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closeTuesday, Nov. 03, 2009
What you and the Ridglea can do to keep it protected and open
What you can do to protect the theater
Could the Ridglea be torn down? For those of us who don’t want Fort Worth’s historic buildings to become victims of progress, that’s a scary notion. But the Ridglea is barely protected.
According to Historic Fort Worth Inc., the Ridglea Theater does not have a Texas state historical marker or a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit preservation group listed the theater as one of Fort Worth’s most endangered sites in 2008.
"Structurally, the building is in great shape; they don’t build stuff like that anymore," says the theater’s Wesley Hathaway. "To me, it’s of historic value, and we’ve lost too many of these. It’s a shame we don’t treasure stuff like that."
The public can initiate proceedings to have the building designated as a historical site by contacting the National Register of Historic Places. According to nps.gov, the State Historic Preservation Office must be contacted to initiate the process. At that point, the SHPO can reject the proposed property, ask for more information, list the property solely with the state or send the forms to the National Register of Historic Places for listing. Texas’ SHPO is based in Austin; visit www.thc.state.tx.us for more info.
Another possible avenue of action would be to contact Fort Worth City Councilman W.B. Zimmerman, who represents District 3, home to the Ridglea neighborhood, and voice concern about the Ridglea’s unprotected status: district3@fortworthgov.org, 817-392-8803.
What can the Ridglea do to rescue itself?
With so many smaller venues in Fort Worth, how can the Ridglea attract up-and-coming talent from more than just the metal and hard-rock genres? A massive infusion of cash would obviously be ideal, but that’s probably not going to happen — and it wouldn’t really address the core need of the club, which is to build a strong and loyal fan base that regularly turns out for shows.
Instead, the club owners need to think about hopping aboard the social-networking train.
There is a Ridglea Twitter account ( www.twitter.com/ridgleatheater) and a regularly updated MySpace page ( www.myspace.com/ridgleatheater), but there’s still no Facebook page. The Ridglea solicits acts via Craigslist to try out for New Band Nite, held every other Wednesday (including tonight), a clever idea that can easily be expanded. The venue’s Web site, www.ridgleatheater.com, could be another area of focus; it lists a lot of pertinent info, but what about uploading some brief videos of past performances or creating a discussion board, a virtual extension of the familial atmosphere that Hathaway and Van Zandt cultivate?
As for the matter of getting the word out about shows: Hungry marketing interns might be persuaded to rustle up a street team that posts fliers or saturates local Web sites with news of upcoming performances. They wouldn’t cost much, and they might just bring a few friends along to the shows.
The most important factor is the music: The Ridglea needs to showcase buzz bands like Telegraph Canyon, the Burning Hotels, Sam Anderson and the Thrift Store Troubadours, and the Cut*off, all of whom land regular gigs at 8.0, Lola’s Saloon or the Moon. The Ridglea’s size is daunting for relative unknowns, but bills stocked with bands that everyone is talking about would draw a curious crowd.
— Preston Jones
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