Center Theater

1638 Market Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19103

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: RKO Stanley Warner, Stanley-Warner Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.

Architects: W. Pope Barney

Firms: Barney & Banwell

Previous Names: Bruce Lee Center Theatre

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Center Theater

The westernmost of Philadelphia’s Market Street grindhouses. The Center Theatre was opened on March 5, 1937 with Dick Powell in “Gold Diggers of 1937”. It was designed by architectural firm Barney & Banwell. In 1972 it began screen adult movies. In 1981 it was renamed Bruce Lee Center Theatre screening kung-fu movies and calling itself the “Martial Arts Center” in its directory listings. I think it outlasted its neighbors (Fox Theatre, Milgram Theatre and Studio Theatre) but not by much; it was closed on April 30, 1982. It was converted into retail use as a hat shop and was later demolished.

Contributed by RickB

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

Mikeoaklandpark
Mikeoaklandpark on April 18, 2005 at 7:35 am

When it was an RKO theater it ran double features and changed on Wed and Sunday’s. When RKO sold it, it became a porno house.

Oliver
Oliver on April 18, 2005 at 1:22 pm

It is funny that it outlasted the Fox and Milgram theatres because when I worked at the Milgram in the early 70’s, there was talk of the buildings west of the Milgram to 17th Street being torn down for an office complex, but in 1980 it was the Fox, Stage Door Cinema and Milgram that was torn down and the PNC Building put up, about 2-3 years, the rest of block was torn down for Liberty Place.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 21, 2005 at 2:05 pm

I have to admit that I did pay 99 cents to attend one of the Center Theater’s less stellar presentations in 1975 or thereabouts. Thankfully my mother does not own a computer.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 14, 2010 at 10:02 am

Architects should be updated per the preceding post.

bobc316
bobc316 on July 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm

the center theatre was also called the BRUCE LEE CENTER

whimpy02
whimpy02 on December 1, 2011 at 9:04 pm

Some of my friends and I visited the Center when we were playing hookey from high school one day in 1975. The films were about the worst films possible to see. They were rip off movies. You thought you were gonna see hardcore porn but they were perverted, censored smut.

alps
alps on January 26, 2014 at 7:40 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).

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on January 24, 2025 at 6:13 am

This $245,000 Center Theatre was architected by W. Pope Barney. It launched March 5, 1937 with “Gold Diggers of 1937” on a grind policy. It featured double features of Hollywood fare continuing its grind policy into the early 1970s. In 1969, however, the theatre went strictly with M-rated mature art and action films ensuring an adult only audience.

In 1972, the theatre programming switched to porno chic, playing double-features of X-rated films. It then gravitated to showing one rated X porno chic film along with one unrated, what were referred to as “XXX” adult films. In 1978, the policy switched to double-features of only unrated, “XXX” films.

On February 13, 1981, the venue abruptly changed policies to a Chopsocky grind house called the Bruce Lee Center Theater (as noted above) with Bruce Li in “Call Me Dragon” and Chen Kuan-Ti in “Dirty Chan.” On April 30, 1982, the venue closed with John Woo’s “Manhunt” and Bruce Li in “Dynamo” undoubtedly at the expiry of a 20-year and a renewed 25-year leasing agreement. There are no more listings after that other than it became a retail hat store. It was later demolished.

Mikeoaklandpark
Mikeoaklandpark on January 24, 2025 at 12:39 pm

If I remember correctly this was a RKO Stanley Warner theater prior to going porn

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