Picture a produce warehouse where this 1930 theater now rises, still hosting Broadway shows and film festivals. This is one of the city's most well-known landmarks and a National Historic Building of Significance. Inside are the 2,050-seat Kendall Kidd Performance Hall and the intimate 200-seat Philanthropy Theatre; both stages host Broadway productions, musical concerts, individual performers, and the annual Plaza Classic Film Festival.
Before the Plaza rose here, a large produce warehouse belonging to Bernard and Ben Schuster occupied this location on Pioneer Plaza. In February 1927 Louis L. Dent, the owner of El Paso's principal theaters, bought the property and told the El Paso Times, "El Paso has been good to me, and I am going to put something everybody will be proud of. Construction of the Spanish Colonial Revival Plaza Theater began in 1929, and its design came from Dallas architect W. Scott Dunne, credited with more than 30 theaters in Texas and Oklahoma.
Feel the city's layers here: a neighborhood of commerce turned to performance, a 1930 theater still alive with shows. Notice the Spanish Colonial Revival façade and the stretch of Pioneer Plaza that still carries Louis Dent's promise to this city.