Clearfield Theatre
2512 E. Clearfield Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
2512 E. Clearfield Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
2 people
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Additional Info
Architects: Albert Douglas Hill, Harvey Childs Hodgens
Firms: Hodgens & Hill
Functions: Fraternal Hall
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News About This Theater
The Clearfield Theatre opened in 1920 seating 735. It was equipped with a Gottfried 2 manual organ. The theatre was remodeled in 1930 and the architecture firm for the remodel was Hodgens & Hill. The theatre closed on August 8, 1960 with Stuart Whitman in “Murder Inc.”, Ray Danton in “The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond” & Lee Patterson in “Jack the Ripper”.
By 1970 it had been given an imitation stone front and was in use as the Polish National Alliance Headquarters and is also the Port Richmond Pharmacy. In early-2026 the pharmacy section of the building suffered damage from a fire.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
ken mc, do you have any other memories of the clearfield? would like to hear them, thank you.
some fine photos of the clearfield are on phillyhistory.org; search 2500 e. clearfield st.
I went to the Clearfield only once as a boy. MGM was running a promotion with Quaker Oats for Forbidden Planet. They put a free child’s ticket in each box of oatmeal. My dad took me to see it at the Clearfield on a double bill with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. What ever happened to double features? I don’t remember anything about the inside of the theater, but I seem to remember that the theater’s name was in blue neon above the marquee.
Here is a 1951 photo from phillyhistory.org:
http://tinyurl.com/og6rsr
WHAT KIND OF PHOTOGRAPHY IS THIS GOOD, LOOKSLIKE CIA (lol)
I saw “THE THING” on a saturday matinee, the entrance fee was .10, I had my eyes closed half the time as I sat in the front row & was scared to death.
The Clearfield closed at the end of a second 20-year lease permanently on August 8, 1960 after a triple feature of “Murder, Inc.” “The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond,” and “Jack, the Ripper.” That’s the way to close a theater. The address was dedicated as the new home of the Polish National Alliance Headquarters on June 22, 1962.
Port Richmond Pharmacy recently had a fire here :-/
I am worried that the theater is in danger of being demolished
The only Port Richmond Pharmacy I know about is on E Allegheny Ave near Thompson, no where near where the Clearfield was. I also looked around online for some more info about this fire and couldn’t find anything.
Is there links or photos I might have missed? thanks.
Port Richmond Pharmacy was located in the Clearfield Theater for decades and only recently moved to the new address you are talking about. If you look back in time on Google Street view, such as this shot from 2017 (https://tinyurl.com/4fymrx57), you can see that it used to be the Pharmacy. The Pharmacy moved because of the fire. I plan to do some investigating on site soon to see how bad the damage was.