from the Mamas and the Papas. This version of the venue lasted through the early 1990s, when it briefly went through a phase as a nightclub.
But the new Tower also found it difficult to adapt to the changing times. And so in 1995, after a $1.4 million sale, retail homevideo-rental store Hollywood Video took over the space, swapping the bright “TOWER” lights outside with a new neon marquee — “HOLLYWOOD” — and largely ripping up the building’s original interior.
“That was really frustrating,” said David Bush, the executive director of Preservation Houston. “Why would you have to gut it? You’re Hollywood Video, keep it like a theater! But they didn’t see it that way.”
The building has been on Bush’s radar for years, and Preservation Houston was relieved when, in 2010, El Real moved in and the facade was restored. The distinctive art deco design is a rarity, Bush said, because the neon lighting is both still intact and largely working.
On Tuesday, Preservation Houston reached out to the city, which confirmed that the Tower's facade likely met the criteria for landmark designation. But the property's owner is responsible for initiating the landmark-nomination process, Bush said. Then, Houston's Archaeological and Historical Commission and city council would have to sign off — an unprecedented move, Bush added.
Bush’s hope is that the Texas Historical Commission determines the facade is significant enough to qualify for the state’s preservation incentives, which are tax credits that can cover up to 25 percent of “qualified expenses.” That would include its tower, marquee, neon, front wall design and poster frames, he said.
“Whether it’s new owners or a new tenant, we hope they recognize the facade as an asset that gives them a unique and very visible presence,” Bush said. “It’s a landmark in the truest sense of the word — it can be seen from either direction and attracts attention to the building, which is what it was designed to do.”
‘Old-school’
By the time El Real took over the space in 2010, it needed “quite a bit of work,” Caswell said. But after spending some time on it, he and his partners realized there was a lot to cherish: Behind a drop ceiling sat a hidden nook on the building’s second story; a hidden door led to the building’s former concession stand. Original wood floors lay just underneath the surface.
The building’s owner, Beeson Properties, put in significant work as well, pouring money into restoring the iconic sign that still stands today.
“That’s one of the reasons we wanted the space so badly,” Caswell said. “It just kind of brought back to me that kind of old-school town square, where the theater and the restaurant were kind of the hubs.”
Developer John Beeson, who was out of the country until Monday morning, when the news of El Real’s closure first broke, said he didn’t know the future of the building. But for now, at least, the theater’s facade will remain.
“I need to go do some work on it, for sure,” Beeson said, adding, “There are other tenants in the center, so you don’t get to demo it.”
There have already been calls about the property, though he isn’t sure whether any of them would lead to serious lease offers. And he has no intention of selling it.
“It’s been a good property,” Beeson said. “And we don’t build high-rises.”