Friends of the Boyd

09/07/2026

The Boyd hearing for the owner's request to remove the marquee & Vestibule walls, scheduled for Friday Sept 11 has been postponed till Oct 9. Please join us at the Philadelphia Historical Commission, 1515 Arch Street (the aluminum colored building) 18th floor (photo ID needed for security). New! current photo by Hanna Stack of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Rendering by Ambit Architecture.

09/01/2026

Thanks to the strong message in today's Center City Residents Association newsletter! (link in comment) They are upset with the owner's application to alter the facade. "Boyd Theater's Surviving Architectural Features Are at Risk" "The marquee and the vestibule are irreplaceable artifacts of the pre-television era, when the movie palaces lining Market and Chestnut Streets were the entertainment center for the two million residents of the nation’s third largest city." James Fennell photo

08/31/2026

Louis Bluver, has departed at age 87. Lou was a key & passionate supporter of Friends of the Boyd and of the Philadelphia film community! A legit theater at the Drake is also named after him. R.I.P. Lou.

View LOUIS S. BLUVER's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

08/26/2026

Right now, Center City's Landmark Ritz 5 Theatre is closed by L & I order. Let's hope it soon reopens! Gift article.

In March, the Ritz was cited for several violations by the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections. On Aug. 11, the theater again failed an inspection.

08/19/2026

Awesome note to the Historical Commission by Taimage Brennan, of Philadelphia: "There are things more important than corporate profits: there is history, culture, the visual interest and identify of neighborhoods. The Boyd Theater has a role in all these human and humanistic endeavors. It deserves to be spared and repurposed with all its present street-facing marquee intact." Well, said! Keep the marquee!

08/16/2026

Thanks to Norman B. Beil for this Google Gemini Art Deco redesign. We are advocating for the existing, historic features to survive, not a redesign, but this sure is snazzy! And it illustrates how a marquee & Vestibule walls enhance the Boyd facade!

08/16/2026

R.I.P. Janet Klein, preservationist tour de force. She helped get designated the Boyd! Gift article.

“She was an inspirational community leader,” said David Boardman, dean of Temple’s Klein College, “who inspired others through her generosity, her brilliance, and her warmth.”

08/11/2026

The Boyd hearing for the owner's request to remove the marquee & Vestibule walls, scheduled for Friday Aug 14 has been postponed till Sept 11. Please join us at the Philadelphia Historical Commission, 1515 Arch Street (the aluminum colored building) 18th floor (photo ID needed for security). Existing, photo by James Fennell. Rendering by Ambit Architecture.

07/31/2026

At the Ambler Theatre (1928) today to enjoy, in a rare screening, the drama "Once Upon a Time in a Cinema" set in a long vacant Irish cinema restored for the movie! Friends of the Boyd leaders Howard B. Haas, Michael Bencik, Lisa Rosen in front a Boyd Cinerama projector that we salvaged from the Boyd & donated to the Ambler for film exhibits. For years, Mike actually stored the projectors in his basement so he was overjoyed to see this one restored & on exhibit!

07/18/2026

Another Philly movie palace lost! The Jumbo (named after the elephant which is depicted on the facade in this photo) opened 1909 at Front & Girard & showed movies till 1961. Later a warehouse, recently retail. The community opposed a 2008 plan to reopen it for concerts & food! The theater became famous later when the original facade was briefly uncovered, and the original proscenium arch of the auditorium was also briefly uncovered. See photos in comments below. Now being demolished for an apartment building. So sad.