San Antonio Theatres:
Now & Then
Now & Then
Past & Present
The photograph above is from the Paul Adair collection and also by permission from San Antonio Theatres History Website.
Double click on the Photo album below to see a slide show.
Palace Theatre was located at 325 Alamo Plaza, across from the Alamo. It was opened on March 3, 1923 to much fanfare. Ransom & Silsbee, built the theatre and leased it to Louis Santikos who was the first General Manager and became the owner. He ran the theatre from 1923 until 1930 when it was bought by Hoblitzel's Interstate Theatre Circuit. Interstate ran the theatre until the 1940's. The theatre closed its doors in 1954. One of the theatre's main attraction was a tunnel that ran from Alamo Plaza to the street behind the theatre. You can see the tunnel in the slide show to the right.
The above two pictures were taken by Gary Yantis in the late 80's when the arcade was rediscovered. In the first photo the picture is the construction work around the arcade. In the second photo, it is a distant photo and the hole in the wall behind the tree is where the first photo was made.
Note that the first photo is the same view as Paul Adair's photo in the upper right.
Note in the above photograph, the building is the same as the pictures above in the eighties. The opening behind the tree was actually a retail store, next to the arcade entrance. When they were excavating the retail shop they discovered the arcade next door. That couldn't be seen from the street, thus the confusion.
A close-up view from space. The large building in the triangle was probably the Palace Theatre and a small building connecting it was probably the arcade.
