City Cinemas Village East

181 Second Avenue,
New York, NY 10003

Unfavorite 15 people favorited this theater

Showing 26 - 50 of 101 comments found

edblank
edblank on April 16, 2009 at 2:33 pm

That stage production of “The Chosen” surprisingly lasted for just six performances, Jan. 6-10, 1988, although the marquee signage probably was in place for the final month or two of 1987 and may have stayed up for many weeks after the play closed

lostmemory
lostmemory on April 16, 2009 at 12:47 am

Here is a photo of the Second Avenue Theater.

Warren G. Harris
Warren G. Harris on March 2, 2009 at 2:50 pm

A recent exterior view can be seen in this article about the Lower East Side: View link

EcRocker
EcRocker on December 28, 2008 at 1:25 am

Ok I knew it was one or the other. Thanks

AlAlvarez
AlAlvarez on December 27, 2008 at 5:41 am

Rocker, try Entermedia.

EcRocker
EcRocker on December 27, 2008 at 4:18 am

I believe for a while it was also called the Intermedia Theatre. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

lostmemory
lostmemory on December 26, 2008 at 11:43 pm

Here is a July 2008 photo.

owenspierre81
owenspierre81 on July 2, 2008 at 2:06 pm

I forgot to mention that the Mike Myers comedy THE LOVE GURU was shown at the VILLAGE EAST on June 20, 2008. It’s still showing at this theater now along with INDIANA JONES and WALL-E

owenspierre81
owenspierre81 on June 30, 2008 at 5:12 am

Here is a list of films that were shown at the VILLAGE EAST from 2002 to today.

¼/02- Impostor
1/18/02- Snow Dogs
2/15/02- Return to Never Land
2/15/02- Super Troopers
3/8/02- All About the Benjamins
3/8/02- The Time Machine
3/22/02- Sorority Boys
4/26/02- Life or Something Like It
5/10/02- Unfaithful
7/3/02- Like Mike
7/3/02- The Powerpuff Girls Movie
7/12/02- Reign of Fire
7/26/02- The Country Bears
8/23/02- Little Secrets
8/30/02- FearDotCom
TBA 2002- My Big Fat Greek Wedding
10/4/02- Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
10/4/02- Moonlight Mile
10/11/02- The Transporter
11/27/02- Treasure Planet
12/6/02- Empire
12/6/02- Equilbrium
12/13/02- Drumline
12/20/02- The Wild Thornberrys Movie
12/25/02- Pinocchio
1/10/03- Just Married
1/31/03- Biker Boyz
1/31/03- The Recruit
2/14/03- The Jungle Book 2
2/21/03- Gods and Generals
3/14/03- Willard
3/21/03- Piglet’s Big Movie
4/18/03- Malibu’s Most Wanted
4/25/03- The Real Cancun
5/2/03- The Lizzie McGuire Movie
5/16/03- The Matrix Reloaded
7/18/03- How to Deal
8/6/03- Freaky Friday
8/22/03- My Boss’s Daughter
9/26/03- Under the Tuscan Sun
10/17/03- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
11/14/03- Looney Tunes: Back in Action
11/26/03- Bad Santa
11/26/03- The Haunted Mansion
12/12/03- Love Don’t Cost A Thing
1/9/04- Chasing Liberty
1/16/04- Disney’s Teacher’s Pet
2/20/04- Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
3/26/04- The Ladykillers
3/26/04- Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
4/30/04- Laws of Attraction
5/28/04- Raising Helen
7/9/04- Sleepover
7/23/04- Catwoman
7/30/04- The Village
8/20/04- Exorcist: The Beginning
9/10/04- Cellular
9/24/04- The Last Shot
10/22/04- Surviving Christmas
10/29/04- Birth
11/24/04- Alexander
12/25/04- Darkness
12/25/04- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
1/14/05- The Merchant of Venice
1/14/05- Racing Stripes
2/11/05- Pooh’s Heffalump Movie
2/18/05- Son of the Mask
2/25/05- Cursed
3/18/05- Ice Princess
4/15/05- The Amityville Horror
4/29/05- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
5/13/05- Kicking & Screaming
5/13/05- Mindhunters
5/13/05- Unleashed
6/10/05- Mr. & Mrs. Smith
7/22/05- The Island
7/29/05- Sky High
8/5/05- The Dukes of Hazzard
8/5/05- March of the Penguins
8/17/05- Supercross: The Movie
9/2/05- A Sound of Thunder
9/2/05- Underclassman
9/16/05- Venom
9/23/05- Flightplan
9/30/05- Duma
9/30/05- A History of Violence
10/7/05- Two for the Money
10/21/05- Stay
10/28/05- Prime
11/23/05- Just Friends
12/16/05- The Family Stone
12/23/05- Munich
12/23/05- The Ringer
12/25/05- Casanova
12/25/05- Wolf Creek
2/10/06- Final Destination 3
2/10/06- Firewall
2/10/06- The Pink Panther
3/10/06- The Hills Have Eyes
3/10/06- The Shaggy Dog
3/31/06- Slither
4/21/06- The Sentinel
4/28/06- United 93
5/12/06- Goal! The Dream Begins
6/6/06- The Omen
6/9/06- Cars
6/16/06- The Lake House
6/16/06- Nacho Libre
7/28/06- The Ant Bully
9/1/06- Lassie
9/15/06- The Last Kiss
10/20/06- Marie Antoinette
11/3/06- Borat
11/3/06- The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
11/22/06- Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny
12/8/06- Apocalypto
12/25/06- Children of Men
12/25/06- Dreamgirls
1/12/07- Alpha Dog
1/26/07- Catch and Release
2/23/07- The Number 23
3/2/07- Zodiac
3/23/07- The Hills Have Eyes II
3/23/07- TMNT
4/27/07- The Invisible
4/27/07- Next
5/4/07- Lucky You
5/11/07- 28 Weeks Later
5/25/07- Bug
6/29/07- Ratatouille
8/3/07- Hot Rod
8/3/07- Underdog
8/17/07- The Invasion
8/31/07- Death Sentence
9/21/07- Resident Evil: Extinction
9/28/07- The Kingdom
10/12/07- Elizabeth: The Golden Age
10/19/07- Things We Lost in the Fire
10/26/07- Dan in Real Life
11/9/07- Fred Claus
11/16/07- Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
11/30/07- Awake
12/21/07- Charlie Wilson’s War
12/21/07- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
1/25/08- Untraceable
2/14/08- Jumper
2/22/08- Diary of the Dead
2/22/08- Be Kind Rewind
2/29/08- Semi-Pro
3/14/08- Doomsday
3/21/08- Drillbit Taylor
4/11/08- Persepolis
5/22/08- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
5/30/08- The Foot Fist Way
6/27/08- Wall-E

The VILLAGE EAST is still one of the coolest theatres in New York City.

edblank
edblank on May 28, 2008 at 3:30 am

At least the theater is surviving in some form, albeit all chopped up.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on May 21, 2008 at 12:08 am

The following is from the homepage of the Reading Int'l website, here where they describe their business and objectives (note, in particular, the final sentence of the last paragraph below):

Reading International, Inc (AMEX: RDI) is in the business of owning and operating cinemas and live theaters and developing, owning and operating real estate assets. Our business consists primarily of

  • the development, ownership and operation of cinemas in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, principally under the Reading Cinemas, Angelika Film Center, City Cinemas and Rialto names;

  • the development, ownership and operation of commercial real estate in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, including entertainment-themed retail centers (“ETRC”) in Australia and New Zealand and

  • the ownership and leasing to production companies through Liberty Theaters, Inc. of “Off Broadway” style live theaters in Manhattan and Chicago

We are different from most other cinema companies due to our real property emphasis. Calculated based on book value nearly 70% of our assets relates to our real estate activities. While most of our cash flow is currently derived from cinemas, our present business plan is to reinvest that cash flow principally in real estate assets, and to be opportunistic in terms of the acquisition and development of additional entertainment properties. Unlike other cinema companies, we are not compelled to continue and redevelop our cinema assets, where higher and better uses become available for such properties.

RobertR
RobertR on May 20, 2008 at 1:56 pm

The lowlifes at City Cinemas are at it again destroying another theatre facade so they sell off the building.

edblank
edblank on May 20, 2008 at 4:18 am

Starting June 17, 1969, when this theater was called the Eden, it hosted a long pre-Broadway-area engagement of “Oh! Calcutta.” – Ed Blank

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on May 17, 2008 at 3:29 am

Wow! I just looked at the heading for this theatre. I don’t believe there is another theatre on the whole CT site that has as many aka names as this one…

AlAlvarez
AlAlvarez on May 17, 2008 at 2:50 am

Does anyone know which years this operated as the Stuyvesant and whether it showed movies as that?

aarfeld
aarfeld on April 24, 2008 at 5:43 am

D.C.
After Bill Graham closed the Fillmore East a couple of other owners tried to revive it as a concert hall for Rock music, but they apparently lacked his skills as a promoter. At first it was renamed the N.F.E. Theater (late ‘71 or '72), much to Graham’s irritation. There is a photo on the Lowes Comodore page of the old F.E as the Village East in '73, when the Dolls might have played there. I don’t know how long it operated as such but one witness says he personally saw the theater abandoned with homeless people living in it by '76. A sad end for the Carnige Hall of Rock concerts.

lostmemory
lostmemory on January 19, 2008 at 9:20 pm

Work was being done on the facade. Here are the details.

Warren G. Harris
Warren G. Harris on January 16, 2008 at 8:14 pm

On April 16th, 1941, this was being advertised in The New York Times as the Century Theatre, and in its last three days of “Gone With the Wind,” which was shown continuously at 12:30 PM, 4:45, and 9:00 at “reduced prices.” I don’t know what the prices were “reduced” from, but I think that they were still higher than what the Century normally charged.

br91975
br91975 on January 16, 2008 at 2:27 pm

They were doing some kind of exterior work, Dave (the main entrance door at the far left is or was papered with all kinds of city permits), but it wasn’t – and isn’t – entirely clear what the work was.

TompkinsSquare
TompkinsSquare on January 14, 2008 at 3:45 pm

This is a crummy theater. Even in the main auditorium, the projection quality is bad and the sound system is awful. As for the small screens — they’re so small you might as well stay at home and download the trailer to your iPod

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on January 3, 2008 at 2:32 am

What is happening with the exterior above the street level in that photo? What’s with those white lines?

lostmemory
lostmemory on January 3, 2008 at 1:28 am

Here is another photo of the Village East.

woody
woody on December 18, 2007 at 10:36 pm

photos of the exterior (nightime) and main screen when i saw “scenes from a mall” there in 1991
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2120655811/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2120658031/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2121438842/
other films on the marquee The Field, Superstar Andy Warhol, Sleazy Uncle

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on October 15, 2007 at 2:06 am

Bob… take a look at my post back on August 15, 2006, where I linked to a vintage November 1963 ad that ran in the LI Star Journal for “This Was Burlesque.” The theatre was called the Casino East at that time. Admissions were $1 and $2!

To the editors: That same post of mine lists a number of AKA’s for this theatre that should be considered for inclusion at the top of the page. I’m not sure if ALL of the names listed were in use while the theatre ran motion pictures, but some of them definitely were (Entermedia, is an example).