Tyler

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

1930 was a golden year for the silver screen.

It was the year Looney Tunes made its big-screen debut with the animated short "Sinkin' in the Bathtub." It was the year the Motion Picture Production Code set up censorship guidelines for movies, launching a rating system still in use today. Silver screen superstars Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen were all born that year.

The year 1930 also gave us Liberty Theater, a single-screen art deco movie house on the corner of East Erwin Street and Broadway Avenue. It entertained downtown visitors for half a century, darkening its screen for the last time in 1982.

The theater changed hands a number of times over the past two decades, each owner envisioning a more current use for the structure. One wanted to turn it into a beauty parlor. Several others imagined music venues with in-house restaurants.

The theater's most recent owners, John and Deborah O'Sullivan, invested thousands in the building, hoping to see it turned into retail space with apartments in the upper levels. They'd done the same thing in buildings on eight other downtown lots.

That plan never came to fruition, but the O'Sullivans' vision of bringing new business - and new people - to the downtown area will live on.

The city of Tyler announced on Wednesday plans to buy the theater, and some neighboring office spaces, and turn them into the new home of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.

It will be the first step toward Tyler 21's vision of a downtown arts and culture district and a major anchor for new downtown development, said Mayor Joey Seeber.

"I couldn't have dreamed of a better beginning to this effort," he said.

The city will purchase the theater for $190,000 using money from the hotel/motel tax. The East Texas Symphony Orchestra Association has promised, through a memorandum of understanding with the city, to turn the theater into a recital and performance hall that will seat 300 people.

"We are excited to move downtown," said ETSOA President Jeff Austin III. "A lot of things have come together at the right time to create a win-win situation for everyone involved."

He said the Symphony has sought to expand its patronage at events, and he believes a downtown location will be a great enticement for new symphony-goers.

"Establishing a performing arts center in downtown will fast-track this effort and act as a regional draw for tourism in Tyler," he said.

There's no opening date yet, officials say, and the Symphony will continue to perform at the Cowan Center in the meantime.

The renovations might take a while, too. An architect has figured the renovation cost will be close to $800,000, and ETSOA plans to launch a fundraising campaign within the next few weeks to pay for the cost. Once the remodel is finished, the city will transfer ownership to the Symphony.

The memorandum of understanding details a 10-year lease for ETSOA to occupy offices at 107 E. Erwin St. At the end of that term, it will have the option to buy the offices from the city. The agreement also provides for naming rights to the theater as part of the fundraising campaign.

The city also plans to double its yearly contribution to the ETSOA to $25,000, which will also come from hotel/motel funds.

"It is a real watershed moment for the redevelopment of downtown Tyler," said Beverly Abel, executive director for the Heart of Tyler Main Street Program. "The theater will be a major quality destination for downtown. This is one of those events that every downtown development program hopes for; we feel very fortunate this is coming to fruition."

NEW VENUE: The Liberty Theater sits empty on East Erwin Street in downtown Tyler. The East Texas Symphony Orchestra has pledged to buy the theater to use as a performance hall.
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)