From Movie House to Nightclub?

The old Carmike 4 movie theater may be turned into Lake Jackson's version of New York's fabled Studio 54, informed sources say.

The theater, located behind Brazos Mall, has been shuttered for more than a year after Carmike pulled in its horns after a bigger, snazzier theater complex opened.

Now an investor group wants to turn the place into a nightclub.

Details have not been finalized, but observors agree the site is spacious enough and provides adequate parking to give the Brazosport Area a great place to kick up its heels and get its freak on.

If nothing else, it will give the boot-scooting boogie crowd an alternative to Kicks, not to mention the ragamuffin dives in Surfside, where the bar owners are highly P.O.'d over their traditional 2 a.m. closing time being changed to midnight by the island's powers-that-be who are fed up with all the late-night, booze-fueled shenanigans.

Plans for the Carmike theater are far enough along that the proprietor of Tom's Trees, who sets up shop each holiday season to sell Christmas trees next to the shuttered theater, has been told he'll have to relocate next year.

Tom will set up next year across the street next to the Dow credit union, he says.

By the way, Tom's Trees has better prices than the outfit on the other side of the mall, according to our informal survey.

Tom hauled the trees all the way from North Carolina.

The prices are negotiable, too.