AMC Palace
1812 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
1812 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
2 people
favorited this theater
Theater 1812 was an independent first-run theater of the 1960’s and 1970’s, that eventually switched to adult films. It closed and became a meeting hall for the city teachers' union, then was leased by Budco and reopened as the Palace in the early 1980’s. When AMC acquired Budco it was said that this was the only single-screen theater in their chain. It closed for good not long after that.
Contributed by
RickB
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
This theatre should be listed as closed/Demolished. A Boyd’s clothing store now occupies the spot where the Theatre 1812/AMC Palace Theatre was orgiginally at.
I think it’s still the same structure though; Boyd’s just took out some walls and expanded their store from the western part of the building (1818 Chestnut) eastward into the former theater space.
I remember this building. You could see much of the theater from Sansom Street.
From 1974 to when the theatre closed in 1978, its film attractions were “Over 21” only. After the Federation of Teachers used the theatre, Budco reopened it on Friday, Nov. 4, 1983 as the Budco Palace Theatre. However, it closed permanently in Nov. 1992.
I remember a large curved marquee. I visited the booth when they were showing “The Stewardesses” in single strip 3D. The Peerless Magnarcs had the new Diachroic reflectors. It was around 1971. I lived and breathed projectors back then. It’s still in my blood.
Yes, large curved marquee.
Photo by Dennis Zimmerman with Lion in Winter on marquee:
View link
Thanks to Dennis for taking the photo & allowing it to be posted.
1969 photo of the theatre 1812.
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The first X rated film shown was the exclusive Philly showing of Deep Throat in 1972.
As I recall lines were around the block.
Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ye2a3vc
Vince Young informs me that the new Theatre 1812 opened 7/7/67 with “The Jokers”