Paramount Theatre, Historic movie theater in downtown Abilene, United States
Paramount Theatre is a movie theater in downtown Abilene featuring more than 1100 seats arranged in split aisles. The interior displays Spanish-Moorish design with a domed ceiling where moving clouds and stars are projected across the surface.
The Paramount was built in 1930 by H. O. Wooten, next to his Hotel Wooten, and opened on May 19, 1930, with the film Safety in Numbers. It operated as a movie theater until downtown decline cut box office revenue, and it closed in 1979. The Abilene Preservation League formed the Paramount Committee to block demolition, and the theater was restored in 1986 with funding from Julia Matthews and the Dodge Jones Foundation.
The Paramount hosts the Abilene Ballet Theatre, the Abilene Opera association, the Celebration Singers, the Abilene Community Band and the Classical Chorus of Abilene. Since 1993 it has staged an annual summer musical casting local amateur actors alongside area musicians, choreographers and costumers, and it works with all three local university theatre departments.
The Paramount stands at 352 Cypress Street in downtown Abilene, next to the Hotel Wooten. The auditorium holds 1,187 split-aisle seats, so seats on either side of the central aisle. Programming mixes films, live theatre and local company performances rather than daily screenings, so confirm what is on before travelling.
On February 12, 1931, Universal Pictures picked the Paramount, along with a few other Interstate Theatre chain houses, to screen Dracula two days before its Valentine's Day premiere. The film was Safety in Numbers on opening night, May 19, 1930.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,250 contributors worldwide.
