PhillyHistory Blog

Shawn Evans, Atkin Olshin Schade Architects

Few recent historic preservation struggles have captured the public’s attention in Philadelphia as dramatically as the Boyd Theatre.  Since 1928, this art-deco movie palace has graced the 1900 block of Chestnut Street and entertained millions of Philadelphians in its nearly 2,500 seats.

The theater closed in 2002 and remains vacant.  The Friends of the Boyd successfully fought off a demolition permit and continue to advocate for an authentic restoration and viable business approach that will return the theater as a vibrant entertainment venue.[i]  The Boyd stands as the last movie palace (a grand theater with more than 1,000 seats) and serves as a stunning reminder of a time when it became common to erect extraordinary architecture for the entertainment of the masses.[ii]   A stroll through the history of Philadelphia’s movie theaters demonstrates the importance of saving the Boyd.

The first public showing of a motion picture (perhaps the first in the world) occurred in Philadelphia at B.F. Keith’s Bijou Theatre at 209 North 8th Street in 1895.[iii]   These films were brief silent experiments of the moving image.  Within a year, this new form of entertainment was regularly shown at the Bijou.  The 1,200 seat theater was built as a variety theatre in 1889 to the designs of New York theater architect John Baily McElfatrick.[iv]   The Bijou was at the heart of a long-vanished theater district along 8th Street, now home to the Gallery Mall, Police Headquarters, and the former Metropolitan Hospital.

Public demand for motion pictures increased quickly and Center City’s commercial streets were soon home to hundreds of store-front nickelodeons.  136 of these small theaters opened in Philadelphia between 1905 and 1917, most of which were only open a few years.  Seen here in a 1911 photo is the Fairyland, a nickelodeon that operated at 1319 Market Street from 1909 to 1913.  The sign above the elaborate entrance reads, “No pictures in the city compare with films shown at Fairyland – They are the newest, cleanest, and most interesting produced.  Admission 5¢.”[v]

The advent of full-length feature films in the 1910s brought the downfall of nickelodeons, as bigger theaters were now needed that were capable of comfortably seating larger audiences for longer periods of time.  275 movie theaters were opened in Philadelphia through 1932.  The finest of the movie palaces were located in Center City, although many were built in the outlying neighborhoods.[vi]   One of the first palaces was The Stanton, erected in 1914 at 1620 Market Street to the designs of W.H. Hoffman.  Hoffman later partnered with Paul J. Henon Jr. in the Hoffman-Henon Co., one of America’s most prodigious theater designers.  They designed over 100 theaters, including the Boyd Theatre and 46 others in Philadelphia.  The 1,457 seat Stanton was originally named The Stanley, for Stanley Mastbaum of the Stanley Corporation, who by 1920 was the largest theater operator in the country.  During the era of silent pictures, the Stanton featured a full orchestra.  The theater was renamed The Milgram in 1968 and was demolished in 1980.[vii]

The second theater named the Stanley opened at the southwest corner of 19th and Market in 1921.  The 2,916 seat movie palace was designed by the Hoffman-Henon Co.  The new Stanley was also host to musical offerings and had its own renowned orchestra.  While the building’s exterior and interior were designed in pure classical traditions, a tremendously exuberant illuminated sign covered much of the Market Street façade.[viii]  The most famous event at the Stanley had nothing to do with film –Al Capone was arrested here in 1929.  The Stanley was demolished in 1973 and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange opened on this site in 1982.

One of the few movie palaces that still embellishes Center City sidewalks is the Aldine Theatre, at the southeast corner of 19th and Chestnut, although it stopped operating in 1994 and is now a CVS.  Designed by William Steele & Sons, Architects, this 1,341 theatre later cycled through a series of names such as the Viking, Cinema 19, and finally Sam’s Place in 1980 when its ornate interior was divided into two separate theatres.[ix]  This theater is the subject of another PhillyHistory Blog entry, “See and Hear the World’s Greatest Entertainer,” which focuses on the nature of blackface seen so prominently on the theater’s exterior.[x]

The Karlton Theatre, 1412 Chestnut Street, was another Hoffman-Henon Co. theater that opened in 1921.  Constructed behind a c.1880 second-empire style façade, the elaborate interiors were decorated in the classical style and featured extensive use of marble, murals, tapestries, and gilding. Renamed the Midtown Theatre in 1950, the historic façade was concealed behind plastic siding and its interiors stripped.  The 1,066 seat theater was eventually twinned and in 1999 was renovated as the Prince Music Theatre.[xi]

Several of Philadelphia’s finest movie theaters were built within larger commercial structures.  The Fox Theatre opened in 1923 next door to the Stanton at the southwest corner of 16th and Market.   Designed by the noted New York theater architect, Thomas W. Lamb, the 2,423 seat Fox was home to both film and elaborate stage shows, featuring an in-house orchestra.[xii]   Demolished in 1980, the Fox inspired an ultimately unsuccessful preservation fight as it was recognized that the Fox was the last of the grand neoclassical movie palaces.

The Erlanger Theatre occupied the northwest corner of 21st and Market Streets from 1927 to 1978.  Built primarily for legitimate theatre, it also showed film.  The 1,890 seat Erlanger was another Hoffman-Henon theater, and featured eclectic interiors in Spanish, French, and English styles.[xiii]   The photograph below documents illegal signage.  During the 1930s, the Philadelphia Art Jury, the predecessor to the Art Commission, enforced strict standards on commercial signage which resulted in the loss of many extraordinary marquees and signs, including the 30’ tall vertical blade sign on the Boyd Theatre, which was removed around 1935.

The Boyd Theatre was the next major movie palace to open in Center City in 1928 and the only downtown movie palace designed in the Art-Deco style.  While eclectic styles such as Spanish and North African had been used for theaters in outer neighborhoods, the previous downtown theatres had all been built in more rigid classical styles.  The Boyd represents the acceptance of more “modern” styles.   This 1934 image captures a happenstance that reinforces the modernity of the Boyd – a horse-drawn wagon selling milk and ice cream passes by the marquee advertising that the theatre is closed for the summer for the introduction of air-conditioning.  The letters B-O-Y-D have been replaced with C-O-O-L on the corners of the marquee.  While the Boyd was designed to accommodate “talkies,” it was still equipped with a small stage and orchestra pit, needed for the presentation of silent films.

The last and largest of Philadelphia’s downtown movie palaces was the Mastbaum Memorial Theatre, built at 20th and Market in 1929.  This 4,700+ seat (!) theater was another Hoffman-Henon design.[xiv]    It was an outrageously expensive anachronism from the moment it opened.  The end of silent films made presenting films much simpler and the audience could more easily be transported to another place or time without need for such elaborate architecture.  After only 29 years of entertainment, this palace met the wrecking ball – one of the first of these grand theaters to go.

For the most part, the era of these elaborate buildings was over even before the Great Depression began.  The economy would dry up both financing for construction and the growth of expensive forms of popular entertainment like legitimate theater, but film remained a good business as ticket prices were so low.  Smaller theaters continued to be built.  Perhaps the last dramatic theater building in Center City was the Trans-Lux Theatre, erected in 1935 at 1519 Chestnut Street. [xv]  Designed by Thomas Lamb (architect of the Fox as well), this 493 seat theater was a vibrant expression of the new through its Art-Moderne style.  The Trans-Lux survived as a theatre until 1993, then operating as Eric’s Place.  Perhaps this remarkable façade lies underneath the 1970 white and black siding of the building, now occupied by the Finish Line sporting goods store.

The economics of the motion-picture business today make it unlikely that the few surviving structures will be restored solely for film, yet these buildings retain a powerful hold on the collective imagination.  We are unwilling to let them go.  Like the damsels in distress tied to the railroad tracks in so many of the movies that played inside, their future is momentarily uncertain.  We await creative rescue plans that can return these buildings to the public.

Thanks to Howard B. Haas for reviewing this and making helpful comments.

References

[i] BOYD: See the Friends of the Boyd website for more information, history, and photos: http://www.friendsoftheboyd.org/index.html Additional information on the building can be found here: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/12550 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1209/

[ii] Irvin Glazer (1922-1996) documented the history of Philadelphia theaters in two books:  Philadelphia Theaters: A Pictorial History (Dover Publications, 1994) and Philadelphia Theatres, A-Z: A Comprehensive, Descriptive, Record of 813 Theatres Constructed Since 1724 (Greenwood Press, 1986).  His collection of photographs, clippings, and research files is housed at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia.  Most of the photographs have been scanned and are available online in a format that permits zooming.  http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/co_display.cfm/483480?CFID=60415619&CFTOKEN=31750787

[iii] Glazer, Philadelphia Theaters: A Pictorial History, p.xxii.

[iv] BIJOU: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/8126

[v] FANTASYLAND: A similar zoom-able image can also be found at http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm?RecordId=AFA0B8B0-5A85-4AE6-8880AC8D08FDE994

[vi] The neighborhood theatres are different in character and just as interesting, but this blog entry focuses on the theaters in Center City.

[vii] STANTON: Glazer, p.17. See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/5907 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/3393/

[viii] STANLEY: Glazer, pp.26-27.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/19220 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4526/

[ix] ALDINE: Glazer, p.27.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/8622 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/3358/

[x] https://phillyhistory.wpengine.com/index.php/2006/06/see-and-hear-the-worlds-greatest-entertainer/

[xi] KARLTON: Glazer, pp.28-29.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/6878 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1803/

[xii] FOX: Glazer, pp.31-33.  See also:  http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/5520 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1177

[xiii] ERLANGER: Glazer, pp.42-45.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/12547 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/22732/

[xiv] MASTBAUM: Glazer, pp.70-78.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/6244 and http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1207/

[xv] TRANS-LUX: This photo shows the site just three months earlier: http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Detail.aspx?assetId=14907.  See also: http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/7212

As the film industry’s annual awards season gets underway, Philadelphia’s connections to Hollywood and the movies is a fascinating topic to explore through the various entertainment-related photographs available on PhillyHistory.org.

For Philadelphians and film buffs alike, Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 film Rocky exemplifies the intersection of Hollywood storytelling and the spirit of the city more than any other.   The story of a small-time boxer from Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood who rises to fight for the world heavyweight championship, Rocky won the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director and spawned five sequels over the next thirty years.  In that time, the film’s connection to Philadelphia became undeniable, epitomized by the famed scene in which Rocky triumphantly runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and looks out over the Ben Franklin Parkway.

Among the most enduring and referenced moments in entertainment, the scene has made the Art Museum a prime pop culture destination and inspired passionate debate about Rocky’s place in Philadelphia’s cultural heritage.  For the filming of Rocky III in 1982, Mr. Stallone commissioned a bronze, 8-foot statue of the character to sit atop the celebrated steps and, once filming was complete, left the statue as a gift to the city.  Viewed by the Philadelphia Art Commission as more of a movie prop than a piece of art, the statue was moved to the Spectrum at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, leaving only a pair of footprints at the top of the stairs to mark the scene of Rocky’s illustrious climb.  Nonetheless, the association between Rocky and the Art Museum endured and, over the next twenty years, the statue was re-installed on the steps for the filming of Rocky V, Philadelphia, and other films before permanently returning to the Museum in 2006.  By a 6-2 margin, the Art Commission voted to install the statue on a granite pedestal just off Kelly Drive, about thirty yards north of the Museum steps.  A public dedication ceremony was held on September 8, 2006 and featured a screening of the first Rocky, a film and character that, as Mr. Stallone told the crowd of approximately 3,000 spectators, “could only come from the City of Brotherly Love.”

Beyond Rocky, countless movies have been filmed in Philadelphia, including The Sixth Sense, In Her Shoes, Invincible, The Lovely Bones, and Marley and Me. A Philadelphia-native and graduate of Friends’ Central School in Wynnewood, legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma has filmed a number of movies in the city, including Dressed to Kill (1980) and Blow Out (1981).  While filming Dressed to Kill in 1979, Mr. De Palma and actress Angie Dickinson were honored at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which serves as the setting for a scene in which Ms. Dickinson’s character encounters a mysterious stranger at a museum.  Likewise, key scenes from Blow Out, which starred John Travolta and Nancy Allen, were filmed in and around such Philadelphia landmarks as Independence Mall, 30th Street Station, and City Hall.  Perhaps most notable is the climatic chase scene in which John Travolta’s character drives a Jeep through the City Hall courtyard before crashing into a display window at Wanamaker’s Department Store.  After filming was complete, Blow Out premiered at the Budco Regency Theater at 16th and Chestnut Streets on July 23, 1981.  Welcomed back to Philadelphia by a crowd of enthusiastic fans, Mr. Travolta received an Independence Hall replica from City Representative Richard A. Doran, while Ms. Allen received a replica of City Hall.

If Rocky is the quintessential Philadelphia film, Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, is perhaps the most illustrious native among the many actors and actresses who hail from the City of Brotherly Love.  The Kelly family resided in Philadelphia’s East Falls neighborhood and Grace’s father, John Brendan “Jack” Kelly, was a prominent Democrat who ran for Mayor in 1935 and later served on the Fairmount Park Commission. The future Princess Grace graduated from Stevens School in Germantown in 1947 and went on to become an Academy-Award winning actress best known for her roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and To Catch a Thief. She left Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 and visited Philadelphia several times in the years following her marriage.  In April 1963, the royal couple was on-hand to inaugurate the Monaco pavilion at a travel and vacation exposition in the city and was welcomed by both Mayor James H.J. Tate and Miss Philadelphia, as seen in the photographs from their visit.  During that same trip, Princess Grace and Prince Rainier were also the guests of honor at a ball at the Philadelphia Museum of Art sponsored by the Philadelphia Fashion Group, which honored the Princess for her “leadership in fashion.”

Incidentally, Princess Grace was not the only Kelly family member to become the stuff of Philadelphia legend; her brother, John B. Kelly, Jr., was an Olympic rower who won a bronze medal at the 1956 games and subsequently became the namesake of Kelly Drive.  This bit of trivia is just another instance of how entertainment and celebrity have been woven into the fabric of the city throughout its history and allowed Philadelphia to continually captivate audiences and filmmakers alike.

References

“IMDb: Most Popular Titles With Locations Matching ‘Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.’”  The Internet Movie Database. <http://www.imdb.com/search/title?endings=on&&locations=Philadelphia,%20Pennsylvania,%20USA> (Accessed 14 January 2011).

“Princess Grace is honored at Philadelphia Fashion Ball.”  The New York Times, April 23, 1963.

“Rainiers Coming to United States.”  The New York Times, February 27, 1963.

Ronberg, Gary.  “They Came, They Saw, and Travolta Conquered.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 24, 1981.

Vitez, Michael.  “‘Rocky and I thank you:’ Statue unveiled; Stallone unbridled.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 2006.

Vitez, Michael.  “Rocky statue ready to hit the steps: With a win, the fictional pugilist is back at his old haunt- The Art Museum.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 2006.

Even as a winter chill descends upon the Northeast, Philadelphians have always known how to keep the season fun and festive with a variety of recreational activities and events. From ice skating on Reyburn Plaza to sleighing through Fairmount Park, the Philadelphia region has historically provided residents and visitors with myriad opportunities to lift their spirits and make the most of winter’s frosty days and nights.

Throughout the years, Philadelphia has traditionally welcomed winter with a mix of holiday displays and decorations, from the famed light show at Wanamaker’s department store to the Christmas trees and menorahs erected across the city at such sites as Independence Hall, Dilworth Plaza, and Rittenhouse Square. Notably, Philadelphia held its first-ever community tree-lighting in 1913 after New York City popularized a new tradition when it erected a municipal Christmas tree in Madison Square Park the year before. The Philadelphia tree was erected in Independence Square between the Commodore Barry statue and Independence Hall and was decorated with 4,200 red, white, and blue lights. A crowd of approximately 20,000 people witnessed the spectacle and Mayor Blankenburg’s wife Lucretia had the honor of lighting the Star of Bethlehem that topped the tree. Evoking the significance of the tree’s location, the tree-topper was made up of fifty-six little stars, which represented the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Prior to the tree-lighting, two bands led about 200 children down Twelfth Street to Independence Square, where they gather around a grandstand. Candles were lit in every window of Independence Hall, while the area immediately surrounding the tree remained cloaked in virtual darkness until it was illuminated at the stroke of 6 o’clock. A program of music by the Moravian Trombone Choir of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the United Singers of Philadelphia followed the lighting of the tree, which remained on display until New Year’s Day.

While Christmas trees and holiday lights enhance Philadelphia’s seasonal atmosphere, recreational activities are ongoing sources of amusement and celebration throughout the winter months. Perhaps the quintessential winter sport, ice skating is an enduring popular amusement that, over the years, has been enjoyed at many locations across the Philadelphia region. Situated just north of the Queen Lane pumping station, man-made Gustine Lake was a popular destination for ice-skaters in the early to mid decades of the twentieth century until the lake was converted to a swimming pool in the 1950s. In the post-World War II era, a renewed focus on city planning and urban renewal brought an ice-skating rink to Penn Center near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, later John F. Kennedy Boulevard. However, as the office complex surrounding City Hall grew and evolved, the skating rink was eventually shut down and replaced by 8 Penn Center in the 1970s. Nonetheless, ice-skating enthusiasts could still hone their skills at rinks in Reyburn Plaza and recreation centers around the city, including the Simons Playground near Woolston Avenue and Walnut Lane and the Tarken Ice Rink at Frontenac and Levick Streets.

In the winter months, Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park has also proved to be a popular recreational destination for seasonal diversions such as tobogganing, sledding, and sleigh riding. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, winter carnivals in Montreal and other Canadian cities popularized toboggan slides, which consequently popped up in many Philadelphia-area parks, including Fort Washington State Park and Willow Grove. In the 1880s, William M. Singerly, a member of the Fairmount Park Commission, gave Philadelphia a toboggan slide to be erected in Fairmount Park. The slide, which measured 2,200 feet and had a fall of 132 feet, opened to the public on February 2, 1887, though the exact location of the slide and how long it remained in the Park is unknown. Accessible on PhillyHistory, a group of photographs from the Office of the City Representative show youngsters trying out a toboggan slide in Fairmount Park in 1968, but this toboggan slide may or may not be the same slide that Mr. Singerly gifted to the city. Also of note, tobogganing was popular enough in the 1880s to even inspire a fashionable “winter sporting costume.” An 1885 article from The Philadelphia Inquirer describes a “charming design for a toboggan dress,” with folds that drape artistically over the hips and a plush jacket, cloak, and wrap that are a “showy and rich” costume for those who “engage in outdoor merry-making.” Fortunately, those merry-makers who preferred to skate or sleigh were not left out, as the article also details dainty skating costumes that were “wonderfully attractive, far more so than toboggan outfits,” and hats and furs that perfectly complemented a winter sleigh ride.

For fashionable winter revelers Philadelphia’s famed department stores were also a historic source of recreation and amusement, particularly during the holiday shopping season. In terms of holiday spectacle, little rivaled the Wanamaker’s light show, in which seasonal shapes and figures such as snowflakes, nutcrackers, and the like were outlined in colorful lights above the store’s world-renowned pipe organ. At Strawbridge’s department store, the fourth floor was devoted to a life-size walk-through of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, while just east of Strawbridge’s at 8th and Market Streets, Lit Brothers drew people with its Christmas Village display. And across from Lit Brothers, Gimbel’s winter holiday “Toyland” was highlighted every year by the arrival of Santa Claus at the conclusion of the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade. At each department store, such indoor attractions were a warm and welcome counterpoint to the city’s outdoor recreation activities. Ultimately, whether admiring festive retail displays, caroling at a tree-lighting, or sledding down a snowy hill, Philadelphians past and present have celebrated the season with a variety of winter traditions that will likely endure as long as Jack Frost continues to make his annual pilgrimage to the region.

References

Ryan Caviglia, “Christmas in Philly,” The New Colonist, Calendar of Antiques: Your Guide to Antique and Art Events, undated. http://www.newcolonist.com/phil_xmas.html Accessed December 17, 2010.

Alfred L. Shoemaker and Don Yoder. Christmas in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study. (Kutztown: Pennsylvania Folklife Society, 1959).

“Bethlehem Star in Great Spruce Shines on 20,000.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1913.

“The Fashions: Novelties in Outdoor Winter Sporting Costumes.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1885.

“Tingling Weather Increases the Park’s Popularity.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 29, 1912.

By Timothy Horning and Hillary Kativa

Since 1920, Philadelphia’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a city tradition. Although the Macy’s parade in New York City is perhaps better known, Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is recognized as the oldest in the country and was originally the brainchild of Ellis Gimbel, one of the founding brothers of the eponymous department store. Ever the industrious capitalist, Gimbel imagined the parade as a clever marketing tool for his store, which would not only signal the start of the holiday shopping season, but also remind Philadelphians that Gimbels department store could serve all of their holiday needs.

The first parade in 1920 was made up of only fifty Gimbels employees but quickly grew into a festival of floats, balloons, and high school marching bands that draws thousands of spectators each year. Traditionally, the parade began at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and moved down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway before concluding at Gimbels department store on Eighth and Market Streets. A float featuring a costumed Santa Claus and his sleigh typically closed the parade as Santa Claus, upon reaching Gimbels, would scale a fire truck ladder to the store’s eighth floor, conveniently the home of Gimbels “Toyland.” Over the years, the parade became immensely popular and other cities and stores, including Macy’s in New York City, quickly instituted their own annual Thanksgiving Day parades based on Gimbels’ prototype.

The parade continued for sixty-five years until the Gimbels department store was taken over by Allied Stores Corporation and renamed “Stern’s” in 1986. The new company had no interest in continuing the annual parade and, without its chief creator and sponsor, the fate of the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade was very much in doubt. Ultimately, local television station WPVI, an ABC affiliate who had broadcast the parade since 1966, took on the costs of producing it and eventually convinced other corporate sponsors to join. WPVI partnered with Reading-based department store chain Boscov’s for several years and, seeking to compete with the ever-popular Macy’s spectacle, organizers decided to expand the parade by adding more floats, balloons, and bands as well as feature celebrities in the parade. The 1986 parade boasted twenty bands, twenty floats, and forty-eight balloons, as well as 4,500 people assisting with the production. 76ers basketball star Julius Erving served as the parade’s grand marshal and was joined by such illustrious pop culture figures as Fred Flintstone, the Care Bears, and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. In 1986, the parade, freed from its long-standing association with Gimbels, also reversed its route and ran from 20th and Market Streets to City Hall before turning onto the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and concluding on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

From 1986 forward, Boscov’s and WPVI/6ABC continued to sponsor the Thanksgiving Day Parade until Boscov’s filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Swedish furniture maker IKEA, whose U.S. corporate headquarters are located in nearby Plymouth Meeting, stepped in to co-sponsor the parade following Boscov’s bankruptcy. The 2010 6ABC/IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade, now in its 91st year, will begin at 8:30 AM at 20th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard and follow the route begun in 1986, moving up to City Hall, then the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and finally the Art Museum steps. Special guests include Sam Champion from “Good Morning America,” singer and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Brandy, Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron, and the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders. For those who are not able to attend in-person, the parade will be broadcast live on 6ABC and, of course, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade’s illustrious history is also chronicled in the fun and festive photos on display here at PhillyHistory.org.

Sources:

“2010 6ABC IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade.” 6ABC.com. <http://dig.abclocal.go.com/wpvi/html/wpviThanksGivingParade.html>(18 November 2010).

Detjen, Jim. “Wet Walk in Showers, the Annual Parade Heralds Shopping Season Start.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 November 1985. Newsbank. Accessed 16 November 2010.

Gillin, Beth. “A Glorious Day, A Grand March the Sun Shines and City Spirits Glow for the Thanksgiving Day Parade.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. 28 November 1986. Newsbank. Accessed 16 November 2010.

Kadaba, Lini. “Thanksgiving Parade Draws 500,000.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 November 1987. NewsBank. Accessed 16 November 2010.

Nunnally, Derrick. “Tradition Marches On At Thanksgiving Parade.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 November 2008. NewsBank. Accessed 18 November 2010.

Woodall, Martha. “The City is Set to Let Loose a Parade of Thanksgiving.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 November 1987. Newsbank. Accessed 16 November 2010.