Friends of the Boyd www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org appreciate the mention on this website, and your ongoing support. Philadelphia must not lose its last surviving premiere motion picture palace.
Today’s Philadelphia Daily News reports Dan Gross | LiveNation dumping Sameric?LIVENATION has “launched a process to divest” the majority of its North American theatrical assets, the company announced in the fourth-quarter financial report released on Thursday.
The report includes a Philadelphia theater among those to be sold. That would be the Sameric at 19th and Chestnut streets.
The theater, built as the Boyd in 1928, is Center City’s last great movie palace and was closed in May 2002. Clear Channel, of which LiveNation is a subsidiary, bought the theater in January 2005 from the Goldenberg Group, and said it would turn the Sameric into a multi-use entertainment house. We reported in September that LiveNation had ceased construction and renovations on the Art Deco theater, and said its sale was “possible.”
Howard B. Haas, chairman of Friends of the Boyd, a nonprofit group working to preserve the theater, is upset that the theater could again face demolition if sold to an owner who is not interested in operating it as a live venue.
Haas said his group will do whatever it can to ensure that the theater is not demolished.
“We are looking at all options for the property and a sale is one possibility,” LiveNation spokesman John Vlautintold us in an e-mail. “But nothing definitive has been decided at this point about the Boyd,” he wrote.
LiveNation is also selling its Broadway Across America business, which programs touring theater shows. Industry speculation is that LiveNation is looking to sell the venues as a package.
“We cannot predict when, or if, any transaction will occur with respect to these properties,” the company’s economic report said.
Last year the Pearl Group bought three small auditoriums attached to the Boyd from the Goldenberg Group and is seeking retail or restaurant tenants.
It would be unacceptable for the Senator to close! It is an Art Deco gem, and one of the best remaining historic moviehouses in the nation. It is a great theater and a huge asset to the Baltimore-Washington DC region. Something should be worked out to avert the immediate crisis. Afterwards, donations, grants, etc. should be obtained to ensure continued operation and community enjoyment of the Senator.
The theater has been rescued by Lori Nay and Diana Spencer. They had been trying for 20 years to rescue the theater which opened in 1912. A potential one million dollar restoration is planned for the Beaux Arts theater. A unique feature of the theater is a well in the basement which was used for cooling and heating the theater.
Although the screen isn’t a giant like the Uptown in DC, it is a very big screen. I usually sit towards the back of the “orchestra” seating and appreciate how large the Ziegfeld screen actually does look. It is bigger than most screens in megaplexes, though not all of them.
A friend suggests to me the following (after I also sent him the links to exterior photos for two Phila. area theaters- Bala and Anthony Wayne:
“The photos were taken with a fish-eye lens. The blue color is probably cause they didn’t want to use normal color photos and didn’t want to use black-and-white either, so they went for a tinted monochrome photo. I get the feeling they didn’t care at all about showing off the theatres, but just wanted some distinct placeholder graphic for each one.”
By very detailed emails, Jim Rankin assisted Friends of the Boyd (www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org) in our understanding and retrieval of our original Lighting Control Panel.
He also inquired about the non-original, but interesting grillwork on the Yeadon Theater (no demolished) in suburban Philadelphia.
I’ve enjoyed his many postings on so many theaters on this site!
The theater’s website has photos and history of the auditorium ceiling dome mural, which was painted in 1985. The site also discusses the restoration of the theater.
When I saw movies in 2001, I was told that Theater 3 had 262 seats and Theater 4 had 300 seats.
Visiting this past weekend, I was told Theater 1 also has 300 seats. 12-22 Friday evening’s first show of “The Good Shepherd” looked like it sold out, in its opening weekend. Sound was only from behind the screen. Red fabric was at the top of the side walls and the back wall of the auditorium. The rest of the side walls are off white with sconces that have lights on top of what look like corkscrews. The seats are luxury seats.
The theater is on the 3rd floor. The lobby continues to have a red tent like ceiling. A hall to the right of the lobby leads to the auditoriums and to a bar.
I don’t understand what this paragraph means-
“Considering the importance of this project, Todd Katz, holder of the Paramount Theatre property, enthusiatically moved the holdings, and tributed by mural painting of the Paramount and Strand theatres on his new property of operations of Siperstein Paints located at Route 36, Long Branch , NJ.”
“moved the holdings”?
“tributed by mural painting”?
Not part of Sameric chain. The Eric 3 was replaced by the Bridge theater. The Cinemagic 3 was not an Eric. I believe it was a Budco, and it might have earlier been a GCC. I think it was built in the 1970’s. It closed 2005. My notes from 2003 indicate auditorium 3 had 219 seats.
Having read the description of the theater on this website, and looked at the exterior and interior photos, I am impressed by how wonderful this Art Deco gem is and overjoyed that it will be saved and open again to benefit the public! This is a giant win win, and all parties are to be congratulated!
Regards from Philadelphia, www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org, volunteering to save our Art Deco theatrical showplace.
At our website, How to Help, you can find my direct email address towards the bottom of the page. I’d appreciate hearing from you directly including whether you saw any differences today inside the Boyd from recently. I’m not sure what was “cleared out” unless you mean concession stand that was removed last year from the Grand Lobby. And, I am eager to know whether For Sale on the small auditorium property or the Boyd itself, if you are sure on that point.
I am going to also seek direct clarification from the ownership. Thanks.
Under the marquee is the original, historic Boyd Theatre. To the west, closer to 20th than 19th Street, is the long blank wall of the three former small auditoriums. The small auditoriums aren’t historic, and that space was gutted and available for rent. Is that where you heard workers and where you saw a new for sale sign?
If you enter your contact information at www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org you will receive our free email Weekly Updates. The last formal notice from Live Nation, the Boyd’s owner, was that they were considering whether to proceed with the project or place the theater up for sale. The Friends of the Boyd will continue to volunteer to ensure the Boyd is restored and reopened.
The marquee says Anthropolgie and the store is packed with shoppers! Festive holiday music is piped in. Very decorative metal railings go to a downstairs level and an upper level, accompanied by huge ornate metal chandeliers and other ornate decoration.
I love single screen movie theaters, especially ones that use their curtain before the movie as this one always did. I saw a few movies at the Guild 50 in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, and would still travel there to see movies if they were being shown. However, the interior was plain as a theater as a post says above. The most interesting part was going upstairs to look out the windows. The old theater’s interior is actually more entertaining now!
Friends of the Boyd www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org appreciate the mention on this website, and your ongoing support. Philadelphia must not lose its last surviving premiere motion picture palace.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snweb/
for photos of this theater.
Today’s Philadelphia Daily News reports Dan Gross | LiveNation dumping Sameric?LIVENATION has “launched a process to divest” the majority of its North American theatrical assets, the company announced in the fourth-quarter financial report released on Thursday.
The report includes a Philadelphia theater among those to be sold. That would be the Sameric at 19th and Chestnut streets.
The theater, built as the Boyd in 1928, is Center City’s last great movie palace and was closed in May 2002. Clear Channel, of which LiveNation is a subsidiary, bought the theater in January 2005 from the Goldenberg Group, and said it would turn the Sameric into a multi-use entertainment house. We reported in September that LiveNation had ceased construction and renovations on the Art Deco theater, and said its sale was “possible.”
Howard B. Haas, chairman of Friends of the Boyd, a nonprofit group working to preserve the theater, is upset that the theater could again face demolition if sold to an owner who is not interested in operating it as a live venue.
Haas said his group will do whatever it can to ensure that the theater is not demolished.
“We are looking at all options for the property and a sale is one possibility,” LiveNation spokesman John Vlautintold us in an e-mail. “But nothing definitive has been decided at this point about the Boyd,” he wrote.
LiveNation is also selling its Broadway Across America business, which programs touring theater shows. Industry speculation is that LiveNation is looking to sell the venues as a package.
“We cannot predict when, or if, any transaction will occur with respect to these properties,” the company’s economic report said.
Last year the Pearl Group bought three small auditoriums attached to the Boyd from the Goldenberg Group and is seeking retail or restaurant tenants.
It would be unacceptable for the Senator to close! It is an Art Deco gem, and one of the best remaining historic moviehouses in the nation. It is a great theater and a huge asset to the Baltimore-Washington DC region. Something should be worked out to avert the immediate crisis. Afterwards, donations, grants, etc. should be obtained to ensure continued operation and community enjoyment of the Senator.
This sounds like terrible news.
News story at View link
The theater has been rescued by Lori Nay and Diana Spencer. They had been trying for 20 years to rescue the theater which opened in 1912. A potential one million dollar restoration is planned for the Beaux Arts theater. A unique feature of the theater is a well in the basement which was used for cooling and heating the theater.
He continues as a leading member of the state house.
Although the screen isn’t a giant like the Uptown in DC, it is a very big screen. I usually sit towards the back of the “orchestra” seating and appreciate how large the Ziegfeld screen actually does look. It is bigger than most screens in megaplexes, though not all of them.
Has Clearview in fact already been sold to Liberty Media? I didn’t find a sale in a quick google search.
A friend suggests to me the following (after I also sent him the links to exterior photos for two Phila. area theaters- Bala and Anthony Wayne:
“The photos were taken with a fish-eye lens. The blue color is probably cause they didn’t want to use normal color photos and didn’t want to use black-and-white either, so they went for a tinted monochrome photo. I get the feeling they didn’t care at all about showing off the theatres, but just wanted some distinct placeholder graphic for each one.”
Does anybody like this photo of the Ziegfeld auditorium recently posted on the Clearview website?
View link
The Yeadon “no” should read “now demolished.
By very detailed emails, Jim Rankin assisted Friends of the Boyd (www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org) in our understanding and retrieval of our original Lighting Control Panel.
He also inquired about the non-original, but interesting grillwork on the Yeadon Theater (no demolished) in suburban Philadelphia.
I’ve enjoyed his many postings on so many theaters on this site!
Rest in peace!
The theater’s website has photos and history of the auditorium ceiling dome mural, which was painted in 1985. The site also discusses the restoration of the theater.
Evening photo:
View link
No food or drinks:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billadler/290529849/
View up the block:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katmere/55099418/
When I saw movies in 2001, I was told that Theater 3 had 262 seats and Theater 4 had 300 seats.
Visiting this past weekend, I was told Theater 1 also has 300 seats. 12-22 Friday evening’s first show of “The Good Shepherd” looked like it sold out, in its opening weekend. Sound was only from behind the screen. Red fabric was at the top of the side walls and the back wall of the auditorium. The rest of the side walls are off white with sconces that have lights on top of what look like corkscrews. The seats are luxury seats.
The theater is on the 3rd floor. The lobby continues to have a red tent like ceiling. A hall to the right of the lobby leads to the auditoriums and to a bar.
I don’t understand what this paragraph means-
“Considering the importance of this project, Todd Katz, holder of the Paramount Theatre property, enthusiatically moved the holdings, and tributed by mural painting of the Paramount and Strand theatres on his new property of operations of Siperstein Paints located at Route 36, Long Branch , NJ.”
“moved the holdings”?
“tributed by mural painting”?
Here’s the link to theater operator website with photos of the theater’s interior!
http://www.phoenixtheatres.com/unionpictures.htm
Not part of Sameric chain. The Eric 3 was replaced by the Bridge theater. The Cinemagic 3 was not an Eric. I believe it was a Budco, and it might have earlier been a GCC. I think it was built in the 1970’s. It closed 2005. My notes from 2003 indicate auditorium 3 had 219 seats.
my link ddn’t work- that’s www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org
Having read the description of the theater on this website, and looked at the exterior and interior photos, I am impressed by how wonderful this Art Deco gem is and overjoyed that it will be saved and open again to benefit the public! This is a giant win win, and all parties are to be congratulated!
Regards from Philadelphia, www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org, volunteering to save our Art Deco theatrical showplace.
At our website, How to Help, you can find my direct email address towards the bottom of the page. I’d appreciate hearing from you directly including whether you saw any differences today inside the Boyd from recently. I’m not sure what was “cleared out” unless you mean concession stand that was removed last year from the Grand Lobby. And, I am eager to know whether For Sale on the small auditorium property or the Boyd itself, if you are sure on that point.
I am going to also seek direct clarification from the ownership. Thanks.
Under the marquee is the original, historic Boyd Theatre. To the west, closer to 20th than 19th Street, is the long blank wall of the three former small auditoriums. The small auditoriums aren’t historic, and that space was gutted and available for rent. Is that where you heard workers and where you saw a new for sale sign?
If you enter your contact information at www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org you will receive our free email Weekly Updates. The last formal notice from Live Nation, the Boyd’s owner, was that they were considering whether to proceed with the project or place the theater up for sale. The Friends of the Boyd will continue to volunteer to ensure the Boyd is restored and reopened.
The marquee says Anthropolgie and the store is packed with shoppers! Festive holiday music is piped in. Very decorative metal railings go to a downstairs level and an upper level, accompanied by huge ornate metal chandeliers and other ornate decoration.
I love single screen movie theaters, especially ones that use their curtain before the movie as this one always did. I saw a few movies at the Guild 50 in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, and would still travel there to see movies if they were being shown. However, the interior was plain as a theater as a post says above. The most interesting part was going upstairs to look out the windows. The old theater’s interior is actually more entertaining now!
Somebody obviously didn’t read the article.