In an homage to what formerly resided on the property, each of the sections of the parking lot at the Meadow Glen Mall are named after movie stars of yore (‘A’, I think, for Astaire, ‘B’ for Bogart, etc.).
It’s probably not too far away, Robert. The triplex seems to be mostly (if not entirely) functioning as a move-over house for product from the Loews site on Route 4… and we know how short the shelf-life for major-chain move-over houses tend to be…
The 10 or so auditoriums in the Empire are of impressive (approximately 500 seats in at least one of the auditoriums, I think) to O.K. (not shoebox, but not exactly expansive) size, Chris. The aspects of the theatre which are most notable are the lobby, which utilizes the former original auditorium space, and the windows on the upper floors which look out onto 42nd Street.
Not sure how long you’ll be in NYC, but the theatres I’d personally recommend visiting, in descending order of worthiness (if I can think of any others, I’ll post them), would be:
– The Ziegfeld (the most notable venue ‘Star Wars, Episode III’ will be playing at come May 19th);
– The Beekman (at 2nd and 66th; a classic single-screen cinema, scheduled to close for good, barring a last-minute reprieve, at the end of the month);
– The Paris, on 58th near 5th, a plush, medium-sized cinema (with a balcony), specializing in art-house fare;
– The Loews Lincoln Square at Broadway and 68th, where each of the auditoriums pay homage via plaques and unique architectural features to Loews movie palaces of days gone by;
– The Metro Twin at Broadway and 99th, a two-screen, Art-Deco venue, which has recently been given an impressive clean-up and restoration;
– The five-screen Sunshine Cinema on East Houston Street in Soho; just a very cool place to see a film…
…and, even though it’s not currently open for business (although it is, at present, being restored) the Loews Paradise on the Grand Concourse in The Bronx; you’ll be able to catch more than a glimpse of some of the work which is being done.
Thanks for all that info, FoxTheatres – makes sense, at least in how you described it. Too bad they didn’t have another investor with deeper pockets who could have ensured the preservation of the entire downstairs space. I’ll try to make a point of checking out the space in person. (Just out of curiosity to you – or anyone else who can answer this: what is ‘mirror projection’ and why would a theatre owner – or, perhaps more specifically, the owner of the Plaza – opt to use it?)
Thanks for posting the links to those photos, lostmemory. The lobby, at least, of the Canarsie, looked to be somewhat impressive, even amid all that rubble and dirt; guess the auditoriums and other parts of the theatre, based on the descriptions in some of the above posts, were something less than attractive. Too bad this theatre didn’t get more TLC over the years – and too bad as well what’s currently being done to it.
According to a posting by ‘savingtheboyd’ from this past April 18th, Gustavelifting, the final day of the Beekman will be May 31st. It seems likely to go out with ‘The Interpreter’, but who knows? Maybe Clearview will assemble a retro festival of some of the Beekman’s more notable engagements over the years.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems particularly crude to be demolishing this building from the front, middle-in – rubbing in the death of the Waikiki even further.
For those who are interested (and because of the thread that developed on this page a couple of days ago), a nice tribute to the Times Square HoJo’s: View link
Several good points, CConnolly. I’m (obviously) not a big fan of the current Times Square, but compared to what I remember it being 10 years ago (and what I’ve read it described as 20 years ago) it is preferable; it’s just not a part of the city designed to cater by-and-large to the average New Yorker… and, for what it is, that’s O.K. – it’s just not a place for me…
Thanks for those details, Robert, and for the memories you, Irv, and everyone else has offered. My New York is, by default and by my age, the contemporary New York of Sunday brunch, weekend lines at the Angelika and the Sunshine, and a Starbucks Vanilla Creme Frappucino (when the mood strikes), but I value the remnants of the ‘Old New York’ we still have (St. Marks Place, for being an ALMOST corporate-free zone; the Waverly Restaurant; John’s of Bleecker Street; and several many others – but far too few as well – to list). Oh, to be 10 years older and to have lived in the New York all you guys had a chance to enjoy…
I’m going to make one last trip to the HoJo’s in Times Square before it closes; I usually tend to forget to do such things and can’t stand the increasingly abhorrent tourist trap the area has become but this is too worthwhile to miss.
There used to be a regular ad in the Times for the ‘New York Experience’, about the size of 1-½ inches of column space, which ran in the Weekend section every Friday, up until its engagement at both the Trans-Lux theatres came to an end. The second ‘NY Experience’-esque show I think was called ‘Hello New York’, or something along those lines; I remember what was a newly-installed marquee outside the then-former Plaza Theatre bearing that name.
A mistake on the authors' behalf, hardbop. (I think the title of the book you’re referring to is ‘Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession’.) The Empire indeed has 25 screens.
‘Perfect Crime’ has the distinction of being the longest-running play either on- or off-Broadway. (The Duffy Theatre, the only off-Broadway venue in the Times Square area located on Broadway, also once served as a burlesk house.)
According to this web site – http://hojoland.homestead.com/locations.html – there are nine Howard Johnson’s restaurants still in operation, including the soon-to-close Times Square location (the last HoJo’s in NYC); one in Springfield, Vermont, which is shutting its doors for business this upcoming May 15th; and another in Millington, Maryland, which is currently up for auction on eBay. The remaining six – including one seasonal location in Asbury Park, NJ – are at least holding on… for now.
Surprisingly enough, the Times piece hardbop alludes to makes no mention of the building’s imminent demolition. Jeff Sutton, the individual whose group, Wharton Acquisitions, recently bought the property, is quoted as saying that the closing of the Gaiety Burlesk “has nothing to do with me”. Uh, Mr. Sutton, maybe we’re grasping at straws here and maybe you had nothing to do with the exact day the Gaiety’s ownership chose to close their establishment’s doors for business, but I kinda think that if you’re planning on redeveloping the land the Gaiety currently stands on, the closing DOES have something to do with you.
The Mid-Island Triplex is being booked with a somewhat curious mix of Bollywood flicks, major studio move-overs, and expanded engagements of art-house and indie-type flicks; its current offerings- ‘Waqt’, ‘Lucky’, The Ballad of Jack and Rose', ‘Nina’s Tragedies’, ‘Robots’, ‘The Pacifier’, and ‘Born Into Brothels’.
One more question – does the Plaza still have any kind of marquee? An earlier post on this page mentioned it was being entirely used for Walgreens signage.
One of the ‘Blue Laws’ in the state of Massachusetts (where I grew up) prohibited up until around 1983 or so most types of businesses except for a handful (i.e., gas stations, convenience stores, etc.) from opening for business on Sundays. Blue laws, I’d have to think, probably varied from state to state, so those in effect in New York State (or in the city) back in 1923 were probably different from the ones on the books in the Bay State. (I can’t imagine they affected movie theatres being open for business on Sundays; I know of no such law and the very notion sounds absurd, to say the least.)
In an homage to what formerly resided on the property, each of the sections of the parking lot at the Meadow Glen Mall are named after movie stars of yore (‘A’, I think, for Astaire, ‘B’ for Bogart, etc.).
It’s probably not too far away, Robert. The triplex seems to be mostly (if not entirely) functioning as a move-over house for product from the Loews site on Route 4… and we know how short the shelf-life for major-chain move-over houses tend to be…
It’s a bit unrelated, but I just checked out the link Katie Mac posted and, wow, what a beautiful theatre; such a tragedy it closed…
The on-site construction crew I think, Bway, was/is responsible for most of the rubble…
A recent glimpse of the exterior of the soon-to-open (sometime within the next 2-3 weeks, I’ve heard through the grapevine) IFC Center: View link
The 10 or so auditoriums in the Empire are of impressive (approximately 500 seats in at least one of the auditoriums, I think) to O.K. (not shoebox, but not exactly expansive) size, Chris. The aspects of the theatre which are most notable are the lobby, which utilizes the former original auditorium space, and the windows on the upper floors which look out onto 42nd Street.
Not sure how long you’ll be in NYC, but the theatres I’d personally recommend visiting, in descending order of worthiness (if I can think of any others, I’ll post them), would be:
– The Ziegfeld (the most notable venue ‘Star Wars, Episode III’ will be playing at come May 19th);
– The Beekman (at 2nd and 66th; a classic single-screen cinema, scheduled to close for good, barring a last-minute reprieve, at the end of the month);
– The Paris, on 58th near 5th, a plush, medium-sized cinema (with a balcony), specializing in art-house fare;
– The Loews Lincoln Square at Broadway and 68th, where each of the auditoriums pay homage via plaques and unique architectural features to Loews movie palaces of days gone by;
– The Metro Twin at Broadway and 99th, a two-screen, Art-Deco venue, which has recently been given an impressive clean-up and restoration;
– The five-screen Sunshine Cinema on East Houston Street in Soho; just a very cool place to see a film…
…and, even though it’s not currently open for business (although it is, at present, being restored) the Loews Paradise on the Grand Concourse in The Bronx; you’ll be able to catch more than a glimpse of some of the work which is being done.
Thanks for all that info, FoxTheatres – makes sense, at least in how you described it. Too bad they didn’t have another investor with deeper pockets who could have ensured the preservation of the entire downstairs space. I’ll try to make a point of checking out the space in person. (Just out of curiosity to you – or anyone else who can answer this: what is ‘mirror projection’ and why would a theatre owner – or, perhaps more specifically, the owner of the Plaza – opt to use it?)
Also, wonder what happened to those plans to convert the space into a banquet hall – and what might become of (or is becoming of) that space…
Thanks for posting the links to those photos, lostmemory. The lobby, at least, of the Canarsie, looked to be somewhat impressive, even amid all that rubble and dirt; guess the auditoriums and other parts of the theatre, based on the descriptions in some of the above posts, were something less than attractive. Too bad this theatre didn’t get more TLC over the years – and too bad as well what’s currently being done to it.
According to a posting by ‘savingtheboyd’ from this past April 18th, Gustavelifting, the final day of the Beekman will be May 31st. It seems likely to go out with ‘The Interpreter’, but who knows? Maybe Clearview will assemble a retro festival of some of the Beekman’s more notable engagements over the years.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems particularly crude to be demolishing this building from the front, middle-in – rubbing in the death of the Waikiki even further.
For those who are interested (and because of the thread that developed on this page a couple of days ago), a nice tribute to the Times Square HoJo’s: View link
Several good points, CConnolly. I’m (obviously) not a big fan of the current Times Square, but compared to what I remember it being 10 years ago (and what I’ve read it described as 20 years ago) it is preferable; it’s just not a part of the city designed to cater by-and-large to the average New Yorker… and, for what it is, that’s O.K. – it’s just not a place for me…
Given how Loews operates its theatres, that wouldn’t have been a shock… ;–)
Thanks for those details, Robert, and for the memories you, Irv, and everyone else has offered. My New York is, by default and by my age, the contemporary New York of Sunday brunch, weekend lines at the Angelika and the Sunshine, and a Starbucks Vanilla Creme Frappucino (when the mood strikes), but I value the remnants of the ‘Old New York’ we still have (St. Marks Place, for being an ALMOST corporate-free zone; the Waverly Restaurant; John’s of Bleecker Street; and several many others – but far too few as well – to list). Oh, to be 10 years older and to have lived in the New York all you guys had a chance to enjoy…
I’m going to make one last trip to the HoJo’s in Times Square before it closes; I usually tend to forget to do such things and can’t stand the increasingly abhorrent tourist trap the area has become but this is too worthwhile to miss.
There used to be a regular ad in the Times for the ‘New York Experience’, about the size of 1-½ inches of column space, which ran in the Weekend section every Friday, up until its engagement at both the Trans-Lux theatres came to an end. The second ‘NY Experience’-esque show I think was called ‘Hello New York’, or something along those lines; I remember what was a newly-installed marquee outside the then-former Plaza Theatre bearing that name.
A mistake on the authors' behalf, hardbop. (I think the title of the book you’re referring to is ‘Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession’.) The Empire indeed has 25 screens.
‘Perfect Crime’ has the distinction of being the longest-running play either on- or off-Broadway. (The Duffy Theatre, the only off-Broadway venue in the Times Square area located on Broadway, also once served as a burlesk house.)
According to this web site – http://hojoland.homestead.com/locations.html – there are nine Howard Johnson’s restaurants still in operation, including the soon-to-close Times Square location (the last HoJo’s in NYC); one in Springfield, Vermont, which is shutting its doors for business this upcoming May 15th; and another in Millington, Maryland, which is currently up for auction on eBay. The remaining six – including one seasonal location in Asbury Park, NJ – are at least holding on… for now.
Surprisingly enough, the Times piece hardbop alludes to makes no mention of the building’s imminent demolition. Jeff Sutton, the individual whose group, Wharton Acquisitions, recently bought the property, is quoted as saying that the closing of the Gaiety Burlesk “has nothing to do with me”. Uh, Mr. Sutton, maybe we’re grasping at straws here and maybe you had nothing to do with the exact day the Gaiety’s ownership chose to close their establishment’s doors for business, but I kinda think that if you’re planning on redeveloping the land the Gaiety currently stands on, the closing DOES have something to do with you.
The Mid-Island Triplex is being booked with a somewhat curious mix of Bollywood flicks, major studio move-overs, and expanded engagements of art-house and indie-type flicks; its current offerings- ‘Waqt’, ‘Lucky’, The Ballad of Jack and Rose', ‘Nina’s Tragedies’, ‘Robots’, ‘The Pacifier’, and ‘Born Into Brothels’.
One more question – does the Plaza still have any kind of marquee? An earlier post on this page mentioned it was being entirely used for Walgreens signage.
Does the one auditorium occupy the entire balcony, movieman007? Any signs of ongoing construction or division of the balcony into additional screens?
One of the ‘Blue Laws’ in the state of Massachusetts (where I grew up) prohibited up until around 1983 or so most types of businesses except for a handful (i.e., gas stations, convenience stores, etc.) from opening for business on Sundays. Blue laws, I’d have to think, probably varied from state to state, so those in effect in New York State (or in the city) back in 1923 were probably different from the ones on the books in the Bay State. (I can’t imagine they affected movie theatres being open for business on Sundays; I know of no such law and the very notion sounds absurd, to say the least.)