Restored Pecos Theatre reopens in Santa Rosa

The years-long restoration of the Pecos Theatre in downtown Santa Rosa, New Mexico, culminated with its gala reopening Saturday.

Visit Santa Rosa New Mexico posted the relighting of the marquee and other images from Saturday night:

As you can see from this performance, the revitalized Pecos is being used as a performance venue as well as a movie theater.

Here’s what the interior looks like:

According to last week’s print edition of The Communicator newspaper in Santa Rosa, retired judge Phillip Romero was scheduled to cut the ribbon on the venue. His father, Joe Romero, ran the theater for about 30 years.

The first movie to be screened at the renovated 126-seat Pecos was “Hobbs and Shaw.” The theater is equipped with a Dolby Surround Sound system, leather seats with retractable armrests and cup holders and a retractable movie screen.

The theater’s manager is trying to land first-run movies. On Sept. 20, the theater will screen “Rambo: Last Blood” on the actual first day of its release.

The Pecos Theatre sits along an original stretch of Route 66 on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa. The county, which spent more than $1 million on renovations and improvements, finalized its purchase of the venue in early 2017 after it closed in late 2010.

The theater opened in 1917. The last film previously screened at there was “Legends of the Guardians” in November 2010.

At the time of its closing, it was the oldest operating theater on Route 66. The Pecos began as the El Paso Tiempo, then the Santa Rosa Theatre, the Kiva, the Rodeo, and finally the Pecos in 1981.

(Image of the relighted marquee of the Pecos Theatre in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, by Rachel Messer via Facebook; other images of the Pecos Theatre interior courtesy of Richard Delgado)