Sam's Place One and Two
1836 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
1836 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19103
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 65 comments
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/
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.
https://phillyyimby.com/2020/12/550-foot-tall-tower-to-rise-at-1826-chestnut-street-in-rittenhouse-square-center-city.html
and where is this ‘local media’ discussing that story please?
The high rise would reportedly be above the existing facades, keeping the facades.
Interesting to read in local media, developers were considering the site for a new high rise.
The comment was removed. The CVS space is that of the lobby and the auditorium.
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
March 21st, 1980 grand opening ad as Sam’s Place also in photo section.
December 22nd, 1967 grand opening ad as Cinema 19 also in the photo section. Great ad!
November 11th, 1921 grand opening ad as Aldine in photo section. Many more Philadelphia ads to come.
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!
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.
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.
That 1928 photo is from the City of Philadelphia Archives!
1928 photo added courtesy of Mark Albrecht.
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.
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).
Alan, most of that info is already in my Introduction above but thanks for the 1963 closing date, which will be included above.
Great. Please keep on sharing!
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.
I found it: Pittsburgh, and have emailed that site to inform them of the error.
Corrected link, yes, but that site is mistaken. 954 Liberty Ave isn’t the Aldine. Some other Aldine.
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.
Is it just me or does Bruce’s link not work?