Even though neighborhood residents and local merchants mourned the loss of the historic Lakewood Theatre, which closed several months ago after 45 years, nothing was done to save the Lakewood landmark. After a while, the general consensus was that the theater, which supposedly was closed because of raised rent, would be no more.
But now a Lakewood businessman has breathed life back into the theater. On November 1, B.B. Barr purchased the Lakewood Theatre, and he says that he hopes to restore it to its grand style of years gone by.
Barr has changed more than just the basics, like fresh paint and a new roof. He’s extending the stage in order to provide for live performances, and he’s replacing the shoddy (though collectable) antiquated seats with new rocking seats. Ban-says, “When I get it right, that’s when I’ll open it.”
Barr says he is working with the Dallas Historic Preservation League to keep the building’s charm intact. One thing he says he won’t touch is the movie screen-it’s the largest in the city.
Barr, who owns several businesses (including an insurance company, a financial consulting firm and a real estate firm that owns a number of Lake-wood properties), says that he really doesn’t expect to gain much from the theater-at least financially. He says he hopes to be able to offer first-run movies, but he adds that it’s probably unrealistic to expect to compete with large cinema corporations that have branch theaters all over town. His main purpose in purchasing the building, he says, was to “put restoration back in Lake-wood-strictly to put it back like it was.”
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