Last week, Mayor A C Wharton called for Club Crave on Beale Street to be demolished after it was shuttered for being a public nuisance. The closure came after a Christmas Eve shooting at the club, in which one man was killed.
Now an online petition, being pushed in an email newsletter from former Memphis City Schools board member Dr. Kenneth Whalum, is calling for saving the club’s building at 380 Beale from the wrecking ball. The petition, which you can find here, isn’t asking to save the club’s business, however. They’re only asking to save the building, which served as a movie theater long before it became the site of dance clubs with dangerous reputations (Before it was Club Crave, the building housed the Plush Club, which had its own share of gun violence issues).
The petition mentions that the building could be turned back into a movie theater that only shows local and independent films. As of press time, the petition had 64 signatures.
In 2012, more than 175 people were arrested at Club Crave for violations ranging from drug offenses to assault and robbery.