The historic Nat Ballroom in Amarillo, Texas, reopened this past weekend after months of renovations and repairs.
KFDA-TV in Amarillo has a story:
According to the Amarillo Globe-News, Kasey Robinson, who owns The Nest gift shop in the city’s Sixth Avenue district (aka Route 66), bought the property and has turned it into an antiques mall.
The Natatorium, as it is also called, began 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, 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.
The Nat’s history as a music venue won’t disappear. Every third Thursday in June, it will renain open an extra two hours so a band can perform.