It’s hard to see the stately old art deco cinema now if you don’t know to look up. Although, with the quirky, tasteful flavor in the design of the café on the corner of Av. Juárez and Ocampo, it seems like just the kind of place where that little bit of history isn’t surprising, like a fish restaurant built in an old dock warehouse or a trendy apartment building in a hollowed out mill.
The Cine Variedades served the city of Guadalajara on this spot for 56 years – from its inauguration in 1940 to its disuse and closing in 1996. It was a landmark in its day, designed to seat over 3,000 moviegoers on three levels of its screening room. It even boasted an air-conditioning unit on opening day.
Since the dilapidated building was purchased by the government of Guadalajara in 2000, it has been reimagined and refitted, as a café, a library, an art gallery, and soon, a performance theater. It’s all part of the Laboratorio de Arte Variedades (LARVA) project under the supervision of Guadalajara City Hall’s Culture Department.
The mezzanine may seem a strange place to start, but here where cinema patrons once lined up at a soda fountain for their concessions, now lives a library. Part of the LARVA project opened in 2009, the Biblioteca LARVA houses around 4,500 books and 300 DVD movies and documentaries. Visitors may peruse the collection on site, and a free membership will allow books to be checked out for eight days. The collection focuses on literature and art, but has other sections, including children’s books.
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