Talk:Mann Center for the Performing Arts

1935 as Mann Center founding date
This is one item that needs to be fixed right away. The Mann Music Center is a replacement for the Robin Hood Dell, which was built in 1935 as the Orchestra's summer home. It's located next to Strawberry Mansion in East Fairmount Park.

Frederic Mann was one of the prime movers behind building a new, bigger summer home for the Orchestra in the West Park. I think he first suggested it in the 1960s. As it was being developed, its working name was "Robin Hood Dell West." I don't know if it acutally opened under that name, but after it opened, the original Robin Hood Dell was renamed Robin Hood Dell East.

The city Recreation Department took over its programming, and of late, it's tended to book R&B, soul and related pop acts. For a while, it was being called "the Dell East," and now it's simply "the Dell Music Center," reflecting the fact that the "Dell West" doesn't really exist.

Guess I should get around to this. Marketstel (talk) 21:30, 26 September 2015 (UTC)


 * I made this change. I'm sure it can be improved, but saying that a facility built in 1976 was founded in 1935 is just wrong. I remember the first season at the Mann. I wasn't around in 1935. TypoBoy (talk) 01:44, 25 May 2016 (UTC)