The Grand Theater on North Holton Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin hasn't shown movies in more than 45 years. It's currently owned by the city of Milwaukee and it is up for sale.

The theater opened in 1911 and stopped showing movies in 1975. There have been plans presented for the historic theater before, including one in 2018 that could have brought movies back, but none have actually come to fruition.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported recently that yet another plan is in the works that would include an art studio that would offer community workshops and classes, as well as gallery nights and exhibitions.

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While these plans do not include any provision for having movies returning to the Harambee neighborhood, it would be good to see the building used and preserved, and for the neighborhood to have an artistic resource instead of a vacant building.

Last year, the former Garfield Theatre on North King Drive just north of Locust Street (about six blocks west of the Grand Theater building) was part of a plan that would have seen its auditorium demolished and replaced by a parking lot, leaving only the facade as a reminder of the opulent 1,800 seat theater it once was. That project appears to be delayed, so it may end up on the list of plans that never came to be.

Currently, the closest movie theaters to this location are the Oriental Theatre and Landmark Downer Theatre (about a mile to the southeast).