Help Andy Molholt Save The Diamond aka Teatro Puerto Rico !

Hi! My name is Andy Molholt.

Today (9/22) is my birthday. Instead of asking for anything for myself, I'm asking my friends, family and community to pitch in to save a beautiful cinema palace in my neighborhood that I fell in love with over the past few years. I know that there are a lot of worthy causes to donate money to in 2024, especially with multiple genocides and a nightmare election cycle, but to anyone who has extra $ to donate and cares about me or the history of our beautiful city, please consider reading further :)

In my neighborhood of Kensington, but also frankly the rest of Philadelphia and every city in the United States, the history of architecture and the history of the city itself is being lost to the greed of corporate developers. I've seen many beautiful old buildings demolished and replaced by ugly, soulless condominiums. It feels like a plague has descended upon the city, and not only do city officials not seem to be doing anything to put further restrictions in place to prevent this senseless destruction, they seem to welcome it with open arms! In Philadelphia, a purported "city of history," there appear to be almost no restrictions on these developers, and no end in sight to the senseless destruction.

A few years ago, I learned about "cinema palaces," a phenomenon that started before the advent of television, "big" movie theaters and VCRs. I quickly became obsessed. These oftentimes ornate, glorious constructions (see, for example, the Boyd , also senselessly destroyed) were the only place people could go to see moving pictures. They often originally featured live bands who would play along to the film. The few surviving movie houses of this time that are still showing movies are an incredibly cool experience to attend! I've also been lucky enough to be playing inside many converted cinema palaces on the tour I am currently on with my band Speedy Ortiz, including the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, the Wellmont in Montclair, the Jefferson in Charlottesville. That has been a truly wonderful experience for me.

So, this brings us back to Kensington in Phiadelphia. Formerly known by many names (most notably the Diamond Theatre and later Teatro Puerto Rico), the stunning cinema palace at 2117-23 Germantown Avenue hails from 1923. The facade is in remarkably good shape! Unfortunately, the original interior (pictured below) has been fully renovated over the years. When I saw that the building was for sale recently, I feared (correctly) that it was being targeted by developers, and I decided to take action. To be clear, there is no real chance that I could obtain this building to turn into a music venue or for any other use. It's simply too expensive. But, I thought to myself, maybe I can at least do something to save it!

This is where the Keeping Society of Philadelphia comes in. Oscar Beisert, who runs this organization, is incredibly effective at getting historic buildings nominated and saved. He recently did it for the farmer's market on Girard Avenue that music fans might know from housing Everybody Hits and Girard Hall. Oscar has successfully nominated this cinema palace (see the full nomination along with a TON of interesting research he did here) and for now, the building is protected until the hearing date.

I put $500 of my own money into the project already. The cost of the nomination process is a total of $1500, but I'm really just looking to get the rest of the cost covered as much as possible. Anything I raise from this GoFundMe over $1000 will go towards paying myself back, and anything over that will go towards further preservation of historic buildings in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is purportedly a city of "history." Besides cheesesteaks, water ice and angry sports fans with good mascots, this is like our entire identity. I would love to do more to both save and honor the history of our city moving forward, and for me, this is a first tiny step in that direction. As for what happens to the Diamond / Teatro Puerto Rico, I would love for someone to rehab it and turn it back into a movie house. Or a music venue. I'd love to be that guy myself but I simply don't have the resources or the time, between my touring and recording schedule and other organizing projects.

Thanks for considering chipping in!

With love,

- Andy Molholt