Uptown Theatre

53 S. Main Street,
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Fox Circuit, Loew's Inc., Paramount Pictures Inc.

Architects: Alton B. Paulson, R. Lloyd Snedaker

Previous Names: Empress Theatre, Paramount-Empress Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Paramont Theatre

Nearby Theaters

1913

Opened as the Empress Theatre on October 31, 1911. It was renamed the Paramount -Empress Theatre in 1916 later becoming the Paramount Theatre. It was taken over by Joseph L. Lawrence Theatres and remodeled in 1941 to the plans of architects Alton B. Paulson & R. Lloyd Snedaker. It reopened as the Paramont Theatre on November 20, 1941, but the owners were taken to court by Paramount Pictures Inc. for a breach of copyright in the theatre name and it was renamed renamed Uptown Theatre July 23, 1942.

The theatre was closed August 1, 1971 and was demolished to make way for the ZCMI Center shopping mall. Because of concerns from the mall’s owner, LDS Church, about the showing of R-rated movies, a new theatre was not built to replace the Uptown Theatre. The mall is also closed on Sundays.

Contributed by Grant Smith

Recent comments (view all 10 comments)

William
William on December 7, 2003 at 12:20 am

The Uptown Theatre seated 1380 people.

pianoman
pianoman on December 24, 2004 at 3:12 pm

A picture of this one is in the GREAT book The New Let There Be Neon,p.107.

deleted user
[Deleted] on May 2, 2005 at 2:50 am

What a shame this theatre was demolished.

utahguy
utahguy on July 18, 2007 at 3:40 am

The ZCMI Center is being demolished, as far as I know, in the big downtown re-do that the LDS Church is doing.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 18, 2008 at 3:17 am

Here is an article about the demise of the Uptown. Date is 7/21/71:
http://tinyurl.com/6zjx5r

rivest266
rivest266 on February 22, 2010 at 11:38 pm

Marcus Loew’s taken it over on September 11th, 1914
ad is at View link

rivest266
rivest266 on February 27, 2010 at 6:01 pm

The ad that ronp mentioned on June 6th, 2009 can be seen at View link

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 19, 2010 at 12:00 am

The Uptown can be seen in this night shot circa 1950s:
http://tinyurl.com/y9z9b8j

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on December 28, 2010 at 6:34 pm

Henry Fonda had a nice run with “THE MAN WHO UNDERSTOOD WOMEN” here at the UPTOWN in October of 1959.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 3, 2022 at 6:53 pm

1911, 1941 and 1942 grand opening ads posted.

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