LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – In the middle of the day and the middle of the week, a line of movie-goers stretched down the sidewalk of the Mid-City Mall.
Wednesday was the final day before the Baxter Avenue Theatres closed a nearly three-decade run.
“We’d like to see it stay open, but we know how it goes with business as well,” Holly Green, who used to live a short walk away, said. “So we did want to come out today and celebrate, make sure that they understand that we’re going to miss them when they go.”
The cinema spot brings back memories for many in the community. Luke Tomes worked there years ago.
“It’s kind of hard,” Tomes said. “I’ve known people around the neighborhood here who came here quite frequently.”
Uncertainty over the future of the Mid-City Mall led the owners of the theatre to make a curtain call. The building has been for sale since late 2024.
Words like “sad” and “disappointing” were softly whispered among the crowd before the doors opened.
However, an enthusiastic Earla Grise didn’t let the fact that it was the last day before closing bring her down.
“This is the best theater ever, and it’s so sad it’s leaving,” she said while waiting to get in and see Zootopia 2.
After all, it was made for people just like her.
“I think the theaters are going to be great because it’s going to be something for kids in the neighborhood to go to,” a nearby shopkeeper told WAVE News on opening day. “We have elderly people that walk to the mall. And you’ll be able to see something enjoyable.”
The theater opened on September 20, 1996, highlighted by Independence Day, Twister, and other big-name movies.
Tickets cost as low as two dollars.
Over time, it gave Louisville’s small filmmakers a chance at the big screen.
“Feels like a good, a good match,” one filmmaker said at the 1996 Louisville Film and Video Festival held at the theater in November of that year.
For big-time names, it provided a small taste of home.
“I saw a ton of movies here growing up,” native Jack Harlow said in May 2023 before a screening of his film White Man Can’t Jump. “It’s my favorite theater.”
It’s the closing of a chapter, with the next by an unknown buyer.
As for the next big star, she hopes this isn’t really the end of the big screen in this part of the city.
“Hopefully they’re going to make another one close by so we don’t have to go 20,000 miles away to get good movies,” Grise said.
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