If you’ve ever sat inside the Plaza Theatre and looked up at that fake starlit sky while the Mighty Wurlitzer rose from the orchestra pit, you already know there is no place in El Paso quite like it.
With the Plaza Classic Film Festival returning for its 19th year July 16 to 26, 2026, it felt like the perfect time to revisit the wild, dramatic, almost-didn’t-make-it history of our city’s most iconic landmark.
The Plaza Theater Was Built During The Great Depression
The Plaza Theatre was built in 1929 to 1930, in the midst of the Great Depression. Which is already kind of remarkable if you think about it. While the rest of the country was scraping by, El Paso was about to get one of the most spectacular movie palaces in the American Southwest.
In February 1927, the owner of the principal El Paso theaters, Louis L. Dent, bought the property on Pioneer Plaza with the stated intention of doing something good for the city. Upon purchase, he told the El Paso Times, “El Paso has been good to me, and I am going to put something everybody will be proud of.”
That something became the Plaza Theatre. It was designed by the prolific Dallas architect W. Scott Dunne, who is credited with more than 30 theaters in Texas and Oklahoma. Today the Plaza is recognized as his surviving masterpiece.
Opening Night In El Paso Was A Big Deal
The grand opening of the Plaza Theatre took place on September 12, 1930 with a screening of the romantic musical comedy Follow Thru. Along with the feature film, the audience enjoyed a message from the leading man, Buddy Rogers, a Paramount Sound News newsreel, and a Laurel and Hardy short film.
It was advertised as the “largest theater of its kind between Dallas and Los Angeles.” In El Paso terms, that’s basically saying we had the most impressive building in the whole stretch of the Southwest, and honestly, nobody was arguing.
El Paso’s Original Star Cieling
Victor Barajas
Victor Barajas
The Plaza was designed as an “atmospheric” theater, one that creates the illusion of being at an outdoor stage in an open starlit area. The interior was described by the El Paso Morning Times as reflecting the “fabled beauty of Old Spain and the charm of Old Mexico.” The exterior facade was designed to be reminiscent of a Spanish mission-style parapet, while patrons were awed by the interior, with its intricately painted ceilings, mosaic-tiled floors, decorative metal railings and sconces, and antique furnishings.
And then there’s the Mighty Wurlitzer. One of only six ever made, the organ has 1,071 pipes and can simulate 15 different instruments. It would rise from the orchestra pit before every show. In the 1940s, stars like John Wayne, Randolph Scott, and James Stewart showed up for world premieres at the Plaza.
The National Recognition The Plaza Theater Deserves
El Paso Live Facebook
El Paso Live Facebook
El Paso has always known the Plaza was special. Turns out, the rest of the country figured it out too.
In 1985, the state of Texas declared the Plaza Theatre to be a Historical Landmark. Then came the national nods. The Plaza Theatre was entered in the National Register of Historic Places as a locally significant site in 1987. In 2000, the restoration effort was designated as an official project of Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council. In 2004, the Plaza was upgraded to a site of national significance on that same register.
The Texas Historical Commission didn’t mince words either. Their Chief Architectural Historian Peter Flagg Maxon put it plainly: “We believe the Plaza Theater to be one of the most significant architecturally and historically in the state of Texas.”
And more recently, the Plaza got some recognition that really puts it in perspective. Billboard Magazine recognized the Plaza Theatre as the top venue in Texas in 2025, also ranking it No. 22 in the world among venues with a capacity of 2,500 or less. The Plaza grossed $6 million that year, hosted 75 shows, and drew 97,600 attendees. Not bad for a building that was almost turned into a parking lot.
The Year The Plaza Shut Down
The Plaza closed on May 31, 1974. It was briefly reopened in 1970 and 1980, only to finally close its doors in 1989.
Then things got really bleak. After years of infrequent programming, the Dipp family sought to demolish the Plaza Theatre in order to make way for a parking lot. A parking lot. Nearly 60 years of El Paso history, almost paved over.
Rita Moreno Saved the Day
93rd Annual Academy Awards – Arrivals
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Spurred by a groundswell of community support, the El Paso Community Foundation began negotiations to raise the required $9 million to save the theater from demolition. With only six weeks to raise the funds, fundraising events were held across the community, with the most visible effort being staged by actress Rita Moreno the day before the deadline.
They made it. The Plaza was saved.
The Plaza Theatre was ultimately a $24.2 million gift to the people of El Paso from the El Paso Community Foundation. Built in 1930 and restored to its original splendor in 2006, it was designated as a National Historic Building of Significance.
El Paso Is Home To The World’s Largest Classic Film Festival
The Plaza Classic Film Festival was started by the El Paso Community Foundation in 2008 as a special project to bring movies back to the historic Plaza Theatre. What started as a single event has grown into something El Paso gets to brag about on a global scale.
More than 600,000 people have attended the first 18 Plaza Classics. The festival has an economic impact of $1.5 million annually, with about 20 percent of its audience coming from outside the El Paso/Juárez/Las Cruces radius. The 2025 festival drew guests from more than 100 cities around the country and other parts of the world.
This year’s 19th annual festival runs July 16 to 26, 2026, and it will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Plaza’s reopening after its restoration. If there was ever a year to go, this is it.
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Gallery Credit: Grizz
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