Uptown Reunion

Uptown Reunion by artist Peter Pagast was painted on an exterior wall of the The Phildadelphia Uptown Theater, located in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural is one of a series sponsored by WXPN Studios created to celebrate Philadelphia’s musical heritage and cultural influence of music in the region. Uptown Theater opened in the late 1920s as a movie palace and live performance venue, launching careers of many rhythm and blues entertainers including Ray Charles and The Temptations. While still in his teens, Stevie Wonder recorded his famous “Fingertips” hit here. The theater’s heydays were in the 1950s and 1960s and decline began in the 1970s with the arrival of the disco craze. The theaters ornate and gilded doors closed in the early 1980s. The mural highlights popular DJ at that time, Georgie Woods, “The Man with the Goods”! Other completed murals in this historical musical lineup are: The Dixie Hummingbirds and South Philly Musicians.

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (painted out in 2016 because of deteriorating condition of wall).