Citrus Theatre -- Edinburg TX
N 26° 18.097 W 098° 09.665
14R E 583743 N 2909358
The gorgeous Citrus Theatre, a fixture in downtown Edinburg since the 1940s
Waymark Code: WMPEMG
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2015
Views: 4
Blasterz LOVE the old movie theatres that reflect the dominant feature of the local area. It helps when they are sleek, stylish and cool -- as is this 1940s Art Deco gem in disturbingly echoingly empty downtown Edinburg. The Citrus stopped showing movies in the early 1990s.
From the Hidalgo County Monitor: (
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"Edinburg's Citrus Theater still standing strong
Jared Janes
EDINBURG — The Citrus Theater on the city’s downtown square may have shown its last movie a decade ago, but it doesn’t show its age inside.
A premiere movie theater when it opened in 1941, the Citrus has up-to-date plumbing and wiring inside and cast iron seating that he refuses to part with, said Felipe Garcia, an Edinburg attorney who purchased the building in 1996.
“The place is like a time capsule,” said Garcia, who is also a board member for the city’s economic development corporation. “You go inside and it’s like it always was.”
Any plan to revitalize downtown Edinburg will undoubtedly include the Citrus Theater, a massive structure that used to seat up to 800 and takes up much of the block. It has only been used for storage of court files since Garcia bought it.
City officials have talked to Felipe Garcia about remodeling the facility based on a similar renovation done to McAllen’s historic Cine El Rey.
He said he’s open to the idea but that its success would rely on Edinburg being able to make its downtown a hotspot like 17th Street in McAllen.
The theater’s sturdy construction gives Garcia options on what he can do to the building, but he’s just not sure what those options are yet.
“I have nothing on the drawing board (but) I’m listening,” he said. “We’re open to anything short of knocking it down.”