This one can be tagged as demolished. A building that appears to be a school now occupies this block. The theater site was on the north side of York west of Front, roughly around the back end of the blue tile-covered building as seen on Street View.
The historic facade of the Century is in jeopardy, as the owners want to remove it and replace it with windows. It isn’t landmarked. DNAInfo story here.
The second screening room will be closed for nearly a month for renovations. Add: a much larger screen and digital capability. Subtract: 28 seats, reducing the seating capacity to 70. Story at DNAinfo.
I went to the Bryn Mawr a number of times in the late ‘70s. It was essentially just a black box, but it was in decent shape and when the movie costs less than a round trip on the L, who can complain? In those days you could have a lot of fun in Chicago for not much money. From what I read, that has changed for the worse in recent times.
Hidden City Philadelphia story on “accidental preservationists” contains a short profile of Linda Richardson, founder of the Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation, as well as an interior picture of the theater.
“You can’t walk through the Metropolitan Opera House without hearing the walls telling stories. Once you get sucked into that vacuum, there is no turning back. You can’t be for tearing that down. You have to be for how do we recreate it?” Eric Blumenfeld in a Hidden City Philadelphia story on “accidental preservationists.” Includes a recent interior picture of the Met, but it’s not very different from one that’s already here.
If memory serves, a cartoon version of the Astor showed up in an animated Bill Cosby special in the ‘70s. Bill and friends had to go under the terrifying Ninth Street Bridge to get home after watching a movie there. I think the cartoon Astor looked reasonably like the picture shown here, with the name at a point up at the top.
The building has been sold to a group that has leased it back to the theater company. What exactly will be presented here in the future seems to be a bit up in the air. Philly.com has the story.
Philly.com concentrates on the Hiway in a story about small cinemas making the digital conversion. The Hiway is said to have raised $50,000 so far, about half of the money it needs.
Named one of the “Preservation Wins of 2012” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It’s the only theater on the list, but here’s the whole thing for anyone interested.
I wanted to find out what kind of buisness “The Ship” was. I learned that it was a restaurant, and that it was owned by a man involved in the development of the Norshore building. The big surprise was that he was the person for whom Howard Street was named, and he lived until 1984! This blog post tells his story.
Comparing some of the earlier and later pictures of the theater it’s a little surprising how much more dramatic it looks with a wider sidewalk in front of it. I presume the street was widened after the theater was built.
The original owner was Howard Fletcher, who had the theater built in 1925 and opened it in May 1926. Original seating capacity was 800 with 250 of those seats in the balcony. It was one of five theaters owned by Fletcher. In 1947 he sold the Hollyburn to a Texan named Barnes, who is said to have played too many Westerns for the taste of the local audience. Eventually the theater closed and was converted into retail space, housing a women’s apparel store called Fashionwise and later Simpson’s Hardware. Home Hardware was the occupant when the building was destroyed in a suspicious fire on May 18, 1993. Image of a news story relating all this here.
The Eureka is visible at the top right of this picture from 1949. This was during construction of a subway tunnel to replace the elevated in this area.
The postcard doesn’t look anything like the previously posted photo of the Rialto. Relinked here. I think we may have found a different, earlier Rialto.
This one can be tagged as demolished. A building that appears to be a school now occupies this block. The theater site was on the north side of York west of Front, roughly around the back end of the blue tile-covered building as seen on Street View.
Theater is now in use as “a members work shop for artists, craftsmen and innovators.” Website here, philly.com column here and photo gallery here.
The historic facade of the Century is in jeopardy, as the owners want to remove it and replace it with windows. It isn’t landmarked. DNAInfo story here.
The second screening room will be closed for nearly a month for renovations. Add: a much larger screen and digital capability. Subtract: 28 seats, reducing the seating capacity to 70. Story at DNAinfo.
I love how the apartments are in “North West East Village.” And that would be in the southern half of Manhattan…
What movies are those clips taken from?
I went to the Bryn Mawr a number of times in the late ‘70s. It was essentially just a black box, but it was in decent shape and when the movie costs less than a round trip on the L, who can complain? In those days you could have a lot of fun in Chicago for not much money. From what I read, that has changed for the worse in recent times.
Hidden City Philadelphia story on “accidental preservationists” contains a short profile of Linda Richardson, founder of the Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation, as well as an interior picture of the theater.
“You can’t walk through the Metropolitan Opera House without hearing the walls telling stories. Once you get sucked into that vacuum, there is no turning back. You can’t be for tearing that down. You have to be for how do we recreate it?” Eric Blumenfeld in a Hidden City Philadelphia story on “accidental preservationists.” Includes a recent interior picture of the Met, but it’s not very different from one that’s already here.
Reopening this weekend with a production of Hairspray. Philadelphia Inquirer story here.
If memory serves, a cartoon version of the Astor showed up in an animated Bill Cosby special in the ‘70s. Bill and friends had to go under the terrifying Ninth Street Bridge to get home after watching a movie there. I think the cartoon Astor looked reasonably like the picture shown here, with the name at a point up at the top.
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
The building has been sold to a group that has leased it back to the theater company. What exactly will be presented here in the future seems to be a bit up in the air. Philly.com has the story.
Philly.com concentrates on the Hiway in a story about small cinemas making the digital conversion. The Hiway is said to have raised $50,000 so far, about half of the money it needs.
Named one of the “Preservation Wins of 2012” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It’s the only theater on the list, but here’s the whole thing for anyone interested.
I wanted to find out what kind of buisness “The Ship” was. I learned that it was a restaurant, and that it was owned by a man involved in the development of the Norshore building. The big surprise was that he was the person for whom Howard Street was named, and he lived until 1984! This blog post tells his story.
Comparing some of the earlier and later pictures of the theater it’s a little surprising how much more dramatic it looks with a wider sidewalk in front of it. I presume the street was widened after the theater was built.
The original owner was Howard Fletcher, who had the theater built in 1925 and opened it in May 1926. Original seating capacity was 800 with 250 of those seats in the balcony. It was one of five theaters owned by Fletcher. In 1947 he sold the Hollyburn to a Texan named Barnes, who is said to have played too many Westerns for the taste of the local audience. Eventually the theater closed and was converted into retail space, housing a women’s apparel store called Fashionwise and later Simpson’s Hardware. Home Hardware was the occupant when the building was destroyed in a suspicious fire on May 18, 1993. Image of a news story relating all this here.
This page says that the Eureka was converted into a furniture store in the 1950s and gives its address as 3941 Market Street.
The Eureka is visible at the top right of this picture from 1949. This was during construction of a subway tunnel to replace the elevated in this area.
The postcard doesn’t look anything like the previously posted photo of the Rialto. Relinked here. I think we may have found a different, earlier Rialto.