Comments from alps

Showing 26 - 50 of 122 comments

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre on May 23, 2015 at 2:14 pm

With the certain election of Jim Kenny as mayor, whose in the pocket of the powerful electricians union, expect more of the same? Center City lately has seen an increase in foot traffic, at least the Boyd could have been an IMAX theater there are none in Philadelphia at all, and I’m not counting the Franklin Institute. I would like to see the Met restored to its glory as a concert hall since that section of North Philadelphia is now seeing a renaissance.

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre on Mar 15, 2015 at 4:02 pm

It was distressing news about the Boyd / Sam Eric being demolished. But I knew that this was going to happen anyway, when I saw the chain link fence on Samson Street, it became real. Center City Philadelphia is on the move, my mind is frozen on the Summer of 1981, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 70mm, was playing on the then single Sam Eric screen, after a quick rain shower, when the cool summer air has a sweet smell to it, stopping on Chestnut Street at Hillary’s ice cream parlor for a chocolate chip in a sugar cone. Philadelphia is a political town; why else do all the touring Broadway shows always are performed at the Academy of Music, which is not a theater for plays.

The Boyd was too far from the Avenue of the Arts, Center City, doesn’t want a concert hall on 19th and Chestnut, or a movie theater for that matter. Now there is only one downtown movie house left over from the movie palace era, the CVS drugstore. The Price Theater, the former Kalton/Midtown, was retail before being converted into a theater. To be honest it iPic’s dinner idea went into effect, I properly would not have patronized anyway, people in movie theaters today are annoying enough without ordering a meal when I’m trying to watch a film. Maybe the movie theater era is over; the experience is not worth the aggravation factor at times. Philadelphia still has Hoffman and Henon designed theater left on Broad Street, the Uptown is one, and the neighborhood the Met is in is now being gentrified, there is hope.

alps
alps commented about Sansom Cinema on Dec 21, 2014 at 8:50 pm

There is now only one Adult Theater in downtown Philadelphia, The Adonis Theater on Samson Street. I believe the Samson’s Atlantic City cousin, is still open.

alps
alps commented about Sansom Cinema on Dec 8, 2014 at 5:34 pm

Sansom Cinema is now closed, the end of an era.

alps
alps commented about Sansom Cinema on May 18, 2014 at 12:10 pm

Not exactly zero, there is the amazing Tropicana IMAX theater. Top notch staff and great movies.

alps
alps commented about Ritz 5 Theatres on Apr 27, 2014 at 8:39 pm

Right, Budco never owned the Theater, but Variety used to say, in the 70’s, that Milgram Theaters were the owners when they would report grosses, much to the surprize of Mr. Posal. “Budco like” means that, the theater was twinned by building a wall in the center, and not adjusting the seats, which after nearly 30 years, remain on a slant. I try to avoid films there unless they play in the bigger theater.

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre demolition begins on Mar 23, 2014 at 10:07 pm

I had come to terms with the theater being torn down, but the lobby, too? I wonder what happens when the asinine trend of theater eateries fail. But too late, theater gone!

alps
alps commented about Remnants of Times Square’s Loew’s Mayfair Theater on Mar 15, 2014 at 12:01 am

I believe that around the side of this theatre, statues of Mary Pickford and Sarah Bernhardt are there. They should be restored.

alps
alps commented about Center Theater on Jan 26, 2014 at 9:40 pm

This theater did show hard core porn, I guess in 1975, this was around the time I was in high school, my buddy and I saw “Sexual Freedom in Brooklyn” (soft core) and “The Birds and the Beads”(hard core).

alps
alps commented about Battle for Boyd reaches fever pitch on Jan 26, 2014 at 12:01 pm

The best model for the Boyd Theater would be mix use. Unfortunately, that cannot happen because of the stranglehold that the Academy of Music has on touring Broadway shows. The Academy is the perfect venue for concerts, operas, and the ballet, but a terrible one for plays and musicals. The Boyd cannot stay in the condition it is in any longer. In the last six months it was open, I would refuse to go there, 2001 Harry Potter movie, would be the last I would see of the main auditorium, the horrible bathroom. The teal and yellow orange paint slopped on trim for the Philadelphia movie premiere, worn out carpet, and overzealous security. I don’t get this whole idea of restaurant movie theaters, love or hate Howard Haas, he’s right, once that theater is torn down, it’s gone, gone forever. In New York City, all of the Times Square movie theaters are gone or repurposed, the Boyd Theater would have a better outcome if it were on the Avenue of the Arts.

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre on Jan 26, 2014 at 12:00 pm

The best model for the Boyd Theater would be mix use. Unfortunately, that cannot happen because of the stranglehold that the Academy of Music has on touring Broadway shows. The Academy is the perfect venue for concerts, operas, and the ballet, but a terrible one for plays and musicals. The Boyd cannot stay in the condition it is in any longer. In the last six months it was open, I would refuse to go there, 2001 Harry Potter movie, would be the last I would see of the main auditorium, the horrible bathroom. The teal and yellow orange paint slopped on trim for the Philadelphia movie premiere, worn out carpet, and overzealous security. I don’t get this whole idea of restaurant movie theaters, love or hate Howard Haas, he’s right, once that theater is torn down, it’s gone, gone forever. In New York City, all of the Times Square movie theaters are gone or repurposed, the Boyd Theater would have a better outcome if it were on the Avenue of the Arts.

alps
alps commented about Superman turns 35 and more on Jan 3, 2014 at 7:34 pm

Back in 1977, people from Philadelphia would travel to the Astor Plaza to see STAR WARS in 70mm and Dolby. First movie I saw there was John Ritter in Hero at Large the next, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Later the first three Indiana Jones movies, said goodby with SPIDER MAN2

alps
alps commented about AMC Voorhees 16 on Dec 20, 2013 at 9:04 pm

Carmike in Voorhees has just raised it’s prices on admission by .25 for day shows, and it’s concessions has gone up as well. Christmas 2013, has too many releases at on time. Management and employees are doing a great job , the best group on young people I experienced working in a theater in a long time. I will say, outstanding!

alps
alps commented about Ritz 5 Theatres on Dec 4, 2013 at 10:10 pm

It is time for this theater to be updated. I am now avoiding this theater unless I have to go there. The bathrooms are too small and hard to get to for ladies, the is one good screen, the seats are broken and you have to turn your head to watch the film because of it’s Budco like twinning in ‘85. Tear it down and rebuild it.

alps
alps commented about Roxy Theater on Dec 4, 2013 at 9:58 pm

I jumped the gun, it’s still being worked on.

alps
alps commented about Roxy Theater on Nov 20, 2013 at 6:03 pm

HOORAY!!!!! It’s open!

alps
alps commented about 61st Street Drive-In on Nov 19, 2013 at 3:38 pm

Saw the biggest movies of the the 70’s there. Willard, Dr. Phibes, Shaft, Dirty Harry, The Godfather. Next to the funky river and refineries.

alps
alps commented about AMC Voorhees 16 on Oct 30, 2013 at 7:53 pm

Carmike is putting money into the theatre. I like their stimulus tuesday idea, and their $5.50 shows in the afternoon. I don’t like is their ugly standup posters covering the portraits of the great filmmakers, that partrons never heard of.

alps
alps commented about Roxy Theater on Oct 20, 2013 at 1:55 pm

October 18, 2013. I went to the open house for the ROXY. I am looking forward to it’s reopening. Full handicap access. It’s smaller in seating and the brick wall lobby is lost due to the new digital projection. One 35mm projector is in the smaller theater. New seats, new bathrooms and consession stand.No more leaking ceilings and musty smells, and the movies will be better, with NYC Film Forum type programing, can’t wait!

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre on Oct 10, 2013 at 4:35 pm

Well see, the residents will never allow it. They kept the Ritz from opening on Walnut Street. Chestnut Street at night is full of drunken young people. The Boyd in it’s current state could never be a movie theater again, on the other hand, the building is standing in the way of progress and is becoming an eyesore. How much longer can they keep painting over the “tags”, or keep Homeless people from burning it down? I would hate to see the theater go, but Philadelphia is the most corrupt city outside of Gotham City, it’s politics that all Broadway roadshows are at the Academy of Music, the worse venue. My hope for the Boyd as a better Prince Music Theater, may not ever happen.

alps
alps commented about Multiplex proposed for Boyd on Oct 8, 2013 at 9:55 pm

I seriously doubt that they would put a multiplex there, what kind of films will it play? The reason why there isn’t a general motion picture theater in the area is because of the element it would attract. Think the Riverview, the now shuttered UA 69th Street, and the former UA Cheltenham 8. I would love to see the Boyd/ Sam Eric reopen. There has been talk of new movie houses before, the most recent, on 18th & Arch. The Ritz, the Ritz couldn’t get a theater to open on Walnut Street. Speaking of the Ritz, there are 12 screens the soon to be reopened Roxy with two more a grand total of 14 screens showing art films. Thirty years ago, I and a friend of mine, went to see Scarface, and we escaped with our lives, in 1990 Christmas Day, someone pulled a gun at The Godfather Part III. The days of general film exhibition in Center City are gone. Film at the Prince was a great experiment, I am grateful for seeing Seven Samurai, Wages of Fear, and “Spanish” Dracula on that big screen. I did go to the Sam Eric in it’s last years, after December 2000, it was too much, the rotting decay, the awful men’s room, the overzealous security kept me out of there. Howard Haas, is passionate about this theater, thank God for him, it pains him as it does me to see this theater still shuttered after 11 years. If this plan goes through, that will be the end of any possibility of seeing a 70mm film or restored movie palace. One of the posters is right, the Academy of Music is not a venue for plays and musicals, the Boyd would be a great mixed venue theater.

alps
alps commented about Roxy Theater on Aug 11, 2013 at 12:31 pm

Will the ROXY be open in time for the Philadelphia Film Festival?

alps
alps commented about Forum Theatre on Aug 9, 2013 at 11:13 pm

Maybe a good place for a Alamo Draft House could be the lot where the Forum once stood.

alps
alps commented about Roxy Theater on Jun 12, 2013 at 10:48 pm

Looks like work has stopped for now, was supposed to open last May. This would have been a good venue for the silent Hitchcock 9 film retro. If I were working, I would give more money to get this open.

alps
alps commented about Boyd Theatre on May 20, 2013 at 9:50 pm

May 25th is the 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi at the Sameric 3. People stood on line all night. Management almost caused a riot when they announced the first showing would be on one of the smaller screens.They wised up and showed it on the main screen. Nothing compared to this theater filled to the brim. Later that year Scarface open causing another near riot.