The Uptown Theatre is a historic movie theater in

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

. It opened on December 29, 1927, during the

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

and

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

eras, and is the city's oldest surviving theater, predating the Stanley Theater by eight months. It was part of the Kallet chain of movie theaters, like the Capitol Theatre in nearby

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and other theaters no longer standing throughout

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

History

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

arena, the Utica Stadium, was razed to make way for the Uptown Theatre. A $25,000, three- manual organ was installed during construction, placed on an elevator lift beneath the orchestra pit. At opening the theater seated 1,500: it was the first theater in Utica to use

stadium seating Stadium seating or theater seating is a seating arrangement where most or all seats are placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those ahead of them. ...

. With the rise of the

multiplex theater A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums a ...

in the '70s and '80s, the Uptown shifted to showing second-run movies. The theater changed management and business strategy several times through the '90s and early 2000s. In 2012 the owner combined the three divided theaters into a single theater, began running first-run films, and hosted live music and other events. Despite these efforts, it was closed and put up for sale in September 2013. The owner mentioned being unable to afford the conversion to

digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to mo ...

and a perceived lack of interest from the community. The Uptown was scheduled for foreclosure auction in 2016 but the auction was postponed indefinitely. It remained vacant until 2018, when it was purchased by the non-profit group Uptown Theatre for Creative Arts (UTCA). Under the terms of the purchase agreement,

M&T Bank M&T Bank Corporation (Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company) is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 950+ branches in 12 states and Washington D.C. across the Eastern United States, from Maine to Vi ...

forgave the $400,000 mortgage on the property and donated the building to UTCA, while UTCA took responsibility for $27,000 in back taxes owed to the city of Utica. In early 2019 UTCA received a gift of $10,000 to repair the Uptown's marquee and replace its exterior lights with

LED lighting An LED lamp or LED light is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps. The most efficient commercia ...

. Although UTCA has renovated the lobby and adjacent storefronts, the auditorium and stage are not yet fully usable. In August 2020, the Uptown was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. As of 2023 under the new ownership the Uptown Theatre has hosted

Stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

and

Improvisational theatre Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

shows alongside classes and other events in spaces located outside the auditorium. The new owners have also expressed interest in using the auditorium for film screening and live performances once it becomes fully usable.

References

External links

* Buildings and structures in Utica, New York Concert halls in New York (state) Cinemas and movie theaters in New York (state) Former cinemas in the United States Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Movie palaces Theatres completed in 1927 1927 establishments in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Oneida County, New York {{US-theat-struct-stub