Harris Theatre, Independent movie theater in Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District, United States
Harris Theatre is an independent movie theater housed in a restored building on Liberty Avenue, in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has a single screen with around 200 seats and is equipped with both digital and 35mm film projection.
The building originally housed a venue called Art Cinema, which showed independent and art films for many years before its program changed in the 1960s. Pittsburgh Cultural Trust took it over in 1995 and brought it back to screening quality films.
The theater takes its name from John P. Harris, a Pittsburgh native credited with opening America's first commercial movie theater in 1905. For many visitors, this link to the very beginnings of cinema gives the place a meaning that goes beyond a regular night out.
The theater is located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District and is easy to reach on foot from most of the downtown area. Checking the program in advance is a good idea, as the films shown change regularly.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own alcoholic drinks into the screening room, a policy almost never seen at commercial movie theaters. This turns a film screening into something closer to a social gathering than a standard night at the movies.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
