Logan Theatre
4732 N. Broad Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19141
4732 N. Broad Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19141
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 69 comments
An Inquirer story on May 26, 1973 reported that the Logan had been sold by RKO Stanley Warner Theaters, Inc., to The Deliverance Evangelistic Association, Inc., for $350,000. The article noted that the once-vast Stanley Warner real estate holdings within the city limits had been reduced to three theaters–the Astor, Benn and Center, with the company operating the Midway and perhaps others under lease. In total the chain still had about a dozen houses in the region, compared to 74 for Budco and 50 for Sameric.
The Logan Theatre closed on January 30, 1973 with Ringo Starr in “Blindman” and Paul Winfield in “Trouble Man.”
what’s the status with this beauty? looks incredible!
I know the owner of this theater. He’s working very hard to get it back to it’s original status
I’ll revise that then.
Yes, the Stanley Warner theater chain was spun off from the studio by 1951. The full corporate history isn’t easy to trace, but in 1967 Stanley Warner was acquired by Glen Alden Corporation, which already owned RKO Theatres and combined the two chains as RKO-Stanley Warner. Some time later another merger created RKO Century Warner, which was acquired by Cineplex Odeon, which eventually sold its US holdings to AMC. By then I suspect that virtually all of the original Stanley Warner properties had been sold off or closed, but if The Saturday Evening Post could trace its history back to Ben Franklin’s print shop then I suppose you can say that AMC is Stanley Warner’s successor.
I linked your article to Friends of the Boyd page at Facebook. Not sure that Stanley Warner is part of Time Warner. The studio production facilities, ok, but the historic theaters I think went in another direction to other entities over time.
Check out some photographs and brief history of the Logan atAfter the Final Curtain
January 20th, 1924 grand opening ad in the photo section. It opened on the 24th.
Chandra Lampreich, whose pictures are featured in the Hidden City post is a CT member with over 100 pictures posted, you can view them here.
I don’t believe this has been linked yet. This post from Hidden City Philadelphia has several photos of the Logan showing the interior renovations as of 2012, most of them paired with vintage 1924 photos of the same scenes.
The text notes that Dr. Williamson bought the Logan in 2005. The church which had moved into the house in 1973 had moved out in 1992, and much damage had been done during the years the building was vacant. The Logan Theatre closed as a movie house in 1972.
I lived at Broad and Wyoming from 1963 to 1969. I used to play around the theatre especially climbing the water tower on top of the theatre which of course is not there any more. I also would go to the Rockland and the Esquire theatre in Olney where I got my first job as an usher making 85 cents an hour. Met my first girlfriend who worked there behind the candy counter, Robin Baumback. I used to work 70 to 80 hours a week there How someone reads this and it will bring back memores of these theatres and the Era/time we lived in the Logan ares. Used to shop at Leon delicatessen just up the block across the street.
In his overview, Jeff says Dr. Williamson aquired the Logan Theatre in the late-2000’s. Since this is only 2015, it appears this should be the late-1900’s — or early 2000’s.
1966 – The Singing Nun – The Sisters of St. Basil took the older children from St. Basil’s school at Ogantz & Lindley Aves. to see the film. I think it was the only time we had an outing with the nuns. Happy days.
I was surprised that the old building on Broad Street is the theater that you are honoring your late wife.I am happy that you are doing such a good thing. Rowan Farquharson.
The photos in the gallery (above) show a lot of work has already been done – the re-painting is beautiful! Looks like good progress is being made.
Well its Oct.27.2014 I drove by the theatre yesterday coming from work. On the outside it’s still the same as last mo. and the mo. before . I’m not tall enough to check out the roof. The theatre is always locked up so you can not see inside. The WEB site shows old pictures. What we need is some pictures of the work being done. UPDATED PHOTOS. I drive pass this theatre several time a week. Let me in and I will take some photos.
naysayer rgs
Getting tired of these naysayers! Guys like raymondgordonsears and rastakurt offer nothing positive. Looking at the roofline, I see several surveillance cameras have been installed. Another large dumpster is in the parking lot. And the curtains from the Copa Room at the Sands in Atlantic City were purchased for the theater. And a new roof is in place.
Yes, also when the logan showed movies they used the old type carbon burning tip to show the movies via the old projectors. the film use to come in big metal boxes and taken from theatre to theatre. Now the didgital film is out the cameras will have to be updated. in carlisle we have one drive in opened with the older type of projector carbon. it is harder to get those movies most movies r didgital the drive in has taken up a collection from the audience per in the snack bar area if they do not get enough money to replace those old fashioned cameras they would have to close and we do not want that to happen. the donations have been coming in nicely to help with getting the new projectors. Now this is carlisle, pa.
So many ex loganites will invade that thetre when it opens again. they do not care about the neighborhood they just want to see old memories re lived. i remember Harry, was the doorman, barney cohen was the mgr at the time, they had a asst mgr but i forget his name. we had a deal worked out the ushers and ticket takers from the logan could come to the rockland and broad theatre and get in for free and we could go to the logan and get in free. most of my young life was spent in those three movies and i never paid. my dad was a handyman for the rockland and broad repairing things, done it cheaper than a registered plumber and the mgrs really appreciated it. He also worked at the Ellis corp other theatres doing repair work.. let me and others know when the theatre opens do not care what the ticket costs. we loganites want to come in droves to get a little bit of history and memories back. thanks for letting us know.
Yes, the Dr is doing this in memory of his late wife. A lot has been done, but a lot is still to be done. The original seats are still there, he is working on getting them refurbished and most of the work done is restoration work.
I know this because I’ve been helping out the Dr with his efforts and have been keeping a close eye on it to make sure no more damage happens.
As of 10/09/13 the logan theatre is being re done over. a dr. is doing it for his wife. their has been new roof, new wiring, new dry wall, new seating put in plus other stuff. u can not see anything from the outside but the inside is getting worked on from what i saw posted the other day. it wants to go back to it’s original conditional.
For those who are interested in the restoration work being done, please check out this link http://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheLogan
An official website is in the making.
I used to live a few blocks from The Logan Theater back in the 1940s. I wrote a little story about my Saturday Matinee experiences with a photo of what the Logan looked like in the old days. Here’s a link to the story: http://bit.ly/f56x18
This place will never open. I pass it every week with NO activity. Its almost a year now. Whats up. rg