In September 2011 the City of Houston's Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission approved the proposed exterior changes that the property would make to the Alabama Theatre. The Texas Historical Commission has informed the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance that Trader Joe's renovation plans for the Alabama Theater would leave the historic terrazzo at the theater’s original entrance intact. In September 2011 Trader Joe's stated that it was considering opening its first Greater Houston location in the Alabama Theatre. In March 2010 Alamo Drafthouse renewed its talks with Weingarten in regards to a proposal to lease space in the Alabama Theatre. Weingarten for now plans to keep the balcony. In 2010 according to some construction documents Weingarten planned to bury the theater's sloped floor under a concrete slab and to remove the wooden floors that had been inserted in the 1983 conversion to a bookstore. “We’re here to preserve yet another endangered species,” said Carolyn Farb at a Houston city council meeting, “Let’s not wipe away history with a big eraser.” Additionally, Preservation Texas also listed the theater as one of the state's most endangered places as well as being designated as a historic property by the City of Houston. The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance recently placed the Alabama Theater on its endangered buildings list due to the threat of demolition. Weingarten considered razing the building and building high-rise development on the site. Weingarten Realty Investors, owner of the theater was interested in saving the historic building as long as the proposals make economic sense for the company. The Alabama Bookstop closed in September, 2009 after 25 years as a bookstore. Weingarten Realty purchased the Alabama Shepherd Shopping Center in 2004. Laura Nathan-Garner, the author of Insiders' Guide to Houston, wrote that despite the fact that the Bookstop was owned by a chain, the fact it was located in a former theater "has enabled it to retain an independent flair." Weingarten Purchase, Concerns over Historic Preservation, and Conversion to Trader Joe's Gary Hoover, one founder of Bookstop, stated that his architects set up the building so it could be easily converted back into the theater in case the bookstore closed. The theater was reopened as the Alabama Bookstop bookstore in 1984 (later acquired by Barnes & Noble booksellers) and became the retailer's most profitable location. The theater was closed as a movie theater and was renovated as a retail bookstore, preserving many details such as its murals and balconies while undergoing an exterior and interior renovation designed to preserve the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s. Renovation to Alabama Bookstop Ĭompetition from multicinemas, television, and videotape reduced Alabama’s attendance and profits. The showing of the first CinemaScope film made ( The Robe) at the first CinemaScope screening in Houston took place at the Alabama Theater. The Alabama was Interstate Theater Corporation's tenth theater in the Houston area. The 739 seat Alabama Theatre opened on November 2, 1939, screening Man About Town, starring Jack Benny. The Alabama Theatre as a Trader Joe's Beginnings as Alabama Theatre Īs Houston and the rest of the country recovered from the Great Depression, art-deco style theaters of the late 1930s were built in many residential neighborhoods across the city.
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