Star Theatre
2640 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19125
2640 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19125
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The Star Theatre was a $20,000 venue built in 1914 for John Knoell. Louis Sheffitt performed a 1941 remodeling to the plans of David Supowitz. James Milgram closed the theatre at the expiry of a second 20-year lease in 1954 and was taken over by new operators becoming the Starlite Ballroom later in 1954. A picture of the new Starlite Ballroom is in photos.
The marquee is now gone, as is the blue paint seen in the preceding photo.
Another shot of the Star marquee may be found here.
Here is an undated photo from the Philadelphia Architects & Buildings site. The photo is from the Irin Glazer collection:
http://tinyurl.com/2lofyc
I worked on the building in the early 90’s the outreach center down Kensington Avenue had bought it for taxes and we were using it as a soup kitchen. We showed Monday night football on the big screen. Some years earlier it had been flatten up word and turned into a dance hall but the old hardwood was in total disrepair by then. Sure would love to see the place again.
A tiny hole-in-the-wall theater. It had no lobby to speak of. You practically walked right into the theater which was separated from the street only by a curtain in a doorway. I remember seeing the original “The Thing” here.