{"id":2227,"date":"2012-12-06T13:02:08","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T13:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2227"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:22:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:22:22","slug":"crowd-lines-up-at-loews-penn-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/06\/crowd-lines-up-at-loews-penn-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowd lines up at Loew\u2019s Penn Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo <\/a>
(Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

June 20, 1958:<\/strong>\u00a0Our first question when we found this picture was, \u201cWhy are so many people lined up outside the Loew\u2019s Penn Theatre?\u201d We checked our microfilm but found no evidence the image was published, so we can only guess the throng is waiting to see the movie advertised on the marquee: \u201cHigh School Confidential!\u201d The film opened on Friday, June 20, 1958 \u2014 the date, written in pencil, is the only information on the back of the print.<\/p>\n

“High School Confidential!” is a teen flick with lots of 1950s slang and a great opening sequence<\/a> in which Jerry Lee Lewis, sitting in the back of a pick-up truck, pounds out the movie\u2019s theme song while cruising through a leafy suburb.<\/p>\n

Loew\u2019s Penn Theatre opened in 1927 and, like many film palaces built in that era, fell on hard times in the 1960s. It closed in 1964 and was doomed for demolition (to be replaced by a parking lot, of course) when several groups came forward to purchase the site and convert the facility into a new home for the Pittsburgh Symphony. After a $10 million, three-year reconstruction, the theater opened on Sept. 10, 1971, as Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts. We\u2019ve posted an interactive picture on our Pittsburgh Then and Now<\/a> page to show how this corner has changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhy are so many people lined up outside the Loew\u2019s Penn Theatre?\u201d<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesCrowd lines up at Loew\u2019s Penn Theatre<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[958,961,972,1044,1031,1046],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/tumblr_mej6uklwPc1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C756&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2491,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/25\/fund-at-stanley-theater\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":0},"title":"Fun at Stanley Theater","date":"September 25, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was at the Stanley that raggae legend Bob Marley performed his final concert on Sept. 23, 1980, eight months before his death from cancer.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mav82wYhj31rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1129%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2488,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/25\/feb-27-1928-when-the-stanley-theater-opened-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":1},"title":"Triumphant opening of Stanley Theater","date":"September 25, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"When the Stanley Theater opened in February of 1928, admission to the silent film \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d was 65 cents.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mav86sVCRL1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1153&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5401,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/06\/03\/more-aerial-views-of-old-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":2},"title":"More aerial views of old Pittsburgh","date":"June 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"These nine photos show parts of Pittsburgh that now look much different.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pittsburgh-Airviews-1990s-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C673&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1276,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/23\/david-lawrence-pittsburgh-visionary-political-genius-and-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":3},"title":"David Lawrence, Pittsburgh visionary, political genius and leader","date":"October 23, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Lawrence was born in 1889, in Pittsburgh, only 75 feet from where the old Block house stood.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_mv3i2vw7W51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C970&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2040,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/18\/shame-at-east-libertys-infamous-bachelors-club\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":4},"title":"Shame at East Liberty\u2019s infamous Bachelors\u2019 Club","date":"February 18, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"There was a time when Pittsburghers flocked to private clubs.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mia8g4skm51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C844&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1401,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/09\/13\/the-pittsburgh-views-of-john-c-bragdon\/","url_meta":{"origin":2227,"position":5},"title":"The Pittsburgh views of John C. Bragdon","date":"September 13, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Our limited knowledge of Pittsburgh\u2019s history leads us to believe the pictures were made sometime around 1900.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tumblr_mszbyuKelC1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C794&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4499,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions\/4499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}