Excellent photo!
Although I’ve seen it in person when I lived in the area this is only the second photo I’ve seen of the Vogue. The other was on the lobby wall of the old RKO building (before it was demolished) at 1585 Broadway in New York, there was a collage of photos of all the RKO Stanley-Warner theatres, current and past.
Good point Ed. In the case of the Rivoli, I had forgotten they had changed the name there at the end. The more I think about it there are too many different circumstances to set a consistent etched-in-stone policy regarding names. The software limitations of this site are becoming obvious and I recall one of the owners hinting that there may be an upgrade in the near future. If that’s correct, maybe they can have the search function to search the primary name and the AKA names as well, as you suggested.
Not to be contrary, but I think this should remain listed as Loew’s 175th, the last name it had as a CINEMA. While they do have periodic concerts there, there are no movies and it’s primary use is still that of a church. There are periodic concerts at the Cathedral of St. John The Divine on Amsterdam & 112th St – are we going to list that venue on this site?
There is work being done at the Gramercy – went past there today and they were working on the marquee and also on the interior. A new box office has been built. I couldn’t see much from the door. One of the construction guys came out for a bit of air and I asked what are they doing to the place, he said it’s still going to be a theatre they are just fixing it up a bit. He was not a fountain of information, unfortunately.
The 34th St Theatre, mentioned above, was the previous name of the Murray Hill Theatre – Rugoff named it MH when he took over and renovated it. A photo of the old 34th St/MH can be seen here: View link
Obviously I haven’t been to one of these concerts in a long time, but back in the day, after something like this there would be some broken seats, cigarette burns on the carpet, gum stuck on the rug, graffiti, a broken mirror in the mens room, etc.
Is it still being used as a church? Is Reverend Ike still around? How can they have a big rock concert on Saturday night and have a place that big cleaned up, repaired and presentable for church services on Sunday morning?
The East Side Drive-In opened in 1938 and was the first unit built by Philip Smith of Midwest Drive-In Theatres, Inc., predecessor company of General Drive-In/General Cinema. The East Side Drive-In in Detroit opened shortly after in the same year.
We had the “Stop Pay TV” campaign on the late 60s at General Cinema in Cleveland – a standee in the lobby with a card table with a petition on it for people to sign. I think NATO was behind it.
The Arthur Marks plaque was not misplaced, it was given to his family after the column it was mounted was damaged and and re-done.
The lettered auditoriums was an internal designation only, they had no letter or number for the public to see.
The unusable seats were intentional – the old seats were smaller, therefore there were more of them. They did not want distributors to know that they had lost so many seats with the re-seating, so we ended up with the seats behind the curtains and seats too far forward in the center section. After a while we cannibalized those unusable seats for parts to make repairs to the usable ones.
The art was further east on 8th St. near University Place. It was later renamed Movieland 8th St. when operated by B.S.Moss/UA – it is now serving some function for NYU, I believe.
This opened as a Cineplex Odeon theatre. According to the Dec. 1999 Loews directory, the address is 700 E. Grand Ave. Ste. 115 – and at the time the theatre had 440 seats. I think it was the only Cineplex Imax in the US. Loews left it sometime between Dec 99 and Apr 01. It is now operated by the IMAX Corporation.
According to information received from the Donora Public Library, a 1976 diamond jubilee program states, in part, “Hopton and Evans built the Grand Theater on McKean Avenue. Later it became known as the Harris Theater. The word ‘Grand’ is inscribed in stone above the front of the building. It was at the Grand Theater where Dick Powell came to sing and act, as well as other famous singers and actors. Boxing shows were also held on the stage of the Grand Theater.”
Bond’s was built in 1947, I don’t know what was there before, it was before my time. Also, there was another burlesque house called the Oriental north of the Union Commerce Bldg and opposite the Roxy.
The Totowa Cinema was similar to this one. I only saw it a couple of times passing by on the bus but I never went inside. As I recall it had the same tall glass lobby, and the CINEMA letters on the roof were the red cut-outs not the black-on-white as they are here. I think Totowa was a little newer.
The address above is incorrect. I had it listed as East 9th Street & Euclid Ave. Cleve OH 44115, which was its downtown location, though I don’t know the exact address. Somehow it got changed to 16359 Euclid Ave. which is out at Euclid Ave. & Ivanhoe Rd. in suburban East Cleveland, several miles to the east.
Excellent photo!
Although I’ve seen it in person when I lived in the area this is only the second photo I’ve seen of the Vogue. The other was on the lobby wall of the old RKO building (before it was demolished) at 1585 Broadway in New York, there was a collage of photos of all the RKO Stanley-Warner theatres, current and past.
Good point Ed. In the case of the Rivoli, I had forgotten they had changed the name there at the end. The more I think about it there are too many different circumstances to set a consistent etched-in-stone policy regarding names. The software limitations of this site are becoming obvious and I recall one of the owners hinting that there may be an upgrade in the near future. If that’s correct, maybe they can have the search function to search the primary name and the AKA names as well, as you suggested.
Not to be contrary, but I think this should remain listed as Loew’s 175th, the last name it had as a CINEMA. While they do have periodic concerts there, there are no movies and it’s primary use is still that of a church. There are periodic concerts at the Cathedral of St. John The Divine on Amsterdam & 112th St – are we going to list that venue on this site?
Was this at any time a General Cinema house? It has their style of sign letters.
There is work being done at the Gramercy – went past there today and they were working on the marquee and also on the interior. A new box office has been built. I couldn’t see much from the door. One of the construction guys came out for a bit of air and I asked what are they doing to the place, he said it’s still going to be a theatre they are just fixing it up a bit. He was not a fountain of information, unfortunately.
Any news on how this is doing since Regal took over? Are they getting any of the good pictures or is AMC hogging them all over at the Boston Commons?
It opened under the auspices of Community Circuit Thetres, which was bought out by Loews in the late 1970s. It closed as ‘Loews Showplace’ .
It was only 1 block; but I am responding to William’s 5/2/06 entry above.
The 34th St Theatre, mentioned above, was the previous name of the Murray Hill Theatre – Rugoff named it MH when he took over and renovated it. A photo of the old 34th St/MH can be seen here:
View link
Obviously I haven’t been to one of these concerts in a long time, but back in the day, after something like this there would be some broken seats, cigarette burns on the carpet, gum stuck on the rug, graffiti, a broken mirror in the mens room, etc.
Is it still being used as a church? Is Reverend Ike still around? How can they have a big rock concert on Saturday night and have a place that big cleaned up, repaired and presentable for church services on Sunday morning?
The East Side Drive-In opened in 1938 and was the first unit built by Philip Smith of Midwest Drive-In Theatres, Inc., predecessor company of General Drive-In/General Cinema. The East Side Drive-In in Detroit opened shortly after in the same year.
Lost Memory: Please contact me at thanks!
We had the “Stop Pay TV” campaign on the late 60s at General Cinema in Cleveland – a standee in the lobby with a card table with a petition on it for people to sign. I think NATO was behind it.
The DLP system in in theatre #2.
The Arthur Marks plaque was not misplaced, it was given to his family after the column it was mounted was damaged and and re-done.
The lettered auditoriums was an internal designation only, they had no letter or number for the public to see.
The unusable seats were intentional – the old seats were smaller, therefore there were more of them. They did not want distributors to know that they had lost so many seats with the re-seating, so we ended up with the seats behind the curtains and seats too far forward in the center section. After a while we cannibalized those unusable seats for parts to make repairs to the usable ones.
The art was further east on 8th St. near University Place. It was later renamed Movieland 8th St. when operated by B.S.Moss/UA – it is now serving some function for NYU, I believe.
I remember this one – it was way out Rt. 19 by the turnpike…
This opened as a Cineplex Odeon theatre. According to the Dec. 1999 Loews directory, the address is 700 E. Grand Ave. Ste. 115 – and at the time the theatre had 440 seats. I think it was the only Cineplex Imax in the US. Loews left it sometime between Dec 99 and Apr 01. It is now operated by the IMAX Corporation.
According to information received from the Donora Public Library, a 1976 diamond jubilee program states, in part, “Hopton and Evans built the Grand Theater on McKean Avenue. Later it became known as the Harris Theater. The word ‘Grand’ is inscribed in stone above the front of the building. It was at the Grand Theater where Dick Powell came to sing and act, as well as other famous singers and actors. Boxing shows were also held on the stage of the Grand Theater.”
Jeans Funny House was next door to the Roxy –
I’m wondering if this Oriental might have had another name.
Bond’s was built in 1947, I don’t know what was there before, it was before my time. Also, there was another burlesque house called the Oriental north of the Union Commerce Bldg and opposite the Roxy.
The Totowa Cinema was similar to this one. I only saw it a couple of times passing by on the bus but I never went inside. As I recall it had the same tall glass lobby, and the CINEMA letters on the roof were the red cut-outs not the black-on-white as they are here. I think Totowa was a little newer.
What’s with that name – Ho-Chunk?
The address above is incorrect. I had it listed as East 9th Street & Euclid Ave. Cleve OH 44115, which was its downtown location, though I don’t know the exact address. Somehow it got changed to 16359 Euclid Ave. which is out at Euclid Ave. & Ivanhoe Rd. in suburban East Cleveland, several miles to the east.