Hey, check it out. The dollar theater where I saw Spice World in my teen years is now a performing arts space.
A little history on the Devon from the Philadelphia City Paper:
The Devon Theatre on Frankford Avenue was one of the last single-screen movie houses erected in Philadelphia. Built in 1946, it had a grand marquee and flair. It was a source of pride and entertainment for the middle-class neighborhood of Mayfair, a Northeast community situated between Roosevelt Boulevard and I-95. But soon multiscreen theaters became the rage, and in the late 1960s, the sagging Devon became the “Dirty Devon,” an adult theater.
After years of protest from locals, the porn flicks were finally pulled in 1978. For two decades, the Devon struggled as a second-run movie-house. In 1999, a Mayfair film buff leased the Devon and featured classics like Gone With the Wind and Rocky. But he, too, went bust. So for the last four years, the historic Devon Theatre has stood boarded up and idle, an eyesore.
My, how things change.