The interior of the Embassy 2-3-4, at least from what I’ve gleaned from peeks through the boarded-up entrance, is still intact (not accounting for, I imagine, spots of chipped paint, fallen bits of plaster, bits of water damage, and so on).
The engagement of ‘Santo Domingo Blues’ at the Cinema Village on 12th Street (according to Cinema Village’s web site) has been pushed back until February 4, 2005; I suspect the same is true for its run at the Coliseum, Julio and Divinity. To confirm that, my best advice would be to shoot an e-mail to Mambo Media, the company releasing ‘Santo Domingo Blues’, at
The First Avenue Screening Room was known as the Art East Cinema during its brief run as a discount house in ‘91-'92. Its grand-reopening presentation as the Art East Cinema was an offering JUST shy of being an art house-type flick – the Leslie Nielsen comedy 'All I Want for Christmas’.
Just a minor correction to my last post – and anyone familiar with Midtown East, at least until the time the site was cleared a few years ago to make room for the new Bloomberg tower, would know this so well – Alexander’s was actually located on the southwest corner, NOT the southeast corner, of 3rd and 60th.
The next two bookings at the Ziegfeld are ‘Oceans Twelve’, beginning December 10th, and, starting December 22nd, ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera’.
There was talk of the Off-The-Wall Cinema re-emerging within the former Sears building in Porter Square, Cambridge shortly after it was renovated and re-opened in December of 1988 as the Porter Exchange indoor shopping gallery, talk that regrettably never became anything more.
On what block was the First Avenue Screening Room located? Is this the space that was last occupied by the Chicago City Limits improv comedy troupe and located at 1105 First Avenue between 61st and 62nd?
The D.W. Griffith became the 59th Street East Cinema in April of ‘89, Vincent, and is presently known and operated as the ImaginAsian, a venue focusing year-round on films with a related cultural leaning.
Thanks for filling in those blanks for me, Dave. Just out of curiosity, what were the 4 porn theatres on 59th Street? The old Manhattan Twin was one; was the D.W. Griffith another, and what were the other two (or, if not the D.W. Griffith, the other three)? Also, given that the adult entertainment industry is highly unlikely to re-establish any sort of foothold in Midtown East, what are the chances, from your P.O.V., of that zoning being altered in order to allow a new movie theatre site (or two, or three) to be developed within the area?
The ICA only offers scattered film screenings these days, perhaps due to cost reasons. I saw a Chantal Akerman documentary on Mexican migrant workers there back in March of this year when I was in town visiting family for a few days and second Gerald’s assessment of the ICA Cinema’s nearly non-existant seating rake; if I wasn’t sitting in the front row, reading the accompanying subtitles would have proven to be near-impossible. Stadium-seating (or some reasonable fascimile of it) at the new ICA Cinema on Fan Pier would be a great addition (as would be the return of a consistent film program, one on par with those offered by the Harvard Film Archive and Museum of Fine Arts).
With apologies to Sheryl Crow, apropos of nothing, the Cinema 1-2-3, located, of course, diagonally from the former Alexander’s site on the southeast corner of 3rd and 60th, is currently showing ‘Alexander’. (Weird, little, ‘fun’ useless fact for the day…)
It was the ‘70s and, from what I’ve been told, a LOT of things happened in the '70s – in all seriousness, one of the bleakest periods, if not THE bleakest period ever, for American architecture…
There used to be a second multiplex in Brockton, located near what was then known as – and may still be known as – Cardinal Cushing Hospital, for all I’m aware, on North Pearl Street, which I think closed sometime in the mid-‘90s. Does anyone know what became of that property?
I tried to start a series of posts similar to the one CConnolly began yesterday regarding theatre chains that seem to have their you-know-what together about a month ago on the Movieworld Douglaston page… I’d have to agree with Ron Newman – Landmark Theatres seems to have a solid reputation. They’ve been a well-operated chain, keeping their theatres in good, working condition (although at least two of their properties – the NuArt in West LA and the Rialto in Pasadena – could use some fixing-up), keeping some classic theatres up-and-running (such as the NuArt and Rialto) which may have otherwise closed, building art-house theatres in previously underserved markets (such as the Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, Ma.), and keeping such distractions as pre-film commercials and in-theatre radio networks to a minimum or paying no heed to them whatsoever.
Responding to your most recent post, Dave-Bronx – how were the First & 62nd Street Cinemas allowed to come into existance sometime around 1991 with the re-zoning prohibiting the development of new movie theatres within the neighborhood having been passed roughly some 10 years' prior?
DLP is O.K.; I’ve never been particularly blown away by it – I personally don’t have any issues with celluloid, I suppose due to my familiarity with it and the vast majority of the 150-170 films I see per year in theatres which AREN’T presented in DLP – but that’s just one man’s perspective.
I remember the Lexington Flick being a triplex through sometime around the late ‘80s – I think through the time it was a Loews property – but have no knowledge of what became of the third auditorium; perhaps it became retail?
Loews also operated the Festival for a time. The Avco Embassy East (later the since-demolished Manhattan Twin), meanwhile, was actually located on 59th, between 2nd and 3rd.
Thanks for all those great memories, Fogwrestler. Just out of curiosity, who was it who owned the Orson Welles and, if you don’t have any knowledge of this, no big deal, but why was it that the Orson Welles didn’t reopen after its fire in May of ‘86?
Thanks for that info, Divinity. At least we can count our blessings that the American is still open for business, what with the loss of so many theatres in the Bronx over the last 10-15 years…
Perhaps City Cinemas has caught wind of a possible renewed attempt to landmark the property. The last thing the neighborhood needs is to lose another movie theatre, even one that’s lost a bit of its luster over the years…
According to a June 1989 issue of the Village Voice, the Thalia Soho was limited to showcasing films in 16mm.
The exterior of the Alex is highly visible in a new commercial for the Nissan Murano.
The interior of the Embassy 2-3-4, at least from what I’ve gleaned from peeks through the boarded-up entrance, is still intact (not accounting for, I imagine, spots of chipped paint, fallen bits of plaster, bits of water damage, and so on).
The engagement of ‘Santo Domingo Blues’ at the Cinema Village on 12th Street (according to Cinema Village’s web site) has been pushed back until February 4, 2005; I suspect the same is true for its run at the Coliseum, Julio and Divinity. To confirm that, my best advice would be to shoot an e-mail to Mambo Media, the company releasing ‘Santo Domingo Blues’, at
The address for the First Avenue Screening Room/Art East Cinema/Chicago City Limits was indeed 1105 First Avenue.
The First Avenue Screening Room was known as the Art East Cinema during its brief run as a discount house in ‘91-'92. Its grand-reopening presentation as the Art East Cinema was an offering JUST shy of being an art house-type flick – the Leslie Nielsen comedy 'All I Want for Christmas’.
Just a minor correction to my last post – and anyone familiar with Midtown East, at least until the time the site was cleared a few years ago to make room for the new Bloomberg tower, would know this so well – Alexander’s was actually located on the southwest corner, NOT the southeast corner, of 3rd and 60th.
The next two bookings at the Ziegfeld are ‘Oceans Twelve’, beginning December 10th, and, starting December 22nd, ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera’.
There was talk of the Off-The-Wall Cinema re-emerging within the former Sears building in Porter Square, Cambridge shortly after it was renovated and re-opened in December of 1988 as the Porter Exchange indoor shopping gallery, talk that regrettably never became anything more.
On what block was the First Avenue Screening Room located? Is this the space that was last occupied by the Chicago City Limits improv comedy troupe and located at 1105 First Avenue between 61st and 62nd?
The D.W. Griffith became the 59th Street East Cinema in April of ‘89, Vincent, and is presently known and operated as the ImaginAsian, a venue focusing year-round on films with a related cultural leaning.
Thanks for filling in those blanks for me, Dave. Just out of curiosity, what were the 4 porn theatres on 59th Street? The old Manhattan Twin was one; was the D.W. Griffith another, and what were the other two (or, if not the D.W. Griffith, the other three)? Also, given that the adult entertainment industry is highly unlikely to re-establish any sort of foothold in Midtown East, what are the chances, from your P.O.V., of that zoning being altered in order to allow a new movie theatre site (or two, or three) to be developed within the area?
The ICA only offers scattered film screenings these days, perhaps due to cost reasons. I saw a Chantal Akerman documentary on Mexican migrant workers there back in March of this year when I was in town visiting family for a few days and second Gerald’s assessment of the ICA Cinema’s nearly non-existant seating rake; if I wasn’t sitting in the front row, reading the accompanying subtitles would have proven to be near-impossible. Stadium-seating (or some reasonable fascimile of it) at the new ICA Cinema on Fan Pier would be a great addition (as would be the return of a consistent film program, one on par with those offered by the Harvard Film Archive and Museum of Fine Arts).
With apologies to Sheryl Crow, apropos of nothing, the Cinema 1-2-3, located, of course, diagonally from the former Alexander’s site on the southeast corner of 3rd and 60th, is currently showing ‘Alexander’. (Weird, little, ‘fun’ useless fact for the day…)
It was the ‘70s and, from what I’ve been told, a LOT of things happened in the '70s – in all seriousness, one of the bleakest periods, if not THE bleakest period ever, for American architecture…
There used to be a second multiplex in Brockton, located near what was then known as – and may still be known as – Cardinal Cushing Hospital, for all I’m aware, on North Pearl Street, which I think closed sometime in the mid-‘90s. Does anyone know what became of that property?
I tried to start a series of posts similar to the one CConnolly began yesterday regarding theatre chains that seem to have their you-know-what together about a month ago on the Movieworld Douglaston page… I’d have to agree with Ron Newman – Landmark Theatres seems to have a solid reputation. They’ve been a well-operated chain, keeping their theatres in good, working condition (although at least two of their properties – the NuArt in West LA and the Rialto in Pasadena – could use some fixing-up), keeping some classic theatres up-and-running (such as the NuArt and Rialto) which may have otherwise closed, building art-house theatres in previously underserved markets (such as the Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, Ma.), and keeping such distractions as pre-film commercials and in-theatre radio networks to a minimum or paying no heed to them whatsoever.
Responding to your most recent post, Dave-Bronx – how were the First & 62nd Street Cinemas allowed to come into existance sometime around 1991 with the re-zoning prohibiting the development of new movie theatres within the neighborhood having been passed roughly some 10 years' prior?
DLP is O.K.; I’ve never been particularly blown away by it – I personally don’t have any issues with celluloid, I suppose due to my familiarity with it and the vast majority of the 150-170 films I see per year in theatres which AREN’T presented in DLP – but that’s just one man’s perspective.
I remember the Lexington Flick being a triplex through sometime around the late ‘80s – I think through the time it was a Loews property – but have no knowledge of what became of the third auditorium; perhaps it became retail?
When was the orchestra and its accompanying lobby separated from the balcony portion of the Coliseum?
Loews also operated the Festival for a time. The Avco Embassy East (later the since-demolished Manhattan Twin), meanwhile, was actually located on 59th, between 2nd and 3rd.
Thanks for all those great memories, Fogwrestler. Just out of curiosity, who was it who owned the Orson Welles and, if you don’t have any knowledge of this, no big deal, but why was it that the Orson Welles didn’t reopen after its fire in May of ‘86?
Thanks for that info, Divinity. At least we can count our blessings that the American is still open for business, what with the loss of so many theatres in the Bronx over the last 10-15 years…
Perhaps City Cinemas has caught wind of a possible renewed attempt to landmark the property. The last thing the neighborhood needs is to lose another movie theatre, even one that’s lost a bit of its luster over the years…