Kent Theatre
2459 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19125
2459 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19125
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It was located on the east side of the Frankford elevated trains not far from Mighty Mick’s Gym and the Tropical Fish store featured in the Rocky movies. The marquee didn’t jut out far because of the “el”. This building was signifacantly wider than it was deep. My understanding is that the loge area was similar to today’s stadium seating rather than a separate balcony.
the theater closed in 1967.the marquee outside had the words: “closed for repairs.please visit the nearby midway theater”.those words (through all kind of weather) stayed on the marquee for nearly 15 years.it was demolished in the early 1990’s and it is now a basketball court.the kent was basically a second run theater meaning someone like me, who was too young to see “the ten commandments” in the 50’s, got a chance to see it at the kent in the mid 60’s.
I spent many happy days at The Kent. On Saturdays you got 2 features, plus cartoons. On Sundays, you got 3 features! Saw tons of films, there. It cost 25 cents. Between the features, on Saturdays, the manager, “Uncle Jack”, would get on stage and call ticket stub numbers. If you had one of these “lucky buck” numbers, you went up on stage, and “Uncle Jack” would ask you your name and what school you attended, then he would give you a 1 dollar bill; which was a lot of money back then. It was a happy, wonderful time!
I’m pretty sure that the online sources that mention this theater have the address wrong; it was near Cumberland Street, which should make it something like 2449 instead of 2649. Demolished by the ‘90s at the latest (the Inquirer ran a picture of a neighbor sitting in a seat in the half-razed theater) and closed long before that, probably in the mid- to late '60s.