Uptown Theatre May Spark An Uptown Revival

RENOVATIONS beginning now at Uptwon Theatre are seen as sparking other N. Broad Street renovations. Photo: Gabriel Gottlieb

BY GABRIEL GOTTLIEB/ The famed Uptown Theatre, a landmark theater on N. Broad Street that had entertained generations of Philadelphians and launched many musicians and singers to stardom, has finally started its long-awaited renovation.

The renovation is being spearheaded by the Uptown Entertainment & Development Corp., which owns the theatre and runs several youth arts and educational programs.

 The first phase of the project is to renovate the multi-story building in the front of the theatre, above the entrance and historic marquee on Broad Street, into an educational and community center for those youth (and some adult) educational and arts programs.

Funding, from government sources and private fundraising is in place for that phase, while the UEDC is still raising money to renovate the large, historic auditorium for modern entertainment uses. The UEDC had also lit up the famous letters over the old marquee, during the holiday season, to draw attention to the renovation efforts.

The Uptown Theatre first opened in the 1920s as an art deco “movie palace” for Warner Brothers. From the 1950s through the 1970s, it was a musical venue and was the location for R & B, Blues singers, and Motown acts. In the ’70s, it also became a place for many Philadelphia singers and bands to perform and get noticed.

The list of performers included James Brown, The Supremes, Patti LaBelle, The Jackson 5, The O’Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Marvin Gaye, and Hall & Oates. The theatre closed in 1983 and had been used intermittently as a church until 2003.

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