Alamo Drafthouse Village

The theater at 2700 West Anderson Lane, in Austin's North Shoal Creek neighborhood, opened on March 20, 1974, as the Village Cinemas 4, a purpose-built four-screen house designed by architect Robert B. Pringle. Cinema Treasures records that it was built for United General Theaters but opened by Presidio Theatres, and it lists Act III Theatres and Regal Cinemas among later operators. Around 1990 it turned to specialty film as Village Cinemas Art, an art house that closed in 2001. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema bought the building and reopened it on July 12, 2001, as Alamo Drafthouse North. It was the company's first multiscreen, first-run theater. When the original Alamo on Colorado Street closed in 2007, the Village became the oldest operating Drafthouse. The Austin Chronicle described it as the chain's best-kept secret, long overshadowed by its younger sibling on South Lamar. In 2010 builder McNeil Smith added a terrace, the start of his long run of construction work for Tim and Karrie League. In May 2024 the Village marked its 50th year, which the Chronicle said made it the oldest continuously operating movie house in Austin, with a screening of another 50-year-old Austin original, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, attended by Tim League in a bloody apron. The anniversary brought a makeover: recliners and 4K projection in every auditorium, a refreshed lobby bar, and posters from 1974 releases with notes on when they played in Austin. It also brought Video Vortex, a free rental library built from the collection of Vulcan Video, the late Austin video store, which Alamo had kept in storage. By then the Village had quietly become the Drafthouse's repertory cinema, programming Time Capsule series, Disney animation from Snow White to Wall-E, and all 11 live-action Star Wars features.