The Nat Ballroom, a legendary former nightclub on Route 66 in Amarillo, Texas, will be converted into an antique mall that perhaps will eventually include a cafe and movie screen, reported the Amarillo Globe-News today.
The previous tenant’s lease ended in December after nine years. Kasey Robinson, a local business owner, promptly picked up the lease.
According to the newspaper:
Robinson, who owns Nest, with “green goods” of recycled fabric, organically grown cotton and silk and vegan bath and body goods at nearby 2900 S.W. Sixth Ave., has different plans. She wants to turn The Nat into a large antique mall with a museum of old photos of the place’s heyday at the entrance.
The rest of The Nat would be subleased booths to antique owners as well as to artists with paintings, jewelry and other new, used and handmade items. Eventually, she would like to have a small cafe and to use the large construction screen for a Friday night movie screening. […]
“This is not just another antique mall,” Robinson said. “I plan to support 10 local artists as well. I had hoped to keep it quiet until we were doing the actual remodeling but as soon as one person found out, the emails started coming in, and my phone was ringing off the hook. It’s neat. A lot of locals in the city want to be a part of it.”
The Natatorium, as it is also called, started as a public swimming pool. The pool was covered in the 1930s, and The Nat was converted into a music venue. Acts that have performed there included Cab Calloway, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, the Ink Spots, and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
The Nat declined as a performing venue during the 1960s with the arrival of Interstate 40 and the Amarillo Civic Center. It sat vacant from 1982 to 1994, until it became an antique mall by day and a performance venue at night.
A recent photo of The Nat can be seen here.
(Hat tip: Bob “Crocodile” Lile)