The Teatro Ángela Peralta opened in 1874 as the Teatro Rubio, a 850-seat opera house with three tiers of horseshoe balconies, gilt and crimson velvet, a frescoed dome. It was the cultural centre of the city for forty years and then went into a long decline — used as a boxing arena, a cinema, a warehouse. Hurricane Olivia all but finished it in 1975, and for a decade it sat ruined under the open sky.
The restoration in the late 1980s and early 90s was the first big piece of historic-preservation work in Mazatlan and the spark for the broader revival of the Centro Historico. Today the theatre runs a year-round programme of opera, ballet, concerts, and theatre. Even when nothing is on, you can walk in and look at the auditorium for a small entrance fee — it is the prettiest interior in the city.