Fresno’s Chinatown is one of the oldest parts of the city. Located across the tracks from downtown, it’s a place where many immigrant groups settled in the days of legalized segregation and housing discrimination. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of a venue there that played a big role in local Mexican-American history.
The Azteca Theater is a modest venue on F Street in Fresno’s Chinatown, with a tall neon-clad blade sign. While not as flashy as the Warnors or Tower Theater, it’s no less historic.
The Azteca was built in 1948 for owner Gustavo Acosta. Unlike many other theaters in the Valley that at one point showed Spanish language films, the Azteca was the only venue purpose-built to serve the Spanish language audience.
In 1956 Acosta leased the theater to his friend Arturo Tirado. Under his leadership, the movie theater became the focal point of the local Spanish-speaking community. Arturo Tirado brought many of Mexico’s top movie stars to Fresno for in-person appearances at the theater. Names like Cantinflas, Pedro Infante and Maria Felix.
The venue hosted more than movies. In March 1966, when Cesar Chavez led farmworkers on his march from Delano to Sacramento, Tirado hosted them at his theater. While the group reportedly met violence in Tulare, Tirado enlisted his friends Mayor Floyd Hyde and police chief H.R. Morton to ensure the safety of the marchers in Fresno.
Tirado continued to run the theater until 1980. In 2017 the Azteca theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
