From 1910 to the 1960s, the City Auditorium was Houston's main entertainment venue.  Located on Texas Avenue in the heart of downtown, it hosted famous performers of the era such as Margo Fontaine, Caruso and Pavlova, as well as the Royal Ballet of England, the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo and the Metropolitan Opera.  In 1961 singing legend, Judy Garland performed a one-woman concert before a standing room only crowd.    In 1966, the City Auditorium was demolished and the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts was erected on the same site.  The Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and Houston Ballet made their home in the new Jones Hall.   Houston civic leader, Jesse Jones, secured the 1928 Democratic National Convention for Houston by building an auditorium called Sam Houston Hall.  Later, the first Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo was held in the hall. In 1937 the already obsolete convention hall was replaced with the Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall.  These buildings were designed by Houston architect Alfred C. Finn in the popular Art Deco style.   Over the years, Broadway shows and musical performances were presented at the Music Hall.   Hockey teams, ice shows and conventions used the Coliseum. For two weeks every fall, the Arabia Shrine Circus occupied the arena.   The big event that most people remember at the Coliseum is the rodeo, and one of the biggest attractions at the rodeo in the 1950s was cowboy star Roy Rogers, his wife, Dale Evans and his horse, Trigger.   In 1965 the new singing group from England, the Beatles, appeared at the Coliseum to a packed house full of screaming teen age girls and some mothers.   The Coliseum and Music Hall were demolished, and in 2000, the modern Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, named for Texas governor William P. Hobby, opened on the same site.    All of this history is contained in the photo collections at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center in the Texas Room at the Houston Public Library.  Video scenes are from the documentary, "In Search of Houston History," produced by the Friends of the Texas Room and aired on HoustonPBS.

Comments

1. Don't forget; it was here that JFK appeared at a dinner in honor of Congressman Albert Thomas the night before the assassination, Thursday, November 21, 1963.
2. Thanks for sharing...