The building has been a mill-district movie house, an adult cinema with a brothel upstairs, a church music hall and finally one of the Southeast's essential rock rooms. The Neighborhood Theatre, at 511 East 36th Street in Charlotte's NoDa arts district, opened as the Astor Theatre in 1945 - its Tap Room now serving as the venue's small stage and bar. The decline was cinematic: built for the families of three surrounding textile mills, the Astor slid with the neighbourhood - by 1964 it was the Astor Art Theatre running X-rated fare with a topless bar next door, closing in the late 1970s before churches briefly ran a Christian music venue in the shell. The 1997 rebirth tracked NoDa's: as galleries colonised North Davidson Street, local investors Paul McBroom and Sharon Tate restored the theatre and booked the first Neighborhood Theatre concerts that September - Ralph Stanley, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and George Clinton among the early-era names, and Bernie Sanders spoke here during the 2016 campaign. The operation now runs two stages: the 956-capacity main room handles national tours across rock, Americana, soul and jam, while the Tap Room hosts up-and-coming acts and local bills in bar-show format - a farm-system room inside the bigger venue. The 2015 mural above the marquee by Will Puckett stamped the building as NoDa's landmark, and out-of-state operator Stage Right - owner of a similar South Carolina room - took over in the mid-2020s with renovation plans that keep the venue's two-stage format. Practical notes: NoDa's 36th Street strip surrounds the theatre with bars and the Smelly Cat coffeehouse opposite; the Blue Line's 36th Street station is a five-minute walk, main-room shows are mostly standing with limited balcony seating, and Tap Room bills are cheap enough to gamble on unknown bands.

Type: Theater / Concert Hall

Address: 511 E 36th St, Charlotte, NC, United States, 28205

Website: https://neighborhoodtheatre.com

Cover Charge: 1

Capacity: 956

Opening Date: 01/01/1945

Serves Food