New North Philly Movie Theater Reaches Franklin Mills Theater Status In Mere Two Days

Monday’s opening of the new Pearl Theatre at the Avenue North complex in North Philly near Temple was hailed as the first step in a transition of North Philly into a nicer, happier place with gooey gooey gumdrops and residents whose shit smells like rainbows.

Well, it only two days, but North Philly’s new movie theater has already had a shooting. Philly isn’t really a city for much movie theater mayhem — mostly because there aren’t many movie theaters — but the Pearl apparently is looking to change that.

The shooting, actually, may haven’t even been related to the theater. A 16-year-old boy was shot near the theater complex and taken to Hahnemann in critical condition around 7:30. But the theater was evacuated, which led to even more mayhem afterward. And police aren’t even sure who made the call to evacuate the theater, Will Bunch and David Gambacorta of the Daily News write:

As a result of the shooting, about 100 paying customers were evacuated from the theater. Detectives were unsure last night who had decided to evacuate the theater, but they confirmed that it had led to chaos, with numerous fistfights breaking out. “Basically, they all went crazy,” said one detective. “We don’t really know why, either.”

Indeed, when a reporter arrived minutes after the shooting, groups of youths were still running in every direction, and police had cuffed and pinned two men against a car about 100 feet from the theater. “I didn’t hit you,” an officer yelled at one of the handcuffed men. Later, police said that none of at least four handcuffed people outside the movies was linked to the shooting.

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s: Shooting near movie theater, movie theater evacuated, patrons decide to beat each other up since they have nothing else to do.

However, a member of the anti-violence group Men United for a Better Philadelphia said that, well, this is why North Philly can’t have nice things:

Rich Ford, of Men United for a Better Philadelphia, watched hordes of adolescents yell and shove one another outside the complex, and then questioned the wisdom of putting a theater in North Philly.

“This is not Center City or Manayunk,” he said. “It’s the heart of North Philadelphia. This place is going to draw a multitude of young kids from all over, and these kinds of events will probably be ongoing at this location.”

It’s good to see our anti-violence group members are so committed to finding things for kids to do other than violence. “A movie theater? Hell, don’t put one of those up here!” Sigh.

Violence erupts outside theater [Daily News]
Photo via Philebrity
Tuesday: North Philly Residents Rush To See Crap

North Philly Residents Rush To See Crap

Yesterday was the grand opening of developer and Joey Sweeney patron — that’s a joke, people — Bart Blatstein’s new Avenue North complex in North Philly.

Although there are drawbacks — “It’s definitely going to bring a lot more people. A lot more traffic. I’m definitely going to have to use the crosswalk rather than jaywalking,” Stanley Daniel told Metro — the benefits of the retail/student housing project on Broad Street inbetween Oxford and Cecil B. Moore seem to outweigh having to cross the street at the light.

There $100 mil project features 1,200 student housing units, 20 retail spaces — Qdoba! Foot Locker! Bank of America! — and, best of all, a movie theater. Although Blatstein’s company also built Riverview, The Worst Movie Theater In The City™, prospects are a little better for the Pearl.

But although you can put a $100 million dollar complex in North Philly, you can’t buy taste. Just ask our friend Daniel:

With the gala red carpet opening for the first movie theater in North Philadelphia to open in 60 years going on across the street, Stanley Daniel was trying to get movie times. “Is the new ‘Van Wilder’ playing here?” he asked, while the well-dressed patrons inside ate popcorn and hors d’oeuvres at the opening of the Pearl Theatre at the new Avenue North complex on Broad Street last night.

Unfortunately, The Pearl isn’t playing National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj. But the dollar movies running right now aren’t so bad: They have Invincible!

Theater of engagement [Metro]