Sam's Place One and Two

1836 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19103

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Showing 1 - 25 of 65 comments

m00se1111
m00se1111 on April 3, 2023 at 11:29 pm

Today’s Philly Voice has the latest on the 46 story apartment building that will rise above the current CVS keeping it and the facade of the former Aldine in place

https://www.phillyvoice.com/center-city-apartments-construction-cvs-chestnut-goodman-properties/

m00se1111
m00se1111 on August 29, 2022 at 12:03 am

thanks for the link Howard, but philly yimby? Oy.

This looks to be concept drawings from December of 2020. When something is official, get back to us.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on August 28, 2022 at 11:04 pm

https://phillyyimby.com/2020/12/550-foot-tall-tower-to-rise-at-1826-chestnut-street-in-rittenhouse-square-center-city.html

m00se1111
m00se1111 on August 28, 2022 at 8:24 pm

and where is this ‘local media’ discussing that story please?

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on August 28, 2022 at 6:18 pm

The high rise would reportedly be above the existing facades, keeping the facades.

Do
Do on August 28, 2022 at 6:15 pm

Interesting to read in local media, developers were considering the site for a new high rise.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on January 17, 2022 at 1:45 am

The comment was removed. The CVS space is that of the lobby and the auditorium.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 18, 2017 at 5:52 pm

At Facebook, Vintage Philadelphia, Don Mason posted this- The Aldine Theater became Cinema 19. When the Woodstock film opened in 1970, I recall standing in the long line to see the film. A great cinematic experience back then. Groundbreaking use of the split screen. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary

rivest266
rivest266 on October 9, 2016 at 11:55 am

March 21st, 1980 grand opening ad as Sam’s Place also in photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on October 7, 2016 at 8:44 pm

December 22nd, 1967 grand opening ad as Cinema 19 also in the photo section. Great ad!

rivest266
rivest266 on October 6, 2016 at 10:32 pm

November 11th, 1921 grand opening ad as Aldine in photo section. Many more Philadelphia ads to come.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 23, 2016 at 12:30 pm

Robert Ford also commented as below about the manager here & his own jobs- Harry Roegner was the manager of Sam’s Place. He worked all day until finally getting relief from assistant mgrs from around the Eric chain. I was well versed in all positions. Usher, doorman, concessions, box office, name it. The next move was to the big one!! The SAMERIC Theatre!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 23, 2016 at 12:23 pm

Robert Ford who later worked as an Assistant Manager at the Sameric (Boyd) posted the following at Friends of the Boyd Facebook page, after posting he had been hired for Eric’s Place & transferred to Eric Mark One-

In 1980 a new Eric theatre was constructed at the site of the old Aldine(?) theatre. Sam’s Place at the southeast corner of 19th and Chestnut street. A meeting was called for the staff of all of the Eric theaters. The “best” , lol, of these were picked and informed of a mandatory transfer to Sam’s Place. As an usher, now at the great new theatre, the standard green waist usher jacket was tossed aside for a brown sports coat. The black bow tie changed to a brown long tie. This was something really special here! Along the Chestnut and 19th street exterior were long, electrically retractable awnings for people in line during bad weather.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 26, 2015 at 4:31 pm

Thanks. I’ll add proper credit beneath it. Found it on the Vintage Philadelphia Facebook page, and credited the source there. I always search the comments first, and did not see any link for it.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on November 26, 2015 at 4:26 pm

That 1928 photo is from the City of Philadelphia Archives!

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 26, 2015 at 4:24 pm

1928 photo added courtesy of Mark Albrecht.

RSM3853
RSM3853 on August 10, 2015 at 3:27 am

The Pittsburgh Aldine was an old Loew’s theater which later was renamed the Nixon. It was Pittsburgh’s home for stage productions on tour from Broadway as well as a number of roadshow films. “The Sound of Music” played there for over 2 years.

TheALAN
TheALAN on September 27, 2014 at 2:18 pm

In 1953, Harry Sley, president of the Sley System, a parking lot operator, aquired the Aldine Theatre with plans to convert it into a parking garage. After neighborhood opposition, plans were changed and well known theater architect William Harold Lee, AIA (1884-1974) was hired to remodel the theater. It reopened as the Viking Theatre in 1954. (The Viking closed in 1963 and remained shuttered until 1967 when it reopened as the Cinema 19).

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 27, 2014 at 12:07 am

Alan, most of that info is already in my Introduction above but thanks for the 1963 closing date, which will be included above.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 6, 2011 at 3:03 am

Great. Please keep on sharing!

Bruce Calvert
Bruce Calvert on September 6, 2011 at 2:45 am

I already had an Aldine program from this theater in Philadelphia, so I assumed that my 1925 program was from the same theater. I have corrected the webpage and posted the program on CT under the Pittsburgh Aldine.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 3, 2011 at 11:37 pm

I found it: Pittsburgh, and have emailed that site to inform them of the error.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 3, 2011 at 11:30 pm

Corrected link, yes, but that site is mistaken. 954 Liberty Ave isn’t the Aldine. Some other Aldine.

Bruce Calvert
Bruce Calvert on September 3, 2011 at 9:45 pm

No it’s not just you. Here is a corrected link to the March, 1925 theater program for the theater, now called the Loew’s Aldine.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 3, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Is it just me or does Bruce’s link not work?