---
alias:
- Cinema 16 (Philadelphia)
- The Roxy (Sansom Street)
category: Private Organization
created: 2026-09-23
location: 2021 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
relations:
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  start: 1969
  type: investigated
  with: '[[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]]'
start: 1969
summary: Sixteen-millimeter underground film theater on Sansom Street in Philadelphia,
  opened by R.C. Horsch in 1969 and closed within weeks by the city for lack of licenses.
tags:
- Organization
- Philadelphia
- UndergroundFilm
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Underground Cinema 16 was a 16-millimeter film theater at 2021 Sansom Street in Center City, Philadelphia, opened in mid-October 1969 by [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/), then known as Raymond Hoersch, a 26-year-old filmmaker. The *[Philadelphia Inquirer](/organizations/the-philadelphia-inquirer/)* called it "Philadelphia's first commercial venture into noncommercial underground theater."[^1]

### 1969

The theater occupied premises where the Pocket Playhouse had once "packed them in." Horsch tore out the stage, installed plush blue seats taken from a small preview theater in the city, remodeled the lobby, hung white-framed photographs of his own, and built a projection booth. It opened with an underground double bill, *Lenny Bruce* and *Relativity*, and Horsch said he would draw its films from the Filmmakers Cooperative in [New York City](/places/new-york-city/) and had started the theater in part to finance an 80,000-dollar feature of his own.[^1]

On Wednesday, October 29, 1969, [Leo Goldstein](/people/leo-goldstein/), deputy commissioner of the [Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections](/organizations/philadelphia-department-of-licenses-and-inspections/), posted the theater as closed for lack of the required licenses, and police were instructed to keep it empty. Horsch described his failure to obtain the papers as a "simple confusion" over the city's requirements and said the officials at City Hall were "bureaucratic, but helpful." A preview of the [Vietnam War](/events/vietnam-war/) documentary *[In the Year of the Pig](/misc/in-the-year-of-the-pig/)* had been scheduled for that night. Horsch said the city would inspect the building the next day; Goldstein said the process could take two weeks.[^1] Horsch later said that he ran the theater on Sansom Street as the Roxy.[^2]

[^1]: "Police to Inspect Building: Cinema 16 Shut Down In License Dispute; Owner Is 'Confused'," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* October 30, 1969, p. 19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/169186622/
[^2]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/