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                                                                  H.R. No. 1112



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, Constructed in 1930, the Plaza Theatre in El Paso is 
an exceptional example of an atmospheric movie palace in the United 
States; and
	WHEREAS, Embodying the distinctive, illusion-producing 
characteristics of movie theater architecture during the 1930s, the 
theater meets the criteria of Nationally Significant established by 
the National Register of Historic Places; and
	WHEREAS, Located in a major metropolitan center on the United 
States-Mexico border and articulated in a Spanish colonial revival 
style, the Plaza Theatre also embodies the unique binational, 
bicultural, and bilingual identity of the borderlands region of the 
Southwest; and
	WHEREAS, Constructed at the apex of a period of tremendous 
economic and population growth in the Southwest, the theater is 
associated with broad patterns in the history of this part of the 
country, specifically the development of El Paso as an important 
commercial and cultural center for the region and the blending of 
Anglo and Hispanic peoples and cultures that has characterized the 
borderlands region over the history of its settlement; and
	WHEREAS, Among the many distinctions touted on opening night, 
September 12, 1930, the Plaza was the largest movie theater west of 
Dallas, it had the first refrigerated drinking water system in a 
public building in the United States, it was one of only six 
theaters in the Southwest to feature a Brenograph, a machine that 
could project stationary or moving color effects onto the screen or 
across the proscenium, it was the first to employ a telecheck 
system, an in-house communication system linking the box office to 
the ushers at various levels in the auditorium, and its organ, a 
Balaban III, was one of only six produced by the Wurlitzer Company 
and is one of only two that still exist today; and
	WHEREAS, The significance of the Plaza Theatre is its 
outstanding architectural value as an intact atmospheric movie 
palace, combined inextricably with its direct association with the 
events of a key period of development in the Southwestern region of 
the United States; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th Texas 
Legislature hereby recognize the Plaza Theatre in El Paso as a 
treasure of Texas history within the context of movie theater 
architecture and development in the United States.

                                                               Moreno of El Paso

                                                  ______________________________
                                                       Speaker of the House     

	I certify that H.R. No. 1112 was adopted by the House on May 
23, 2003, by a non-record vote.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                     Chief Clerk of the House