Category:Strand Theater, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Object location	40° 36′ 07″ N, 75° 28′ 26″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.601944; -75.473889

Strand/Cinema Theater 

former cinema in Allentown, Pennsylvania
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Instance of	movie theater
Location	Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Street address	12 N. 8th Street, Allentown, PA 18101
Inception	1917
Date of official opening	1917
Date of official closure	1953
Dissolved, abolished or demolished date	1987
Maximum capacity	794
40° 36′ 07″ N, 75° 28′ 26″ W
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The Strand Theater was opened in 1917 as a spinoff of the Lyric Theater. During World War I, many of the Army training troops in Allentown would go to the Lyric theater for entertainment. The Lyric was a large theater that primarily presented state productions, but it would also show occasional silent films. The theater would draw large crowds on movie nights, more than it did when it presented stage shows. It was decided to build a cinema only theater to show movies, and plays and other performing shows at the Lyric.

The Strand Theater, as it was named, was Allentown's first large (1,000 seat) silent movie theater that played first-run Hollywood films when it opened. It had a large organ with full-time organist for playing silent film music scores. Adapted to sound films about 1929. The Strand was one of several large ornate movie theaters in Allentown Central Business District, providing Saturday morning matinees, serials, and multiple film showings daily. It was extensively renovated in 1928.

Cinema Theater[edit]

The Strand was sold in 1930 to the A. B. Boyd company which also purchased the Embassy Theater, With the sale, it became associated with the Paramount Chain of theaters. The Boyd chain would supply both the Embassy (later Boyd) and the Strand theater in Allentown with films and advertise them jointly. A. B. Boyd sold the theater in the spring of 1941 and the new owners closed the theater for several weeks. After extensive renovations, it was reopened as the "Cinema Theater" in April, however the theater was still associated with the Boyd chain for film distribution.

Closure[edit]

As with many movie theaters in Allentown, the theater began to lose money with the advent of television beginning in 1948. In January 1954, it showed its last film and it was closed. The theater was sold to the Farr Brothers shoe company, who operated a large retail store at 8th and Hamilton Streets.

After the sale, it was turned into a mixed-use building, with the former theater lobby becoming leased retail space for several businesses. The theater auditorium became a warehouse and distribution center for Farr Shoes. For decades after its closure as a movie theater, its large theater marquee remained attached to the front of the building, used for advertising of the retail store in the front lobby section. The former theater doors, as well as the front of the box office were retained and used as entrance and exits. A simple plywood wall was put up to separate the lobby from the auditorium section.

Farr Shoes went out of business in 1986, the Strand Building, as it was called, was sold. The old theater auditorium was torn down and the land used for a parking lot. The lobby section was retained and used for retail space. In the early 2000s, the remaining front section was extensively renovated and is now used for both retail and office space. The old theater marquee, which had remained attached to the front of the building, unfortunate had deteriorated to such an extent that it had to be removed for safety reasons.