A Theater’s Nine Lives

When a movie theater opened in downtown Shawnee on Labor Day of 1927, it quickly became a central hub of social activity. Over the years, it held memories for area children and adults alike, but since the 1990s, the building has been an empty shell, just waiting to be brought back to magnificent life. Thanks to three Shawnee residents, the Aztec Theater is now filled with music, and classic movies are on the horizon.

Originally named the Mission Theater, reflecting the mission style of architecture, the theater was built by Shawnee’s third mayor, Marion Summerour. Summerour served as Shawnee’s mayor from 1927 to 1931 and was a partner in a business located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, that supplied hotels and other companies with chandeliers. He and his wife, Helen, lived near the theater and quickly realized the enthusiasm of Shawnee residents as they looked forward to “going to the show” each week. Especially in the sweltering heat of summer, guests at the Mission Theater enjoyed an early form of air conditioning. Behind the stage is a cistern that used to be filled with spring water, which was used to cool the building via fans blowing the moist air up a ramp into the theater seating area. It was Johnson County’s first building with air conditioning.

The beige stucco building located at 11119 Johnson Drive has changed ownership several times. It was owned by Dickinson Theatres from 1949 to 1974 when it was renamed the Aztec Theater. It was later sold to the Shawnee State Bank. Over the years, the theater stayed empty, filled with bank records stored by the Shawnee State Bank, which was located just a few doors to the east. When Commerce Bank merged with the Shawnee State Bank, those records were moved, and the theater sat empty for years, just waiting to be saved.

In 1998, Shawnee’s chief codes administrator inspected the 4,200-squarefoot building when the City of Shawnee was considering purchasing the Aztec for just $61,000. The inspection revealed many alterations that would need to be made in order for the building to be safely used again, including making the restrooms wheelchair accessible, replacing the heating and air conditioning systems, adding an additional fire exit and sprinkler system, and reconstructing and enlarging the stage. The cost at that time, estimated to be between $315,000 and $420,000, didn’t take into account addressing asbestos that may be found or repairing any roof damage. The city ultimately unanimously voted against the purchase.

Over the years, there have been multiple owners and would-be owners of the Aztec, all with different visions about how to renovate the space and how to use it. It wasn’t until brothers Jeff and Chris Calkins and their business partner Bruce Young put their energies together that the Aztec truly came back to life in what they refer to as a labor of love.

The Calkins brothers knew Young through their mutual love of classic cars and jukeboxes. They were looking for a third partner and knew Young was perfect since they all shared the same passions.

In February 2017, the three began negotiations with the building’s owner to purchase and renovate the theater. In June of that year, the contract was put together, and a few months later, the Shawnee City Council approved a $250,000 grant to be used solely for the renovation of the theater. In October 2017, the contract was finalized and the sale was complete. Now the work could begin.

The partners were adamant that they did not want any sort of tax increment financing (TIF) to help pay for the renovations in order to bring the building up to code. That type of financing would have affected property values and taxes of surrounding businesses as a way of raising funds to renovate the Aztec. While investment money is going into the theater right now, plans are being made to bring business into the theater to help with cash flow. Weekend concerts are currently happening, and the partners will show movies in the near future. Private events and reunions are also being booked.

“We’ve always talked about reopening the Aztec. We only thought about movies, but with Bruce’s music connections, we quickly realized we would also want to have concerts here. We’re getting so much satisfaction and joy out of seeing people have fun,” Jeff Calkins says.

In addition to the money they’ve invested to purchase and renovate the theater, the partners spent countless hours of their own labor in lieu of hiring contractors. The Calkins brothers, who own Shawnee’s Calkins Electric Supply Co. just two blocks north of the Aztec, were able to work on the wiring and electrical installation. Once the structure of the building was secured, the partners worked out the painstaking details to create a theater with new amenities while keeping true to the historic nature of the theater itself.

Wanting to preserve as much of the original feel of the theater as possible, the partners have considered the smallest details. In the lobby, the glass blocks of the ticket booth are the same ones that graced the same ticket booth when the theater opened in 1927. While not original to the building, the lobby’s vintage Manley Co. popcorn machine is the same type that would have been in the lobby of the Mission Theater. The basket weave marble flooring in the restrooms on the first floor was matched to the original flooring in the original second floor bathroom. The chandeliers date from the 1920s and came from the Brookside Theater. They have been updated with LED lights.

The 195 seats inside the theater aren’t vintage, but they do have a local tie. When the Crown Center Cinema closed in the 1980s, those seats went unused. They were purchased for the Aztec, stripped of their red cloth covering, and updated with black vinyl.

The most historically significant piece of history isn’t inside the theater. The neon marquee on the front of the building originally hung at the Plaza Theater in Abilene, Kansas. Its claim to fame? Dwight Eisenhower walked under that marquee after announcing inside the theater that he would run for president of the United States. When the Abilene theater was destroyed by a tornado, the marquee was purchased and moved to Shawnee.

While the current Aztec marquee has been updated with LED lighting, the colorful scrolled neon is original. Now, the marquee announces community events, to wish citizens happy birthday or happy retirement, and to promote upcoming weekend concerts happening at the Aztec. The letters themselves are vintage and came with the theater. The 10-inch- and 12-inch-tall plastic letters are brittle and incredibly fragile. When the partners were looking for additional letters, the only place they could find them was in Harvey, Louisiana. It cost more to safely package and ship the additional letters than the actual purchase price of the original letters.

Looking ahead, the partners have already experienced success bringing musical acts to the Aztec each weekend. By early fall, they are planning to begin showing weekday evening movies from the 1920s to the 1990s, including westerns, science fiction films, and comedies. Originally they planned to find a restored vintage projector to show the movies; they soon realized the quality of movies will be better on a digital projection system.

“It’s about the experience of being in the atmosphere and being at the movies,” Jeff Calkins says. “There’s just something really special about a single-screen theater that makes it so much better than a megaplex. “

Partner Bruce Young grew up in Shawnee and remembers going to the Aztec in the 1950s and 1960s on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Parents would drop their youngsters off at the theater to watch movies like The Bowery Boys film series, Sinbad, and cartoons for a quarter. Young always bought his favorite candy, a Slo-Poke sucker. He is also an avid vintage movie poster collector and has collected memorabilia related to the theater for many years, never knowing he might one day be one of the owners.

While the history of the Aztec theater is rich, the partners are looking forward to forging their own path, keeping the past and future alive for generations to come. One thing they’re doing to leave their mark on the Aztec is to have the musical acts that perform on the stage autograph a door in the upstairs office.

“The former Aztec had its own history and now we’ll have our own history as well,” Jeff Calkins says.

Do you have any memorabilia from the Mission Theater or Aztec Theater that you’d like to donate? Interested in renting the Aztec for a private event or checking availability of the outside marquee? If so, contact the partners via the Aztec’s website, www.AztecShawnee. com, or via Facebook (AztecShawneeTheater) or Instagram (AztecShawnee); all contain information on upcoming concerts and other events. For more information, email jeffc@AztecShawnee.com or call 913-207-4148.

11119 Johnson Drive

913-207-4147

www.AztecShawnee.com