{"id":457825,"date":"2025-12-19T13:27:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457825\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:27:29","slug":"new-mural-pays-tribute-to-historic-chinatown-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/457825\/","title":{"rendered":"New mural pays tribute to historic Chinatown theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all get lost \/ tell them meet me at the Trocadero\u00a0<\/p>\n

She loves punk rock \/ meet me at the Troc \/ meet me at the Troc\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those are the opening lyrics to a song by Philly artist duo <\/p>\n

\u201cMeet me at the TROC\u201d also doubles as an acronym for the massive, five-panel mural featuring dragons designed to represent different eras of the Trocadero\u2019s history \u2013 an acronym spelling out \u201cThe Roar Of Chinatown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing the design, the duo \u2013 comprised of artists Bryce and Calan, both Temple grads in graphic and interactive design \u2013 told Billy Penn that the design process was a collaborative one with the mural sponsor, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created the art, then we revised it together. It was a back and forth,\u201d said Bryce. \u201cIt was really cool to learn more about Chinatown\u2019s history. There was constant feedback so we were creating true to history. It was really cool and insightful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The artist duo behind <\/p>\n

There was always a place that we could go\u00a0<\/p>\n

Called the Trocadero \/ we would hit it up for all the famous shows<\/p>\n

We\u2019d hold hands to My Chemical Romance\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s long since been closed down \/ I don\u2019t forget you\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mural is composed of five panels, each telling a different part of the historic theater\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three central panels are three dragons, but then the imagery in and around them is of a different era of the Troc,\u201d Bryce explained . \u201cThe first one is the Opera because it started in the late 1800s as an opera house and vaudeville. Then the middle one is Chinese cinema; in the \u201880s, they played kung fu classics without English subtitles there. Then it transitioned from that into punk rock, so that era was prominent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s been a 150-year evolution of the Troc, and during that same time, obviously, Chinatown was evolving and changing, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"One of the five panels of \u201cThe Roar of Chinatown\u201d mural on the historic Trocadero Theatre. (Photo by Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Candy Oney remembers the feeling of walking into the Troc<\/a> during its house music era in the 1990s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the atmosphere, the energy. You know how you go into some place and you\u2019re waiting for it to get to that, but you walked into the Troc and it was already,\u201d she said. \u201cAs soon as you walked in, you knew. You would be there for hours and love it and sweat. Back then we would get our hair done and you would sweat your hair out, dance and have fun, meet people, different artists. It was great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Albert Lee, trips to the Trocadero were family affairs. \u201cMy parents would take us to the Trocadero to see kung fu movies, and they sold popcorn,\u201d the longtime civic booster who grew up in Chinatown told WHYY\u2019s Peter Crimmins back in 2019<\/a>. \u201cWe would watch kung fu movies with no subtitles. That was the thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Inside the Trocadero Theatre in Philly\u2019s Chinatown. (Billy Penn file photo)<\/p>\n

The Trocadero also had all-ages shows, which allowed older brothers like Ken Travis to take his kid sister to her very first concert in the 1990s \u2013 seeing the hard industrial band Pigface, known for noise and dark lyrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Oney, carpooling with friends from Norristown to Chinatown in the \u201890s to eat at restaurants and club-hop was a fun ritual. She noted that \u201cthe Troc became the big place that everybody wanted to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could feel the music through your feet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Does the new dragon mural capture some of that essence?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I saw it, I loved it. I love the eyes, the colors coming out. The yellow,\u201d Oney said while staring at a panel. \u201cIt\u2019s like it\u2019s piercing into you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Installation of the \u201cMeet me at the TROC\u201d mural by <\/p>\n

Visualizing an Evolving Neighborhood\u00a0<\/p>\n

We reminisce while we\u2019re riding around\u00a0<\/p>\n

so many times they tried to turn our world upside down\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Chinatown \/ they tried to build a stadium \/ a casino and the arena, too\u00a0<\/p>\n

all that we went through \/ this shit made me numb<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re still here<\/p>\n

The passage of time in Chinatown has included changes to storefronts, real estate<\/a>, and resident demographics<\/a> alike.<\/p>\n

But even today, the Trocadero stands out \u2013 but now as one of the few vacancies in Chinatown, and a looming presence right next to the Chinatown Friendship Gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a pretty robust and vibrant business community,\u201d said Haoyi Shang, commercial corridor manager for the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC). \u201cBut we noticed that throughout the year, there\u2019s lots of graffiti on the panels of the boarded-up storefront of the Trocadero.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photographs of the historic Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia\u2019s Chinatown. (Photo by Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

The former grand, elegant theater-turned-hotspot closed in 2019 after 155 years as a central hub for the country\u2019s evolving music scene, from opera to vaudeville, Chinese cinema to punk rock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent decades, the space attracted up to 1,200 people at a time for concerts by the likes of Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, My Chemical Romance and various zombie proms, battles of the bands, comedy acts, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know the Trocadero is a very important building, not only to Chinatown, but to the entire Philadelphia community,\u201d Shang said. \u201cSo we want to make it pretty, attractive. Luckily we got a state grant \u2013 through the Neighborhood Assistance Program with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development \u2013 that allowed us to partner with the city for a tax credit program for funding for \u2018temporary storefront improvement.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With funding secured, PCDC reached out to property owner Stephen Pang, who was on board. \u201cHe sees the same issue and doesn\u2019t want to paint over graffiti over and over again,\u201d Shang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The resulting public request for proposals from local artists yielded around a dozen candidates, from which <\/p>\n

\"\"A mockup of the five panels of \u201cThe Roar of Chinatown\u201d mural on the historic Trocadero Theatre. (Photo by Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said the proposals should be either related to or have to be related to the history of the Trocadero or the history of Chinatown,\u201d she said. \u201cTheirs captured both ideas very well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a new year \u2013 hello, 2026! \u2013 first impressions are important, Shang noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s right next to the Chinatown Friendship Arch. We will have maybe thousands of visitors coming to see the Gate every day and we want the Trocadero to attract more tourists, as well,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Past, Present and Future\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s long since been closed down \/ I don\u2019t forget you \/ \u2026 noches\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still here\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meet me at the Troc\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

We all get lost \/ tell them meet me at the Trocadero \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here for the daylight, gone tomorrow\u00a0<\/p>\n

We all get lost\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Cantonese]\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2026 Girl, I love you till I drop \/ til my heart stop \/ baby meet me at the Troc \u2026\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The building at 1003 Arch Street opened officially on August 29, 1870, as the Arch Street Opera House. Built by architect Edwin F. Durang, a prominent designer of East Coast churches, the theater initially hosted vaudeville and minstrel shows, before becoming a popular destination for burlesque, then also adding movie screenings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A century after it first opened, in 1986, the historically-designated space was remodeled and turned into a concert hall-slash-dance club.<\/p>\n

Though it wasn\u2019t ever the fanciest spot (or the cleanest), the Troc\u2019s central location helped it become a defining part of Philadelphia nightlife.<\/p>\n

Bands who stopped there before blowing up include Guns N\u2019 Roses, Bob Dylan and Die Antwoord. The main event stage and the balcony bar hosted everything from wholesome school fundraisers to psychedelic PEX parties, grungy tribute concerts and slick TV specials.<\/p>\n

Then, in late August 2019, with a final performance by Big Mess Cabaret<\/a>, that all ended<\/a>, relegating nights at the Trocadero to collective memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The QR code to listen to \u201cMeet me at the TROC\u201d song that accompanies The Roar of Chinatown, a public mural in Chinatown at the historic Trocadero Theatre. (Courtesy of <\/p>\n

Now, those memories will hopefully be evoked for passersby who walk or drive past the grand Victorian building over the next year, looking at the giant dragon faces or scanning the QR code that allows them to listen to \u201cMeet me at the TROC.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get it right. To plan out the plywood and the backing [and] to make sure we\u2019re telling Chinatown\u2019s story right and in the best way,\u201d said <\/p>\n

\u201cWe put the protesting and saying \u2018No Stadium\u2019<\/a> [on a panel and in the song] because it\u2019s like, \u2018we\u2019re still here,\u2019\u201d Calan continued. \u201cWhen you see this piece, even if the Troc shut down in 2019, we\u2019re still here, this is a big part of Chinatown. I love this story we were able to carry along with these dragons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cMeet me at the TROC\u201d song melody is \u201ca mix of genres that starts out a little songwriter-y with strummed guitar, then changes in the middle to very punk rock,\u201d said Bryce, who provides the primary vocals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calan added that one of her \u201cfavorite things to do is tell stories that haven\u2019t been told yet or haven\u2019t been told in song. We did a Ruby Bridges song. We love telling these stories through songs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"One of the five panels of \u201cThe Roar of Chinatown\u201d mural on the historic Trocadero Theatre. (Photo by Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Bryce drew a parallel to their own experience working to create and find opportunity in Philly\u2019s artist and storytelling communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community and us as artists, we\u2019re not going anywhere, so it\u2019s kind of a testament to that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe feel grateful to be invited into this space to tell the story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope people come to Philly and to Chinatown, get the story of Chinatown, then also see the love that we put in it,\u201d Bryce said. \u201cWe\u2019re \u2018love your mom,\u2019 and that\u2019s such a big part of our art and our craft, putting love and positivity back out into the world.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all get lost \/ tell them meet me at the Trocadero\u00a0 She loves punk rock \/ meet…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":457826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[209467,5229,648,209468,32457,1322,1448,2830,1311,85081,209469,209470,209471,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-457825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-3urmom","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-calan-the-artist","12":"tag-chinatown","13":"tag-featured","14":"tag-pa","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-philadelphia","17":"tag-philadelphia-chinatown-development-corporation","18":"tag-troc","19":"tag-trocadero","20":"tag-trocadero-theatre","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115746468844456410","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}