The Strand Theater - Shreveport

Last weekend I drove over to Shreveport, Louisiana, to do some much needed shopping.  I decided it was time to see if I could find any historic buildings in that Louisiana city.  I knew there had to be some, although the city has been deteriorating the last few decades.  One of the jewels of Shreveport is the historic Strand Theater, and you can see by the marquee that it is still open for business, since I was there Saturday, March 14.  It's incredibly beautiful on the outside and from what I read on the Internet the interior far surpasses the exterior.

It opened in 1925 as a grand opera house and in its earlier years had its own full-time orchestra and a 939-pipe organ.  During the war years all but three of the theater's massive chandeliers were removed and sent to New Orleans during kilowatt rationing.  After the war in the early 1950's the marquee was removed and replaced with a 12-foot vertical neon sign.  In the mid-1950s the opera boxes were removed to facilitate cinemascope motion pictures.  John Wayne and William Holden were at the Strand for the movie premier of The Horse Soldier in 1959.  The Strand continued to operate as a movie theater through the mid-'70s when it closed in a state of sad demise.

In 1976 the owner, ABC Interstate Theatres, donated the Strand to the newly formed Strand Theatre of Shreveport Corporation and a seven-year renovation project was initiated.  The lost chandeliers were copied from early-day photos, the opera boxes were replaced, and the original marquee was replicated and the Strand reopened in Decemer of 1984 to a standing-room only audience at a performance of the Shreveport Symphony.  Today the Strand is the venue for touring Broadway shows, concerts and plays and is the home to several dance companies.  It is considered one of the top five glitziest theaters for live performance in the country.

Tomorrow I'll show you what is across the street from the Strand.