Fresno fights church over preservation. What is the status of its other historic theaters?

Fresno’s historic theaters have been pulled into the community conversation in recent months.

First, there was the on-and-off-again sale of the iconic Tower Theatre, which spawned several legal battles, some national commentary, and continuing Sunday morning protests.

Theater operations continued, however, with a Roy Orbison tribute playing on Saturday.

Then, there was the Hardy’s Theatre, which just his week became the target of the city’s code enforcement and planning and historic preservation commissions after it was discovered the owner had gutted much of the building’s interior without any oversight or even proper permitting.

All of this begs the question, what is the status of Fresno’s other historic theaters?

Azteca Theatre

Built on F street in Chinatown in 1948, the Azteca Theater is one of three Fresno theaters listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally used as a Spanish-language movie house, with a focus on Mexican films. Until it closed in 1980, it was the only such venue in town and brought in a “steady diet of films made during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.”

It also featured personal appearances from Mexican film stars.

The building was vacant through much of the 1980s and 1990s, and efforts to restore the theater have been happening since the early 2000s. As recently as 2019, the venue was being used as a music venue.

There’s a rap concert slated there on Sept. 4, according to the theater’s Facebook page

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Crest Theatre

The Crest Theatre could be Fresno’s most iconic.

Built in 1949 and operated by Fox West Coast Theatres, the art deco building sits on Fresno Street just off the old Fulton Mall. It is somewhat less visible than the Tower Theatre, despite a fifty-foot-tall sign, which represents “some of the most elaborate examples of commercial neon work in Fresno.”

The one-time movie house had been leased to a church for several years but returned to a performance venue in the 2000s and hosted many concerts, including Rob Zombie in 2011.

Pre-pandemic, the theater was known for showing classic and cult films.

Warnor’s Theatre

The Warnors Theatre (or Warner’s Theatre, or Pantages) could arguably be the most significant of Fresno’s remaining historic theaters. Especially for music fans.

It opened in 1928 as the Pantages Theatre hosting vaudeville acts and equipped with a (still functioning) one-of-a-kind Robert Morton pipe organ. A year later, the theater was sold to Warner Brothers and became the company’s second motion picture theater on the entire west coast.

The Warnor’s changed its name in 1960, replacing the E with an O.

The building was saved from becoming a parking lot by the Caglia family in the 1970s and found a niche as a serious concert venue. It hosted shows both inside the theater proper and at a smaller venue on the second floor. During its heyday, the theater hosted everyone from AC/DC and a young R.E.M. to Miles Davis and the Clash. In 2018, the theater hosted a three-night reunion for Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

The theater currently operates as a nonprofit performing arts organization.

It recently expanded its board of directors and is working to reopen the complex’s three live venues — the theater, Frank’s Place, and the Star Palace. Frank’s Place was open with live music for August’s Art Hop event on Thursday.

The rest of the complex, which takes up a full block at Fulton and Tuolumne, leases space to several hip retailers, including Root, Scraps, and Fulton Street Coffee.

Wilson Theatre

Located just down the block at Fulton and Stanislaus, the Wilson Theatre also had a run as a popular music venue, though it operated as a movie house for most of its life and is now a church.

It also opened as a vaudeville house in 1926 and first became a movie theater — Fox Wilson Theatre — in 1932.

It operated as such until the 1970s.

The venue was used for live music for a chunk of the early to mid-’90s, hosting mostly rock and metals bands like Danzig, Pantera, and Tool. The latter performed the theater’s final concert in 1996.

The theater was taken over by Cornerstone Church, which uses the space for weekly services and other events. The church has been good steward to the theater’s historic markings, including the lighted marquee.

This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 2:20 PM.