Alameda Theater

The Alameda Theater features a Spanish Colonial Revival facade with a sprawling, intricate marquee that stretches across the sidewalk. When it opened in nineteen forty-nine, it served as the largest theater in the nation dedicated to Spanish-language films and variety shows. The owner, Grocer Kiva Hennes, specifically built it to provide a stage for Mexican and Mexican-American performers who struggled to find venues elsewhere. It remains a massive, terracotta-trimmed shell waiting for the city to finish its long-delayed restoration.