Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz
320 E. 6th Street,
Austin,
TX
78701
320 E. 6th Street,
Austin,
TX
78701
7 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas
Architects: Hugo Kuehne, Richard Weiss
Firms: Weiss Architecture
Previous Names: Ritz Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Aug 18, 2012 — Alamo Drafthouse's Ritz Theater installs 70mm equipment and announces 70mm festival
- Nov 7, 2007 — Ritz Theater opens for business
The Ritz Theatre was opened October 13, 1929 with Bert Lytell in “The Lone Wolf’s Daughter” and was independently operated by Jay J. Hegman. In July 1937 it was expanded into already existing space to the plans of architect Hugo Kuehne, which increased the seating capacity to 800. The Ritz Theatre operated through to beyond 1950. In the early-1970’s it was operating as an adult theatre. New operators took over in 1974 and it played a mix of movies, live theatre and live music. A local theatre group Centre Stage called the Ritz Theatre their home for a while.
The former Ritz Theatre reopened on November 1, 2007 after extensive renovations to the plans of architectural firm Weiss Architecture. Quentin Tarantino was on hand for its debut as the newest star in the Alamo Drafthouse circuit. It was closed on March 16, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas declared bankruptcy on March 3, 2021 and announced the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz would be closed permanently.
Contributed by
Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
On March 30th and 31st, the Ritz theater will present An Audience of One, a hilarious, yet chilling documentary from Mike Jacobs. It looks into the life of a pentacostal minister and his dreams of making a big budget multi-million dollar film. It’s an amazing look into faith and how far it can drive people, and is worth watching.
There is a very good wiki page about the Ritz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritz(Austin,Texas))
Very nice I like it.
70mm engagement of “The Master” confirmed
Here is a press release announcing the installation of 70mm projectors at this theater and of an upcoming 70mm festival. Bravo!
anyone know what the dimensions of screen #1 is? The 70mm projector is being used (obviously) for the upcoming run of ‘Interstellar’
Very nice theater and screen
This one originally opened on October 13, 1929.
October 13th, 1929 grand opening ad:
Ritz theatre opening · Sun, Oct 13, 1929 – 22 · Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas) · Newspapers.com
Alamo Drafthouse declared bankruptcy and announced permanent closure of three locations on March 3, 2021. The flagship Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz was sadly on that list and was joined by the New Braunfels Alamo Drafthouse Market Place and Kansas City’s venerable Mainstreet Theatre.