Teatro La Paz

The Rio Theatre complex has been a cultural center in Mission since the completion of the original theater, called Teatro La Paz (Peace Theater), in 1915. Showcasing performing arts, lectures, and films, it was the only theater in Mission that catered to the large Spanish-speaking population. The theater is significant at the local level in the areas of Hispanic ethnic heritage, performing arts, and entertainment /recreation and it is associated with the historic context, Grapefruit's Lone Star Home: The Development Of Mission, Texas. The number of prestigious performers Teatro La Paz attracted is indicative of Mission's growing importance in the Valley as a prospering town and center for commerce from the 1910s through the 1940s. The Spanish language and Mexican culture preserved in the performances and community events suggest the strong role and influence of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the Mission's development. Built by Juan Bautista Barbéra, an immigrant from Spain, the theater showed the most popular Spanish language movies and presented many Mexican performers and influential lecturers. Barbéra later added two other buildings, now the Rio Patio Cafe/Estudios Rio and Joe's Meat Market, to form a business complex that provided an entertainment and community center for the mostly Hispanic, South Mission. The complex is also significant as an outstanding local example of early 20th-century commercial architecture in the city of Mission.

A bricklayer from Spain, Juan Bautista Barbéra arrived in Brownsville in 1905 and moved to Mission in 1912. He purchased Mission City lots #2 and #3 in block 90, from Fred B. Garza and J. B. Maples, respectively, and began construction on Teatro La Paz (Barréra 7: 1981). Barbéra completed Teatro La Paz in 1915 and opened the theater to showcase live performers. He had a large and grateful clientele.

Although Mission was founded by Anglo entrepreneurs and heavily promoted to Midwestern farmers in the 1910s and 1920s, the city quickly attracted Hispanic residents, as well. Some were native-born, descended from early Spanish colonists, but others were recent immigrants fleeing from the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. Many spoke little or no English. Like Barbéra, most of Mission's Spanish-speaking population lived on the city's south side, in neighborhoods that sprang up south of the railroad tracks. Racial segregation in Mission during the first half of the twentieth century was both institutionalized, as in the case of the separate "Mexican" school, and de facto, as evidenced by the cluster of Hispanic businesses that appeared along South Lomita, now Conway, the city's main commercial street. It was in this context that Barbéra built and opened his theater.

Since Mission's early Anglo theaters did not cater to Spanish-language patrons and may have prohibited them from the premises, Hispanic residents, particularly Mexican immigrants, welcomed Barbéra's efforts. His Teatro La Paz quickly became the cultural focal point for Spanish-language arts and entertainment in South Mission and surrounding immigrant communities. During the early years of the theater's operation, traveling companies from Mexico performed Spanish-language plays such as Don Juan Tenorio, La Llorona, and Malditas Sean Las Mujeres. Intellectuals and political figures also lectured from the La Paz stage. Nemecio Garcia Naranjo, an exiled official of General Huerta's regime, spoke at Teatro La Paz on his crusade to convince Mexican-American audiences that Huerta's failed conservative government would have been beneficial to Mexico (The Valley Town Crier 19 Nov 1986). Jose Manrique, another political figure and Governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, also lectured at the theater. When the theater first opened, the Mexican Revolution was still a recent memory in the minds of Mission's citizens and the conflicts on the border had economic and social impacts on both Hispanic and Anglo citizens. The political theme of many productions, including the annual reenactment from the balcony of the "Grito de Dolores" on September 16, Mexican Independence Day, demonstrates the loyalty and ties Hispanic citizens in Mission still felt to Mexico.

In addition to live performances, Juan Barbéra also showed silent films distributed by Unique Film Services in Houston. In 1916, the theater had a 1-horsepower Douglas gas engine, a dynamo, and a 5-kilowatt Edison moving picture machine. The theater also hosted social events to present young ladies of the community at Teatro La Paz, which could seat 250 people (Heller 239: 1994). By 1933, Juan Barbéra had added two buildings on either adjoining side of the theater to expand his businesses. New entertainment at the complex included pool tables and a bowling alley in a storefront addition to the north of the theater. A pharmacy occupied the smaller shop to the south. During the Great Depression, Barbéra's efforts to help the community shifted from entertainment to relief. His son, Miguel remembers the long bowling alley being used to distribute food to poor families (Barrera 3: 1981).

In 1944, Juan Barbéra sold the complex and moved to Laredo, where he retired. The new owner, Enrique Flores Sr., spent several months refurbishing the theater with new chairs and a new curtain and renamed it "El Cine Rio," or Rio Theatre in 1945. Enrique Flores, along with manager Arnaldo Ramirez, continued to bring in live performers and Spanish-language films. The 1940s and 1950s are regarded as the era of "Classical" Mexican film, similar to Hollywood's "golden age" of American movies in the 1930s and 1940s. Films such as Mexico's Macario were shown regularly and American films were also occasionally added to the schedule (Barréra 5: 1981). Ramirez booked numerous singers, dancers, and actors to provide light-hearted family entertainment for the entire community. Favorite entertainers included Joaquin Cordero, a singer and actor, and Ana Berta Lepe, a dancer and singer who also held the title of Miss Mexico. Flores' wife, Carmen, operated a small restaurant and ice cream parlor, named the Rio Cold Spot, in the former pharmacy, now Joe's Meat Market (Muñoz 10/28/98). Enrique Flores Sr., once a farmer and then a grocer, opened a wholesale grocery store in the old bowling alley.

The Rio Theatre provided entertainment for Mission's Spanish-speaking citizens until Enrique Flores Sr. died in 1969 and the theater was temporarily closed. In 1976, his son Enrique Flores, Jr. reopened the complex at Xochil Art Institute. Flores, an art student at Pan American University, and fellow artist Xavier Gorena began showing classic, foreign, and art films in the theater that they restored with grant funding. The Xochil Art Institute became a non-profit organization that supported the theater and Estudios Rio next door in the former bowling alley, a showcase for the Valley's artists. Enrique Flores Jr. died in 1990 and his sister, Carmen Muñoz, and her husband Joe inherited the property. She currently operates a restaurant in the old bowling alley and her husband, Joe Muñoz runs a meat market in the smaller store that was the pharmacy. Mrs. Muñoz shows classic American movies one weekend a month in the Rio Theatre.

Except for the short period in which it was closed, the Teatro La Paz, now the Rio Theatre, has served as a cultural center for Hispanics in South Mission. Through its many transformations, the complex has maintained the original goals of its builder: community entertainment and support for Hispanic arts. Teatro La Paz provided a stage and an eager audience for performing Mexican troupes that traveled up and down the Rio Grande immediately following the Mexican Revolution. The Rio Theatre likewise supported Spanish language productions by showcasing Mexican celebrities and even showing Spanish-language films to local high school students. Xochil Art Institute gave Valley artists a venue in which to exhibit sculptures and paintings in the gallery next to the theater. This unique building complex is a landmark in Mission which has played a large role in the preservation and celebration of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture throughout the history of the city.

The Rio Theatre complex is an important and well-preserved grouping of historic commercial buildings in Mission and is also nominated to the NRHP. The two-story Rio Theater, at the center of the complex and its most imposing visual element, illustrates the enduring nature of vernacular commercial architectural traditions. At first glance, the 1915 Rio Theater appears to be a retail store, not a theater and resembles a common building type erected during the late 19th and very early 20th centuries in small- and medium-sized cities throughout Texas. The Rio Theater has a two-part commercial block massing, segmental-arched second-floor windows, and a stepped parapet, typical elements of this distinctive vernacular form. Upon closer examination, however, the Rio Theater lacks large plate-glass windows, a continuous row of transoms, and a recessed entrance with angled display windows, which are usually found on contemporaneous commercial buildings. The Rio Theater also has a small decorative balcony and a three-part parapet that is much steeper than those typically seen in contemporaneous use on typical vernacular commercial buildings. The adjoining buildings, Patio Cafe and Estudios Rio, and Joe's Meat Market, are intact local examples of early 20th century commercial buildings and display classically inspired architectural detailing with a nod to the area's Spanish Colonial building traditions. It is one of only three surviving historic theaters identified in a 1995 survey of Mission's 1945 city boundaries. Of those, only the Rio Theatre and the Pueblo Revival-style Border Theater (NRHP 1998), remain in operation. It is also Mission's oldest theater, dating to the city's first decade, and the only surviving Spanish-language arts and entertainment venue. The entire complex retains its integrity to a high degree and survives as one of the city's most intact groupings of historic commercial architecture.