{"id":143547,"date":"2025-11-19T20:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/143547\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T20:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:30:10","slug":"paramount-theater-to-close-for-historic-renovations-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/143547\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount theater to close for historic renovations in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Paramount Theatre launched a campaign Wednesday to raise money for the restoration of the 110-year-old building and a reimagining of the State Theatre next door. <\/p>\n

“We want to preserve and protect and build both of these theaters \u2014 the State Theatre and the Paramount Theatre \u2014 for the next 100 years,” Jim Ritts, CEO of the Austin Theatre Alliance, said during a news conference announcing the Shine On campaign. “And how are we going to do that? Very simply: We’re going to restore the Paramount Theatre to its gorgeosity \u2014 it’s a perfect word \u2014 of the early 1930s.”<\/p>\n

He said the Paramount project was the first full restoration in almost five decades. <\/p>\n

The plans for the Paramount include: <\/p>\n

Restoration of the interior paint work, plaster molding and chandeliersUpdated and more energy-efficient infrastructure and technologyReplacement of all 1,200 seats Expansion of restrooms and concession stands The creation of a lounge for events envisioned in the original blueprints<\/p>\n

The plans for the State Theatre include:<\/p>\n

A transformation of the interior inspired by the building’s art deco facadeRestoration of the facade and marqueeInstallation of an elevatorUpdated seatingThe creation of a basement speakeasy and rooftop deck Expanded restrooms <\/p>\n

The Austin Theatre Alliance, the nonprofit that operates the venues, set a fundraising goal of $65 million. Community members can donate here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Courtesy of the Paramount Theatre <\/p>\n

A rendering of the third-floor lounge at the Paramount. It will be called JP\u2019s Peace, Love, and Happiness Lounge after donors John Paul & Eloise DeJoria.<\/p>\n

The Paramount is one of only 20 theaters in the U.S. that is more than 100 years old and still operating. It hosts over 500 events each year, including the Moontower Comedy Festival each spring, a Summer Classic Film Series, and premieres during the Austin Film Festival and South by Southwest. It also hosted a handful of ATXplained Live shows. <\/p>\n

The theater opened<\/a> on Congress Avenue as a vaudeville venue in October 1915. The State Theatre, Austin’s first movie house, opened next door 20 years later. The two venues merged in 2000. <\/p>\n

The Paramount will close in June for at least eight months while the renovations take place, the alliance said. Work on the State Theatre is expected to follow and will take 13-16 months to complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Paramount Theatre launched a campaign Wednesday to raise money for the restoration of the 110-year-old building and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[68200,156,96920,157,111,139,69,96917,96918,96919,90836],"class_list":{"0":"post-143547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-historic-theater","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-paramont-theatre","16":"tag-state-theatre","17":"tag-stateside-at-the-paramount","18":"tag-tx"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}