Last year’s Scribe Street Movies! festival at Vernon Park. Neighbors gathering as Ursula Rucker performs and opens up. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

There is a trend on social media that boldly declares Philadelphia as a state and its neighborhoods as cities. For the majority of the 20th century, this assertion wasn’t too far-fetched.

One could have quality schools, a robust social life, great food options, and a wide array of entertainment within walking distance to their homes. Though the heart of the Metropolis, heading Downtown, Center City was for special experiences, not the only portal to have a full life. Germantown, particularly, was bursting at the seams.

With a strong shopping district, green spaces to relax, and restaurants at every corner, there was no need to leave Germantown. And with loads of recreational activities, like ten movie theaters populating the neighborhood, why would you want to?

As discussed in local Facebook groups, like the “Legends of Germantown” (L.O.G.) page, no two cinemas were the same, and everyone had the theater that was solely theirs. Where some only showed movies, many of the theaters also produced plays with local theater companies, creating the rise in community theater. 

Germantown once supported at least 10 neighborhood theaters, each with its own identity. The Orpheum at 42 W. Chelten Ave. opened in 1913 and added movies to its programming in 1915.

Between the effects of white flight out of NW Philly and the rise of national theater chains, local cinemas were up against two behemoths. By the late 1960s, what were once spaces to enjoy the newest Kung-Fu film began to close and be demolished, with the last theater shuttering by the early 70s.

All was not lost, however, as neighbors began to look to unsuspecting locations to gather and watch films.

From the Germantown YMCA to schools, churches, and even the parking lot of the famous Trolley Car Diner, neighbors found new ways to keep movie culture alive in our area through the 2000s. 

More recently, Germantown continued this grassroots effort by partnering with both local and citywide organizations to bring film to the northwest.

Philadelphia Film Society locked arms with the office of Parks and Recreation to launch Movies on the Block, a summer series that makes cinema accessible to neighborhoods that do not have movie theaters.

Scribe Video Center has a similar model called Street Movies!, where they set up shop in parks, community gardens, and lots to screen work from Philly-based filmmakers. Historic Germantown sites like Stenton and Wyck have also picked up the mantle by turning their 18th and 19th-century structures into microcinemas. 

With ever-rising costs to rent or purchase property, combined with the decreased attendance at national chain movie theaters, opening a traditional cinema in the Northwest would be a risk.

However, by activating third spaces that neighbors already have buy-in with would expand cultural offerings Uptown, amplify the ever-growing independent film landscape, and support small business owners.

Through the use of non-traditional theater spaces we already have, like Historic Germantown sites, rec centers, coffee shops, art galleries, restaurants, and vacant lots, a culture of movie-going can boom once again in our area.

Whether running the classics or independent films from our neighbors, there is an unending well of visual stories that not only connect us to the person we’re sharing the row with, but give us the whimsy that the trials of everyday life often tamp down.

With hyperlocal cinemas, you never have to go far to get away.