Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Traffic blurs past the intersection of Fifth Street and Central Avenue, where the KiMo Theater has stood for 80 years this month. The theater started life as a Pueblo-deco movie palace and has become an Albuquerque landmark.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

A "ghost light" sits at center stage in the KiMo Theater, where it is left burning all night. Some say the KiMo is haunted by a 6-year-old boy killed there in the 1950s when a water heater exploded. Many performers leave gifts for the ghost for good luck before they go onstage.

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Dennis Potter, technical manager at the KiMo Theater, remembers the day performers were tripping and forgetting their lines, light bulbs were exploding and windows were opening and closing by themselves.

It was the day a director made the crew remove the doughnuts that had been their custom to leave around the theater as good-luck charms for a ghost.

"I've seen too many weird things going on around here to be pretty convinced that there's a ghost," said Potter, who has worked at the KiMo for more than 20 years.

The incident, in the late 1980s, is just one of many that add to the mystery, peculiarity and magic of the KiMo, which celebrates its 80th birthday this month.

Craig Rivera, manager of the community events division for the city, which bought the theater in 1977, said the KiMo lives up to its name, which means "king of its kind" in Tewa.

"If anything, in my opinion, it's probably Albuquerque's foremost landmark," he said. "It's historically genuine and one of its kind. It's one of the few buildings that has not changed in the Downtown area."

The KiMo opened Sept. 19, 1927, as a Pueblo-deco picture palace. The owners were Oreste and Maria Bachecchi, Italian immigrants.

Pueblo-deco was a flamboyant architectural style that fused the spirit of Southwestern American Indian cultures with art deco elements that were popular in the 1920s and Õ30s.

When the KiMo was built, it also contained the Kiva Lo diner, the Kiva Hi restaurant and the Tawa Curio gift shop.

The reception area, offices and box office replaced the eating areas and gift shop.

Potter said the KiMo has hosted an array of peculiar events, from the Harvey the Beer Drinking Mule in 1938 to Benny Fox, flag-pole sitter, in the 1940s.

"He sat on a flag pole on top of the KiMo for hours," Potter said.

The strangest act was a Japanese performance troupe that used tuna-fish tails as their stage backdrop, he said.

Another performer chain-sawed through the stage.

In addition to all the acts, the KiMo hosted some major stars in its heyday, said Potter, including Mickey Rooney, Ginger Rogers and Sally Rand, a burlesque queen whose promotional poster read: "Sally Rand in her fan and bubble dance."

"She had strategically placed fans and bubbles, so you couldn't see the things you weren't supposed to see," Potter said.

Accompanying 80 years of excitement and intrigue at the KiMo is also the mystery of the theater, Potter said.

The biggest mystery of all is the ghost reported to live there.

Six-year-old Bobby Darnell died in 1951 when a water heater exploded in the lobby. Since then, people have been reporting seeing a little boy roaming around the theater after hours.

A shrine backstage is dedicated to Bobby. Before performers go on stage, they place a gift for him on the shrine for good luck.

Now it's filled with ballerina shoes, beads, money, toys, nail polish and other odd items.

Potter said the gifts started out with doughnuts, which crew members left around the theater. Later, KiMo staff members decided to build him a shrine, which was more practical and sanitary.

Potter said he swears the ghost is not a legend, because of the things he's seen and heard.

Another mystery to many people is where the KiMo's builders found trees up to 70 feet long for its vigas.

Actually, Potter said, the pillars and vigas throughout the theater are made of plastic, concrete and steel. They were all painted to have the appearance of wood.

"The vigas are too long to be made of wood," he said.

The only things that are made of wood are the seats and stage floor.

A.J. Carian, deputy director of cultural services for the city, said he finds the KiMo charming not only as a city employee but as a performer.

"I had the privilege of performing in a play on the KiMo stage," he said. "It's incredible the sensations that you feel. It's marvelous and certainly magical."

Also contributing to the magic and history of the KiMo is the symbolism used throughout, Potter said. The turtles above the arch of the stage are a symbol of vitality.

"Turtles evolve as a symbol of strength. They put turtles there to carry the weight of the arch based on the myth that turtles carry the sun across the heavens every day," he said.

The two sun-faces on each of the exit doors represent the setting and rising sun.

Potter said the swastikas throughout the KiMo were put up in the 1920s before the symbol's meaning was distorted by Hitler.

"The swastika dates back to prehistory, 3,000 to 5,000 years old," he said. "It was a symbol in 10 to 12 other cultures including Navajo and Hopi."

In other cultures, the swastika represents the four winds. When it became a symbol for the Nazi regime, the KiMo's swastikas were covered.

Potter said some people have become upset that the symbols were there. Officials decided to keep them because they're a part of the KiMo's original design.

Rivera said that after 80 years the KiMo is as captivating as ever.

"It's living history," he said. "It's doing what it did when it was first created in 1927. It's a legacy for living generations, so they can enjoy what Albuquerque is and what it can be."

It's a part of Albuquerque that will always remain unique and captivating, said Potter.

"It has its own feeling, its own ambiance," he said. "Even though the design and decorations are a little out of the ordinary, it feels very much like home. It feels like it belongs here, and when you're here you feel like you belong here."