Demolition Impending: Arcadia Theater on Greenville Avenue
Today's Daily Photo Blog Theme is Something that will be gone soon.
This picture shows the remains of the much beloved Arcadia Theater. I've been featuring a photos of a lot of the Art Deco theaters remaining around Dallas since I started this blog, and the Arcadia was among my favorites.
I drove past it last week to see that despite what looks like a very solid facade, the interior of this building has been gutted by fire, so I was crestfallen. The building was so gutted that it will have to be completely torn down.
I saw many live bands perform here between 1985 through the mid-90s.
Shows I saw there included The Cult, Shriekback, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Peter Murphy(on his first solo tour), Nine Inch Nails, Love and Rockets, The Cramps, and too many more to mention and a few I'm embarrassed to mention. Great stuff. It will be missed.
posted by phlegmfatale at 12:52 AM
12 Comments:
Theaters used to be beautiful. Ditto with old cinemas. Sad, isn't it. I hope at least they'll build a new theater here?
It's unlikely - this is some very high-dollar real-estate, and someone will make a lot more money with nightclub/restaurant/retail than they would with a theater or concert venue. pity, that.
Yes, they're disappearing here too. One which showed art houses movies closed its doors for the last time in Newcastle (NSW) yesterday. I used to have 4 stand-alone cinemas in a 10-15 min radius of my house - now just one horrible, expensive, noisy, Multiplex.
"The Cramps" ? I hope those disappear soon (LOL). What a shame that some of this nostalgic places have to go away.
NOOOOOO! I like to see improvements, not destruction, especially when it comes to the arts! What a shame!
Wow, hard to lose a venue like this. Just yesterday I photographed an art deco theater here in Seattle. These buildings are such treasures. I'm sorry to hear of this one's demise. They must have had a good sound system and great accoustics to attract the kind of performers you've seen there. Hope a wonderful venue rises in its ashes.
-Kim
Too bad it can't be restored. I prefer smaller venues for seeing live bands. Sounds like you saw some great shows.
it shouldn't dissapear, full stop.
a sad story, similar in theme to a number of us around the world. It's easy to go down the nostalgic path on a topic like that. Keep your good memories, they are precious.
The theatre will be gone. But your memories of it will be forever :)
Is that a photograph? For some reason when I first looked at it I thought it was a drawing!! The story reminds me of CDBG's in New York, which just closed because (of course) the rent went up too much!
sally - that's such a shame to lose so much of your local entertainment history - but to tear them down? Sacrilege! They should be re-purposed, because very often, the old buildings like that were much better-constructed than the new mass-produced crap they throw up so quickly these days.
eric - The Cramps is a wild band from California and I'm hoping they're still performing in wheelchairs some day - they are a rockin' good time! But yeah, it is a shame to lose these old structures.
john - Amen.
kim - it WAS a grand old beauty
felicia - I prefer the old film/theater palaces, too - they seem a much more intimate space and it seems like more of an occasion.
jazzy - I agree
nathalie - Thanks!
keropok - Yup, I will always remember that place fondly
jenny - Sorry I got the light so wonky. Yeah, I kept reading about CBGB's closing, and it seems a shame to lose such a world-famous and musically historical venue - but that's business, isn't it?
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