The Paramount’s blade sign has lit Congress Avenue since 1915 — vaudeville then, everything now. Austin’s crown-jewel theatre hosted Houdini’s escapes and Katharine Hepburn’s tours, survived demolition threats through citizen rescue in the 1970s, and today anchors downtown culture with 1,200 seats of gilded, red-velvet glory.
Its calendar is Austin’s variety soul: comedy giants, Americana concerts, the Moontower Comedy Festival, literary conversations, and the Summer Classic Film Series — Casablanca and The Wizard of Oz on the big screen in air-conditioned splendor, a rite of Austin summer since 1975. The smaller State Theatre next door (its sister stage) doubles the marquee magic.
Every great city keeps one room where its memories live. Austin’s glows on Congress, under a sign that never really went dark.
