Estees Grissom

The Uptown Theater, located at 2240 North Broad Street, between Susquehanna Avenue and Dauphin Street, opened on February 16, 1929. The five-story Art Deco theater was designed by the noted architectural firm Magaziner, Eberhard and Harris, and featured a terracotta façade, high ceilings, stain-glass windows, plush carpets and velvet seats. The theater was originally owned by the Stanley Theater/Warner Brothers chain, and movie-goers included wealthy industrialists and working-class immigrant families.

In the decades following the Great Depression, with the collapse of Philadelphia’s manufacturing base, and rising unemployment and crime, many white residents moved out of Philadelphia and into the suburbs. By the 1950s, North Philadelphia had become the center of African American culture as the Black population grew significantly due to migration from southern states, and the pervasive practice of housing discrimination that limited the mobility of many African Americans to inner city neighborhoods.

Theater mogul Samuel H. Stiefel purchased the Uptown Theatre in 1951, where he promoted live rhythm and blues, gospel, and soul music shows that targeted African American audiences. The theater became a pivotal player along with the Apollo Theater in New York, the Howard Theater in Washington, DC, and Regal Theater in Chicago, on the “Chitlin Circuit.” This nationwide network of performance venues helped to advance the careers of Black singers, musicians, and comedians in the era of Jim Crow and racial discrimination at white mainstream entertainment spots.

In its heyday, the Uptown featured performances by Ray Charles, James Brown, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, Patti Labelle, and the Temptations, to name a few. Comedians such as Redd Fox and Flip Wilson also performed at the Uptown Theater.

During its heyday from the 1950s until it closed its doors in 1978, the theater — located on Broad Street between Susquehanna and Dauphin — featured performers ranging from gospel legends to comedy titans to Motown royalty.

For a ticket price that modern-day concertgoers couldn’t even imagine — an evening with Diana Ross of the Supremes cost $2.50 in the ’60s — legendary WDAS radio personality and producer Georgie Woods put on shows featuring the likes of the Jackson Five, the Temptations, “Little” Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and the Four Tops.

Pictured below is the Uptown Theater in 1963. Posted by Carl Manley.

Downtown/Center City - 11th and Market Streets looking west. 1952 Vs. 2009. Even the pole is still in the same spot!!

They had changed so much

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TikTok · Mickael Grissom Check out Mickael Grissom's video.