Arcadia Up in Smoke

Almost 80 years of history went up in smoke when the Arcadia theater caught fire Wednesday afternoon.  After it opened in 1927, audiences were treated to a mix of vaudeville and movies. The Arcadia went on to become one of Dallas' leading neighborhood theaters at a time when going to a movie was still a special occasion.  In the early '80s, the theater took on another new life when it was transformed into a live-music venue. After a pre-stardom Bonnie Raitt – decked out in a miniskirt and purple spiked hair – headlined the first show in 1982, hundreds of bands covering every kind of music from punk to country played there. It was a gateway venue that performers passed through on their way from underground buzz to superstar sensation, as first-time-in-Texas appearances by Metallica and Nine Inch Nails testify.  In that era before alternative music became a platinum-selling mainstream force and Deep Ellum transformed into a late-night theme park, the Arcadia played a key role in the development of Dallas' live-music scene.

"That whole building was just so cool looking ... I'm just sick about it," says Jim Heath, more commonly known as Reverend Horton Heat. "I remember I opened for Dwight Yoakam there in '87 or '88 and it made me credible in my parents' eyes. They weren't coming to see me play in Deep Ellum, but they came that night to that show." 

<>Shortly before sundown Thursday, demolition workers drove a metal battering ram into the brittle brick tower where movies once played and partyers reveled.
It crumbled like sugar cubes, leaving behind twisted, quivering metal and black smoke.  As the embers still smolder, it's impossible to know what the future holds for the remnants of the Arcadia. If not for the fire, plans were in place to have the space reopen as a dance club and concert venue called the Carousel Club, a project conceived by the same team behind the Red Jacket Lounge. <>"It was going to be a high-end establishment, sort of 'neoburlesque' club that would provide a safe and sophisticated place for people to dance and have a good time," says Anthony Scerbo, who has been working with club impresario John Kenyon to once again reincarnate the Arcadia.  "Everything was in place, we were looking at a September opening. But now, really, I have no idea."

That's the thing: Whatever may be built on the Arcadia site or out of the shell that remains, it won't be the same. The Arcadia is gone, and in this age of supersized entertainment, it's hard to imagine making room for a "tight little place" like the Arcadia.

Taken from www.WFAA.com  Staff writer Paul Meyer