Pastime Theater
2514 McKinney Street,
Houston,
TX
77003
2514 McKinney Street,
Houston,
TX
77003
1 person
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The Pastime Theater opened in 1916 with 500-seats, and it appears to have been a small neighborhood theater catering to an African-American audience. When sound equipement was installed it reduced its seating capacity to 300-seats. It was closed in 1954 and became an office furniture store.
A Vietnamese food service business has been housed in the building in recent years, so the interior may have been gutted for that purpose.
Contributed by
Bob Machann
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
AKA:
BEACON
Open ~1923-~1969? Can anyone verify the exact dates?
This was an Afro-American Theater.
From 1964-1969 was owned by M.M. Lewis Theaters.
Need more info and photos.
H.A Gion opened the second Pastime Theatre in Houston in 1916. This shouldn’t be confused with Abraham Schulman’s Pastime Theatre at 209 Main (1911-1916 for Schulman and, prior, as the Royal Theatre from 1910 into 1911) that was part of the Schulman’s entry as a major Texas movie theater circuit. However, that building’s signage and namesake were moved to this new location when Schulman moved on from that early downtown silent venue in 1916.
The East End, McKinney Street-based Pastime Theatre operation served African American audiences and had 500 seats in its silent era operation. It transitioned to the sound era reducing seating count to 300 likely reducing partial view seating due to support beams and an added concession stand.
But the Pastime was outmaneuvered by superior African American theaters which had the seat count to host bigger movies and occasional live acts. The Pastime discontinued ads during the War and was converted to an office furniture store in 1954. A generous end date of 1951 is encouraged likely around an initial 10-year lease and a subsequent 25-year lease. The building still stood in the 2020s still having resemblance to an early cinema.