Cinema Houston

Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex is a 2007 book by David Welling and published by the University of Texas Press. It, with 256 pages, discusses historic movie theaters, of multiple varieties, in the city of Houston.^[1] According to Ron Briley, a teacher at Sandia Preparatory School who wrote a review for the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the book is "essentially a nostalgic volume in which Welling laments that in its rapid urban development Houston destroyed many of the lavish movie palaces which once dotted the city's downtown landscape."^[2] According to Aaron Carpenter, an undergraduate student at Duke University who wrote a review published in Cite: The Architecture + Design Review of Houston, the author shows his passion for the subject and that the book does not always have a tone of melancholy.^[3]

Welling had the following steps in his research: he checked opening and closing dates and variations of names in directories published by the city government, then consulted newspapers-the Houston Chronicle and Houston Post-to clarify particular dates.^[1] Welling went to branches of the Houston Public Library to get copies of photographs of the theaters.^[2] Welling stated that the majority of the information he received came from the latter and that establishing the exact dates that a theater opened and/or closed was "the most time consuming" aspect of his research.^[1]

The book has some discussion of theaters catering to arthouse cinema while most of the space is devoted to facilities for mainstream films.^[2]

Briley wrote that by providing a chronology for the "thumbnail sketches", the author had "[made] a good effort to place the cinema of Houston in historical context".^[2] Briley added that the work "is more descriptive than analytical".^[2]

The now-demolished is on the cover.^[3]