Overview

The Gran Cinema Teatro Elizondo opened in September 1945 with Maria Felix starring in Doña Bárbara . The planned opening film was Loretta Young & Alan Ladd in China  however the print didn’t arrive at the theatre in time.

The 1,792-seat Cine Elizondo was designed by architect Arturo Oliver Cedeno with the exterior designed in an Art Deco style. Seating was provided on two levels (orchestra / main floor and balcony), and the auditorium was decorated in an elaborate Indo-Chinese style, the work of interior designer Don Jesus Diaz Jimenez who collaborated with the artist Pedro Martinez. The auditorium featured sculptures of dragons, nymphs, and Buddhas, all highlighted with curtains of red silk.

The theatre closed in 1978 and was demolished in 1982. The site is now the Fountain of Neptune in the Macroplaza, the largest public square in Latin America.

Information in part sourced from Cinema Treasures .