La Luz Cinema

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1952 · Authors: Antonio Cardona Aragón, José Luis Jiménez Domínguez

This is one of the most popular cinemas in the La Isleta area, located on Benartemi Street in the bustling capital neighbourhood.

The building was designed in the post-war period, in 1949, by architects Antonio Cardona and José Luis Jiménez Domínguez for the company of the Wood Caballero Brothers, well-known figures in the city's film exhibition scene. The project was revised a year later by the same architects, deciding to remove the amphitheatre on the first floor initially proposed.

The exterior of La Luz Cinema featured a simple façade divided into three sections: the ground floor with three large openings for spectator circulation; the second floor with a serene line of windows and a central oculus; and the third and final section, where a cornice leads to a triangular pediment with classical reminiscences, in whose tympanum three openings are found. Inside, a long rectangular auditorium with a capacity for 634 seats occupied the entire ground floor.

The cinema was inaugurated on 12 April 1952 with the screening of the adventure and action feature film The Swordsman directed by Joseph H. Lewis, made in 1948. Ticket prices ranged between three and four pesetas on weekdays and one duro on holidays.

La Luz Cinema remained active for just over two decades, closing its doors permanently in November 1973. Years later, the building was repurposed as a construction materials warehouse and still stands today.

28.15311, -15.42302