Uptown Theatre

Found out while read a obituary of Hank Milgram, that Milgram Theatres once owned the Uptown Theatre, sometime after the joint Sam Shapiro-Warner Bros. Pictures ownership (Sam Shapiro the building, Warner Bros. Pictures, through Stanley Warner Theatres, the operational rights)

Link to January 2020 article with some updates!

The Uptown was scheduled to enter the final phase of renovation sometime in 2020, with renovations completed and reopening scheduled for 2022.

It was not clear exactly how much renovation has been completed so far, but at least some has.

The project has taken awhile because of delays in securing full funding. A capital campaign had raised $10,000,000 and there were two grants bringing the total to about twelve million.

Good to see that renovation has made considerable progress and that an opening date has been set!

Website down; the restoration may have stalled.

Opened on February 16th, 1929. Grand opening ad at http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201929/Philadelphia%20PA%20Inquirer%201929%20-%202195.pdf

and in the photo section

This theater was closed and reborn in the late 70’s early 80’s.

Not much of a lighting.

There are no real plans for the Uptown, just scams and hustlers trying to get public money . This place will stand until someone with enough insurance money will have it burned down as they did with most of the historic buildings in north philadelphia.

Former Motown singer Kim Weston talks a little about the Uptown in this Philadelphia Inquirer story. Clicking on “View images” under the picture leads to a 1972 photo of the Uptown and a vintage ad for a Georgie Woods-presented show at the theater.

Philadelphia Inquirer column on the progress of the restoration here.

This is the 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/l6dsty

I go to Temple and drive past the Uptown every day on my way to school. It really is a gorgeous building and I’m sad to see it in such disrepair. I’m only 25 years old and I’ve never seen movie theatres or concert halls like the Uptown or the Boyd in use during my lifetime. It’s a shame because buildings like these really are works of art, and as a movie history buff, I wish they could make a comeback.

I did want to comment that some of the photos other people have posted several years ago look very little like the Uptown today. Last year (or maybe it was the year before), there was a lot of work being done on the theatre – the facade was restored a bit and the marquee was fixed up. They put new lights in the “Uptown” sign (although many of them have burned out again since I don’t think they ever turned the lights off!) There is still wooden boards covering the entrance with murals of the Jackson 5 and other things I don’t remember off hand. In late 2007, there was a nice mural done on the side of the building (you can see it if you’re coming North up Broad Street) with Richard Pryor, and other Motown acts that I assume performed at the theatre at one time.

The only sad thing now is that the theatre is still not being used as far as I can tell and I haven’t seen any work done on actual restoration since early 2007 (not including the mural!)

Here is an undated interior photo:
http://tinyurl.com/26csar

Mayor Street recently presented a million dollars to the nonprofit engaged with saving & reopening the Uptown