Riviera Theater
4441 Main Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19127
4441 Main Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19127
1 person
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Opened as the Empress Theater in 1914, the theater was renamed the Riviera in 1932 and remained in operation until it was closed in 1962.
Today, the building has been converted for use at the Loring Building Products Company. At the time it closed, Main Street in Manayunk was in decline. Today, the area has been revitalized and is a very trendy and vibrant area with an influx of restaurants, cafes, stores, nightclubs, etc.
Contributed by
Dennis McG, Marc Wiser
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The Empress now houses the United States Bar & Grill-see their webpage (http://www.ushotelbar-grill.com/)
I don’t believe the info being presented here on this theatre is correct. I show the Riviera Theatre to have been located here, 4441 Main Street in Manayunk, from 1914 to 1962. The building is still there but converted for use by the Loring Building Products, not the Unitied States Bar and Grill (this was always an old-time bar).
The Philadelphia Architects and Buildings site shows that the Riviera Theater operated as the Empress Theater from 1914-1932. The address was 4441 Main Street. This theater should be listed as the Riviera Theater.
You can read about it here.
Thank you for clarifying & confirming Empress vs Riviera. Never heard of it being the Empress at one point, so I learned something here.
From Boxoffice magazine, January 1960:
The Riviera Theater, Manayunk, has discontinued its weekend vaudeville stage shows, as they failed to bring in any extra business.