Archer City, Texas: Larry McMurtry’s Hometown and the Real-Life Setting of ‘The Last Picture Show’

Archer City has one stoplight, a handsome old courthouse and fewer than 2,000 residents. It also has a literary legacy most big cities would envy. This is where Larry McMurtry grew up, where he ran one of the country’s great used bookstores, and where Hollywood came to film “The Last Picture Show.” For book lovers and movie buffs, it’s a pilgrimage worth making.

Archer City is the seat of Archer County in North Texas ranch country, about 25 miles south of Wichita Falls and roughly two hours northwest of Fort Worth. The drive in, across wide-open pasture and mesquite, sets the mood just right.

Larry McMurtry’s hometown

McMurtry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Lonesome Dove,” grew up on his family’s ranch outside Archer City. The town and the people in it shaped much of his early writing, and he never really left. Even after he became famous, he kept coming home, and for decades he based his bookselling business here. He died in 2021, and Archer City remains closely tied to his name.

Readers of his novels will notice it right away: the wide sky, the quiet streets around the courthouse square, the sense that everybody knows everybody’s business. McMurtry turned Archer City into the fictional towns of Thalia and Anarene, and it’s fun to walk around with that in mind.

What happened to Booked Up

For decades, McMurtry’s bookstore, Booked Up, was the reason serious readers made the drive. He opened it in Archer City in the late 1980s, and at its peak it filled several buildings around the square with hundreds of thousands of used and rare books. In 2012 he sold off a huge share of the stock in a well-publicized auction, and the store slowly wound down after that.

Here’s the current status. After McMurtry’s death, Chip and Joanna Gaines of Waco bought the bookstore in 2023. It later changed hands again, and the old Booked Up building is now the Larry McMurtry Literary Center, which opened to the public in March 2025. The center is run by the folks behind the Archer City Writers Workshop, and its mission is to preserve McMurtry’s collection and keep his bookstore alive in a new form.

Visitors can browse shelves of rare and used books, see McMurtry memorabilia and buy many of the books on display. The center also hosts readings, writing workshops, book launches and tours. It’s open on weekends only: Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The center notes it will be closed Nov. 28 and 29 for Thanksgiving, so plan around that weekend. The building still needs repairs, so expect a work in progress rather than a polished museum, which honestly suits the place.

The real-life setting of “The Last Picture Show”

McMurtry’s 1966 novel “The Last Picture Show” became a 1971 film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and shot in black and white right here in Archer City. It earned eight Academy Award nominations and won two, and it’s still considered one of the great American films about small-town life.

The town’s most famous filming location is the Royal Theater on Main Street, which plays the only movie house in the fictional town of Anarene. The film’s closing shot lingers on that theater and the empty street around it. The original Royal was damaged by fire in 1965, years before filming. The theater reopened in 2000 as a performing arts venue and now hosts plays, music shows and the Texasville Opry. Check its website for upcoming shows.

Even if nothing is on stage during your visit, stand across the street and look at the marquee for a minute. Fans of the film will recognize the view right away.

Around the square

The Archer County Courthouse, completed in the early 1890s, anchors downtown with its sturdy stone walls and is worth a slow walk around. Nearby streets hold the kind of old brick storefronts that made Archer City a natural film set.

If you’d like to stay the night, the Spur Hotel downtown has long been the town’s lodging option. Check availability ahead of time, since rooms in town are limited, and Wichita Falls has more options a half-hour away.

Plan your trip

Because the literary center is open only on weekends, Saturday is the best day for a visit. Arrive mid-morning, browse the books, walk the square and the Royal Theater block, and have lunch in town or back in Wichita Falls. Make it part of a bigger North Texas run with a stop at the Fort Worth Stockyards on the way up or back.

Hours, dates and prices can change. Check the literary center’s website before you head out.

Archer City is small, quiet and a long way from anywhere, which is exactly why it stuck with Larry McMurtry. Spend a Saturday browsing his books and standing outside the Royal, and you’ll understand why this little ranch town still draws readers from all over.

Featured photo: Renelibrary via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.