Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
AR406-6 12/1990 #9110
Ridglea Theater, which opened in 1947, transitioned to a live music venue 50 years later.
Following news that came down the pike last week that Camp Bowie’s historic Ridglea Theater was officially on the market, both fearful thoughts of redevelopment and ideas for improvement rushed through this writer’s mind.
While current owners Amy Herrig and Jerry Shults — no doubt saviors of the Ridglea when they purchased the landmark theater in 2010 — say it will “likely be a while before a deal is made,” according to reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I’m already keen on the theater’s future.
A quick Google search allayed concerns of demolition and any subsequent construction of a multi-story Lulu Lemon store; the Ridglea Theater, which first opened in 1947, received landmark-protection status in 2011. So, we’re at least assured the building and the iconic Ridglea sign will remain. Following this relieving news, I turned my attention to the theater’s potential and what it could become. And for inspiration, I looked no further than a similarly salvaged movie house in Dallas: Texas Theatre.
Like many an old movie house, Ridglea Theater converted to a live music venue in 1997, hosting acts like The Toadies, the Old 97s, and Queens of the Stone Age. It’s gone through its share of updates and renovations through the ensuing decades, and, in addition to music, now hosts boxing, comedians, and speakers of many ilks — the theater hosted Beto O’Rourke just a couple weeks ago. And improv comedy troupe Four Day Weekend also have a residency in the next door Ridglea Room. But conspicuously missing from the Ridglea’s normal slate of entertainment is the very thing it was built to show: movies.
Now, don’t get us wrong, Ridglea is a solid live music venue in a city whose local music scene is desperate for such spaces. But like Texas Theatre has proved since reopening in 2010, a movie house can do both.
Located in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood southwest of downtown, Texas Theatre opened in 1931 and, following its heyday through the golden era of Hollywood, dodged its fair share of potential demolitions after the rise of the multiplex theater — one screen couldn’t compete with 16. It also didn’t help that the theater is inextricably tied to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Dallas Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald a little over an hour after the shooting when he snuck into a showing of “War Is Hell” at the theater. The city, understandably embarrassed and traumatized by the assassination, was itching to rid their town of any reminders of what had happened. Today, we’ll note, the theater doesn’t shy away from the incident and, instead, accepts it as a historically significant quirk that adds to Texas Theatre’s eccentricity and mystique. Heck, they’ve even commemorated the infamous seat where Oswald was captured with his name and date of arrest in gold lettering.
Eventually receiving a full reprieve once the nonprofit Oak Cliff Foundation purchased the building in 2001, the Texas Theatre would undergo a series of upgrades, renovations, and a new creative director before reopening in 2010. In 2019, Aviation Cinemas, a team of Dallasites hellbent on the survival of Texas Theatre and the exhibition of independent film, purchased the theater and immediately began plans for expansion, including the construction of a second theater where the balcony once existed.
When one peruses this week’s lineup of happenings at Texas Theatre, they’ll see a blend of independent film (“Toxic Avenger”), international oddities (“Shin Godzilla”), bizarro productions (“The Mummy Theme Park”), documentaries (“More Than Santa Baby”), and old favorites (“Jaws” and “This Is Spinal Tap”). The theater will also sprinkle in concerts, festivals, director and celebrity Q&A’s, live podcasts, and, sometimes, an amalgamation of events — the monthly “Behind the Screen” includes a movie followed by a concert, you guessed it, behind the screen. It’s also a major community supporter, hosting the Oak Cliff Film Festival and other events that showcase hyperlocal artisans.
In a word, it’s cool. And while Fort Worth has certainly done its part to bring movie making to the city, there remains a lack of movie showing. And we’re not talking over-air-conditioned multiplexes with reclining seats and overpriced nachos showing whatever cash-grab Marvel Studios just concocted. We’re talking about the lack of a refurbished single-screen movie house with a thoughtfully curated lineup. Something that’s become nearly obligatory for a major city to call itself just that, a major city. There’s nothing like the Texas Theatre in Cowtown, and the Ridglea might be the perfect opportunity to right this wrong.
Of course, this has been tried before.
You see, there was a moment in late 2021 and early 2022 when the world of great cinema and Cowtown were in alignment. Fort Worth had two — yes, two — off-kilter, single-screen movie theaters: The Grand Berry in the Foundry District and The Downtown Cowtown at The Isis in The Stockyards. The latter being the only other historic, art deco movie house in Fort Worth that has retained some semblance of a theater — the old Bowie Theater doesn’t count because it now sports a Frost Bank sign. Like Ridglea, the Isis had been refurbished and reopened in 2021. Though it would remain open for only two years, the theater hosted multi-day events (Lone Star Film Festival), world premieres (“12 Mighty Orphans”), on-going community gatherings (Cowtown Movie Classics), concerts, and allowed guests to select their own programming from 40 titles the theater had in rotation.
Despite the lofty ambitions of the theater’s owners, Jeffrey Smith and Debbie Garrett-Smith, Downtown Cowntown at The Isis would close in November 2024. Similarly, the Grand Berry Theater, an unabashed spot for arthouse cinephiles, closed in March 2022 after its own two-year run.
So, the rub is whether Fort Worth even desires such a thing. Whether its preference is to become merely a city of workplaces, sleepspaces, and Amazon Prime — the latter delivering all our entertainment and shopping needs right to our personal screens and doors, no less.
It’s no doubt an exaggeration to place this potential future on the fate of Ridglea Theater. But even if we did, we’re fortunate that current owners Amy Herrig and Jerry Shults wish to remain involved in the theater in some capacity. They are, after all, the ones who saved it from likely demolition.
Yet, the question will still be asked: Is an arthouse movie theater the best way to squeeze money out of a purchase of the property? Absolutely not. A future buyer could very well keep the facade, gut the inside, and turn the theater into a bowling alley — similar to the fate of Lakewood's old movie house. A conversion to a small cinema house takes one less interested in the bottom line and more interested in building community.
And concerning future ownership, a buyer won’t just be purchasing the theater but the entire commercial property on which it’s attached — from Gas Pipe to Raja Yoga. While the father-daughter ownership group could sell the theater separately — say, to Aviation Cinemas? — this is highly unlikely. We just hope a screen and projector are part of its near future.
