Category:Nineteenth Street Theater, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Object location	40° 36′ 11″ N, 75° 29′ 59″ W	View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap	40.603056; -75.499722

Civic Theatre of Allentown 

theater company and theater in Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States
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Instance of	theatre building theatre company movie theater
Location	Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Street address	527 N. 19th Street, Allentown, PA 18104
Inception	1928
Date of official opening	1928
official website
40° 36′ 11.52″ N, 75° 30′ 00″ W
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The Nineteenth Street Theater is located at 527 North 19th Street in Allentown. It is the oldest (and only) active cinema within Allentown. The Nineteenth Street Theater is a combination cinema as well as a stage theater, being the home of the Allentown Civic Theater. Its name varies between Civic Theater of Allentown when it is used for stage performances and Nineteenth Street Theater when films are shown.

The theater first opened in October 1928, being developed and built by Rubin Maiken and Alex Minker, who also owned the Franklin Theater at Fourth and Tilghman Streets and also the Capitol Theater at Tenth and Hamilton. The Nineteenth Street first opened as a silent film theater. "No expense has been spared," reported the Allentown Morning Call newspaper. The walls inside were painted green with gold and silver accents. The outside of the building was bright yellow with fanciful decorations of birds, flowers, butterflies and elephants.

However, the theater closed on December 8th 1928 when the owners filed for bankruptcy. The next month, in January 1929 a religious group began to use the theater for prayer services. The 19th Street Bible Class used the theater on Sunday morning and on other odd hours though the 1980s. In March 1929, the theater was reopened with an Vitaphone synchronized sound disk/film system. However financial issues again forced it to close just a few months later in May 1929. With this second re-opening, on September 11th, 1930 it was equipped with a modern RCA sound on film system. This time, the the 19th Street Theater became a successful neighborhood theater for the West End, showing second-run features that had previously shown on the major Hamilton Street cinemas. It operated for several decades, although it closed again in June 1952, primarily caused by low attendance due to the advent of Television.

In early 1953 Albert Moffa purchased the theater and renovated it, upgrading its features to include stereo sound, a 60-foot CinemaScope screen and a 3-D projection capability. Moffa and his wife, Jeanette, also lived in a large apartment inside the theater. He reopened it on May 26, 1953 as a neighborhood, second-run theater and successfully operated it though most of the 1950s.

On July 14, 1957 Moffa sold the Nineteenth Street Theater to the Allentown Civic Little Theater (Now Allentown Civic Theater) stage company. The arrangement was for the CLT to use the theater for it's theatrical productions, while Moffa could continue to show feature films when the theater wasn't being used by the CLT. Moffa eventually ended his lease of the theater and the CLT took over the Cinema side of the house, as well as presenting Broadway-caliber plays as well. The Moffa's apartment was renovated into dressing rooms and a rehearsal area.

The Civic Theater successfully entertained the public for many years, surviving the demise of the Hamilton Street Theater Districe and also into the age of the large Multi-Plex suburban theaters of Allentown that now dominate cinema theater-going. In the late 2010s, the Nineteenth Street Theater was totally renovated and refurbished, returning the inside to look as it did in 1928 when it first opened.

Today, fully renovated with digital sound and projection system, it presents theater, arts education and film and is a major part of the 19th Street Theater District, a mixed use neighborhood home to nearly 140 businesses