8news is honoring Black history and celebrating the rich diversity and achievements across central Virginia. One iconic centerpiece of a historically Black neighborhood is the Hippodrome Theater.
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.
Only a few keepsakes survived a massive fire that gutted the Hippodrome in the early 1940s.
The structure was rebuilt into the two-story Art Deco theater we see today. Stallings officially took over the Hippodrome in 2009, after his father gave him a simple request.
“Never sell the Hippodrome. Renovate the Hippodrome, because it’s key to the revitalization of Jackson Ward,” said Stallings about what his father told him. “And with that, we renovated it into almost a 45,000 square-foot entertainment complex.”
Despite the fire, the Hippodrome Theater lights still shine bright, the venue has been able to reinvent itself nearly every decade.
Once operating as a church, and then a conference center, the theater now hosts 200 to 250 events per year with help from Stallings’ daughter, Liz. The family runs the Speakeasy Grill , which is connected to the Hippodrome and is open only for Sunday Brunch.
The Hippodrome has cemented its roots in Richmond history, but what about its future?
“We can absolutely be a place where, when people come to visit Richmond, they can taste the culture, they can see the history and then see that there is a real future for Richmond,” said Stallings.
