Eastwood Theatre

4537 Leeland Street,
Houston, TX 77023

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.

Architects: W. Scott Dunne

Styles: Art Deco

Nearby Theaters

Eastwood Theater in Houston Tx

Opened on March 6, 1936 with Miriam Hopkins in “Barbary Coast”. The 1,100-seat Eastwood Theatre was located in the East End area of Houston. A deluxe neighborhood theatre modeled after the Tower Theatre, Delman Theatre and North Main Theatre- all deluxe suburban theatres built by Interstate Theatres Inc.

As a young teen, I could walk to the Eastwood Theatre and for 9 cents spend the day and loose myself in this very popular gathering place.

In fact when I was in high school, I worked part time as an usher………

Contributed by Stan Gilmore

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

EnnisCAdkins
EnnisCAdkins on July 7, 2009 at 3:08 pm

You are correct. The Eastwood was almost a carbon copy of the Tower Theater which was located on the west side of Houston. Both theaters opened around the same time and were operated by Interstate Circuit Inc. out of Dallas. The Eastwood closed it’s doors and was dismantled in December 1960. This beautiful art deco theater didn’t last 25 years….and again the people of Houston did nothing to try and save it. What a waste.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 7, 2009 at 3:58 pm

This item was in the San Antonio Light in November 1938:

Changes in the management of two Interstate theaters in San Antonio had been announced Saturday, with departure of Maurice Gleaves, Empire theater manager, to Houston. Buddy Welker, uptown theater manager, will replace Gleaves as the Empire manager, Interstate officials said, and Russell Rindy, of Houston, will become manager of the Uptown. Gleaves will take charge of the Eastwood theater in Houston.

sepiatone
sepiatone on October 5, 2009 at 4:19 pm

The Eastwood opened at 7:30 p.m. on March 6, 1936. The premier feature was “Barbary Coast” with Miriam Hopkins, Edward G. Robinson, and Joel McCrea.

GESkelton
GESkelton on April 26, 2010 at 8:59 pm

My Mother, Natalie Skelton, worked at the Eastwood in th 1940’s. My Father, Howard Skelton was working at the Majestic. I have the original Interstate photo of the Eastwood, when the online phot comes online.

jefferyintexas
jefferyintexas on February 17, 2012 at 9:17 am

I cannot find the “original Interstate photo” of the Eastwood theater mentioned by GE Skelton. I must admit I am new to this site so any help, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated. Kudos also to Kencmcintyre and Sepiatone on all their comments!!! Is there a central place to answers to each of my many questions or do I need to go back to each individual posting to find comments related to that particular question? Thanks, again for your help.

Is it permissible or even possilbe to email members directly with questions? If so, how do I go about it.

jefferyintexas
jefferyintexas on February 17, 2012 at 12:01 pm

Mr. EnnisCAdkins, Greetings from Houston, Tx. I really enjoyed your comments and memories from your days in Houston. I sadly agree with you about the “powers that be” in Houston for letting the old movie theaters go by the wayside. I’m sure it is like everything else in the world…“economics”…just wish I could go around buying up all the old theaters! Hey, maybe Warren Buffett [sp?] !!!!!!

jefferyintexas
jefferyintexas on February 18, 2012 at 3:16 pm

I wonder if any of you folks who post here regularly[Lostmemory, sepitone, chuck1231, TL SLOWES, et al…] are from the Greater Houston, Tx area?

Thanks to you folks, I have also just discoverd Flicker and all the possibilities provided there for taking me back down memory lane!

I realize that one might be reluctant to post an email address here, but if would, I would love to contact you regarding the old theaters, school buildings and other Houston area pictures.

Thanks,
Jeff in Texas

rogerscorpion
rogerscorpion on July 8, 2015 at 1:08 am

Jeffrey, it isn’t just ‘economics’(greed). It is because Houston has some of the most LAX preservation laws in the nation. San Antonio has some of the strongest. They have a refurbished theatre, The Majestic, in downtown, which has been converted into a live performance venue. Houston, though, couldn’t do that. We demolished our grand movie palaces in the early 80’s, to build more office space!

rivest266
rivest266 on November 23, 2020 at 12:34 pm

Opened on March 6th, 1936. Grand opening ad posted.

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