RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Located in Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, the Hippodrome Theater has been bringing in audiences since it first opened in 1914.
“We probably have hosted well over 250,000 people since we’ve opened,” said Hippodrome Theater owner Ron Stallings.
Located on North 2nd Street and once known as “The Deuce” in the thriving Black business and entertainment district called the “Harlem of the South” — the Hippodrome showcased vaudeville acts, stage plays, movies and an impressive list of Black musicians.
“Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, James Brown, B.B. King, Thelonious Monk, Cab Calloway, The Platters, The Orioles, Temptations, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and we just found out Dizzy Gillespie also played here,” Stallings said.
Stallings was glad to take over running the theater after his late father, a Jackson Ward native, James R. Stallings purchased it in 1975. He ran it as a movie theater then, a projector from the 1930s and film are still there inside the screening room.