The Deluxe Theater continuing to preserve Houston’s black history

HOUSTON – The Deluxe Theater opened it’s doors in April 1941 as one of Houston’s premiere movie theaters for blacks and has since been a significant treasure in the 5th ward.

The DeLuxe Theater is located at 3303 Lyons Avenue in the heart of Houston’s Fifth Ward. The Streamline Moderne structure joined the Roxy and Palace Theaters to provide neighborhood motion picture entertainment. In the early 20th-century, the 3300 block of Lyons Avenue was predominantly residential with a smattering of small commercial enterprises such as a blacksmith shop and drug stores.

After the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, the days of segregated movie theaters came to an end and the DeLuxe closed in 1969. In 1998, the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation purchased the theater (3301 Lyons) and adjacent furniture store (3305 Lyons) and began a master plan to reutilize the DeLuxe Theater as a community performing and visual arts facility. The DeLuxe will certainly offer educational programming and performance space for TSU.

To find out more about the theater and their programming, just click here.