United Palace of Cultural Arts
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 268 comments
The Sept. 10 screening of “City Lights” drew over 600 customers, some first time visitors were in awe of the theatre. It was preceeded by a Chaplin short “By The Sea” which was accompanied by the original organ on the lift which has been electrified. Thanks Mike Fitelstein.
website says Sept 10 City Lights with live organ. Will that still be held?
GREAT NEWS! The New York Theatre Organ Society (NYTOS) has removed the theatre’s Robert Morton Wonder Organ for a top-to-bottom as-built restoration. This was the last of Wonder Organs built by the former Robert Morton Organ Company of Van Nuys CA. NYTOS has a special website about “Restoring the Wonder.” It can be found at: http://www.restoringthewonder.org/. The website is fabulous and should not be missed. When the Morton is reinstalled in the theatre, the number of New York City’s playing theatre organ original installations will increase to three, the other two being the Radio City Music Hall (Wurlitzer) and the now being restored Brooklyn Paramount Theater (Wurlitzer).
Correction: It was the spectacular new DCP program system that was donated by Mr. Miranda. They are raising funds for the great new sound system, part of which is already there on approval.
Just a note that I will be introducing “The Wizard of Oz'‘ here on Dec. 11. It’s the third film that will be shown with a much-upgraded sound system donated by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who introduced "Mary Poppins’‘ at the Palace in October. There’s an admission charge for the "Oz’‘ screenings, but there is a free open house from 12 to 4, including tours at 1:30 and 2:30.
This YouTube clip shows the organ console being presented on stage prior to restoration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBJFNGj6Puw&feature=youtu.be
Brief lobby area shot appears in Woody Allen’s “Café Society.” Shot passes for a Hollywood movie palace.
Tinseltoes, Then it must have been the RKO Coliseum. I remember Broadway was blocked by the snow, it was February 1st, we took a taxi coming out of the theater, but the driver stopped in front of the Presbyterian Medical Center and told us to get off, he couldn’t go on.
How depressing! I think I saw “Giant” with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor there in an early February, there was a heavy snowfall.
I remember Loew’s 175th from 1951 and it was still a theater in 1957. The “Big Three” railroad-car style diner was across 175th Street, there was a photo studio across Broadway. My cousin worked as an usher there while in high school.
I know this is late notice, but tonight, April 7th, at 8:30, WNYE-TV channel 25 will be airing an episode of their Blueprint NYC series devoted to the Loew’s Wonder Theaters. If you miss it, you may be able to watch the episode at their website after it has aired.
markp, unfortunately not, but I believe they sell the video on the tv stations website. Perhaps someone has that clip and can post it for us on youtube. The only tour show I recorded was when the played the Wurlitzer organ at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre.
theatrefan, is there any link to that show on youtube or somewhere else?
In the 1999 WNET-TV channel 13 Special A Walk Up Broadway with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis, the visit the 175th Street, go into the original projection room & fire up the old projection equipment & of course everything still worked, exactly like it did way back in 1969, when it was a Loew’s House. They don’t make stuff like they used to anymore.
Was here on Sunday for “The Sweet Smell Of Success”, this theatre is very similar to the Landmark (Loew’s State) in Syracuse NY. It is maintained in meticulous condition & truly a stunning sight to behold. I encourage everyone to can to try to make it up to see this Wonder theatre, it’s well worth the trip! Also on February 22nd it will be 85 years old! Happy Birthday United Palace!
The theater is now called United Palace of Cultural Arts, and should probably be changed in the main heading above:
http://unitedpalace.org/upca
I will be hosting a free screening of “Moonstruck'‘ at the United Palace with my special guest, author Farran Nehme ("Missing Reels’‘) at 5 p.m. this Sunday (Jan. 11). If you can’t make that, I’ll be back with free screenings of "Sweet Smell of Success’‘ (with James Wolcott of Vanity Fair, Feb. 8) and "Rear Window’‘ on March 8. You’re all invited!
More info: http://unitedpalace.org/upca
Loew’s 175 Street opened on February 22, 1930 (in those days the George Washington National Holiday). It was the last of the “wonder theatres” in the NY-NJ area; preceded by the Valencia, Paradise, Kings and Jersey City. See opening ad in the photos section.
I went to the showing of Casablanca last night and it was a roaring success. Announced attendance was over 1,100 people! They had to open the balcony to handle the crowd. A large number of people came in Black Tie and Gowns in the spirit of Rick’s Cafe (and the free admission to those who did). The theater is spectacular! They announced that regularly scheduled classics would begin in 2014 with curating help from Lin Manuel Miranda, the genius behind the amazing “In The Heights!” The fist series will be films which highlight New York and the first one to be shown will be “The Muppets Take Manhattan!”
Thanks much AlAverez. As luck would have it I am now working, but have made a note of how to get there in the future. Thanks again.
Markp, take the “A"or the "C” train from the Port authority NORTH to 168th street and then walk up to 176th Street on Broadway.
Hello. Perhaps LuisV or someone can help me. I am hoping to make it there Sunday. The only thing that would stand in my way is work. My question is, Im coming from Jersey. I would be taking a bus to the port authority. From there (besides taxi) how would I get there? I really do not want to drive into the city. Any help greatly appreciated.
Tinseltoes: Please, picky, picky, picky ….
If only a handful of Facebook.com users attend it should be very, very crowded on November 17th!
I sure would like to try, but not sure.. I am kicking myself for not going to the Ridgewood theater some years ago when there was a group of people here going. No one would have thought it would have closed soon after. Casablanca, It’s a good choice of movie too. A shame Star Wars or Wizard of Oz, the first two choices weren’t possible due to licensing, as I can see how those would have been the first two choices. Casablanca is a good third choice though….it’s also a classic.