All of the links I posted before now seem to be dead, so I posted all of the pictures here instead.
Many of the pictures posted are actually of the old Reading Theatre, which was located in the middle of Reading Square. (There is no separate listing for it here, but it was at about 650 Main Street – up the road a bit from 555 Main Street.)
There must have been two different places know as “Reading Theater” (or more specifically “Reading Theatre”) as these pictures show two different locations in downtown Reading.
Judging from these pictures, the earlier location was in the middle of Reading Square (where the Woolworth’s / CVS would later stand).
Here you can see the theater on the left and the Old South Church on the right (from a postcard with a 1915 postmark) View link
Here is another shot (framed more to the left, so you can see a horse): View link
This is a 1914-dated picture that shows a closeup of the theater’s doorway (the sign on the sidewalk is the same as the one in the two previous pictures): View link
Now, here are some pictures of the later location (where Fabric Town used to be – just down the hill a bit from Pizza World).
Judging from the marquee, this one’s circa 1953: View link
Again, based on the marquee, this one is from 1955: View link
Here’s another shot (looking down from Haven St.). The theater is on the left, opposite the Texaco station: View link
I grew up in Reading, but I have no memory of the Reading Theater. When was it closed? (I remember going to Fabric Town as a child with my mom, so the theater must have been gone by the mid to late 60’s.)
All of the links I posted before now seem to be dead, so I posted all of the pictures here instead.
Many of the pictures posted are actually of the old Reading Theatre, which was located in the middle of Reading Square. (There is no separate listing for it here, but it was at about 650 Main Street – up the road a bit from 555 Main Street.)
There must have been two different places know as “Reading Theater” (or more specifically “Reading Theatre”) as these pictures show two different locations in downtown Reading.
Judging from these pictures, the earlier location was in the middle of Reading Square (where the Woolworth’s / CVS would later stand).
Here you can see the theater on the left and the Old South Church on the right (from a postcard with a 1915 postmark)
View link
Here is another shot (framed more to the left, so you can see a horse):
View link
This is a 1914-dated picture that shows a closeup of the theater’s doorway (the sign on the sidewalk is the same as the one in the two previous pictures):
View link
Now, here are some pictures of the later location (where Fabric Town used to be – just down the hill a bit from Pizza World).
A picture dated 1924:
View link
Judging from the marquee, this one’s circa 1953:
View link
Again, based on the marquee, this one is from 1955:
View link
Here’s another shot (looking down from Haven St.). The theater is on the left, opposite the Texaco station:
View link
I grew up in Reading, but I have no memory of the Reading Theater. When was it closed? (I remember going to Fabric Town as a child with my mom, so the theater must have been gone by the mid to late 60’s.)
A few posts up, Theatre Projectionist could not remember what was in the former Caldor/Ames building at Redstone.
Before Caldor (and then Ames), the store there was Gilcrist’s (my mom worked there in the mid-70’s when they had their going-out-of-business sale).