777 Theatre
777 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
777 8th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10036
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 84 comments
I’m sure someone collects them and sells them on eBay…. you can find just about anything there.
Anyone know where I could get ahold of copies of schedules from revival houses like the Hollywood Twin, the Regency & the Thalia. I was a frequent patron of these establishments in the eighties. I know that people have posted jazz label discographies on line. Is there a place where someone has scanned the calendars and posted them?
It was a dump, but I sure enjoyed reading and saving the schedules of the film classics and studying the combinations in which they were booked. I remember seeing “Salo” here. It seemed to appear regularly.
According to a NY Times article from October of 1995, the Hollywood Twin was shut-down permanently by NYC Health Officials in August of that year after undercover inspectors witnessed “more than 70 incidents of patrons engaging in high-risk sex.” At the time, the Hollywood was one of several porn establishments owned by “the undisputed king of Times Square porn” Richard Basciano – who to this day still operates the “Show World” emporium on Eighth Avenue, just north of 42nd Street.
Here’s a streetview of this theater….
Click here to view
Sorry, Lost Memory, my computer screen kept freezing yesterday and all I could see was the corner building. Now I see that the theatre is also in the picture.
William, you’re right, it was a Benagan’s — i guess subconsciously the two are interchangeable.
DamienB, are sure it was a Houihans? Because the last tenant before Duane Reade moved in was a Benagan’s Grill & Tavern restaurant. The tenant before them was a long time bar/restaurant. (don’t remember the name, but not Houlihans) Benagan’s only last around a year there before they crashed and burned. (food and service went down hill, rent on that site was around $50,000 a month)
Quote: Here is another modern photo of the former Hollywood Twin Cinemas building.
posted by Lost Memory on Dec 12, 2006 at 1:23pm
That’s actually the building next door to the old Hollywood Twin (which is the bigger building to the right). This corner building in the last quarter century or so has been an Argentinian restaurant, an Arby’s, B. Smith’s restaurant, a steak house and a Houlihans. It is now — of course, sigh — a Duane Reade.
I remember similar experiences here, Barry M, and I couldn’t agree more with your take on the place. I’m still fishing around my stuff as I get a chance to see if I can find some of the schedule flyers I have for this theater. I think they used to print them up (on different colored paper stock) every 4-6 weeks, if I recall correctly.
I remember going to several double bills when this was a revival theatre but it was always kind of a dump. I remember some nutty lady spitting on the floor during a showing of PERFORMANCE and I’ll never forget a double bill of MAN OF LA MANCHA and GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS when the heat went off and most of us were sitting with our coats pulled around us trying to keep warm. Glad they tried this kind of programming back in the days when revival theatres were more common place (and who else would have shown THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT?), but it still had the ambiance of a porno theatre to me.
I remember when Cineplex Odeon ran the Carnegie Hall and Jackie Reynal booked and ran the Carnegie Screening Room. They shared the same box office but charged different prices. Cineplex eventually bought out her lease and renamed the second screen Carnegie Hall 2.
I used to work at the H'wood Twin when Nick Marino ran it. Whatta nuthouse…programming was done by Nick and a guy named Gary Grann. The theatre was turned over by Nick to his half-brother Robert at the request of Robert’s father, Nick’s stepfather. The place closed soon after. Moved on to the Carnegie Hall, then the Bleecker Street; they were owned by real eastate maven Sid Geffen and his filmmaker wife Jackie Reynal. That was an odd time for rep houses. VCRs were just becoming popular, and so movies you could only see in rep houses became more widely available and viewable in your own home…
Davebazooka… We never said it was an actual “treasure”! It was a pretty abysmal theater, aside from the excellent programming. Two rectangular boxes with a single center aisle, low ceilings and small screens. You could hear the projector clacking away from even the first few rows of the auditorium!
Yes that’s the old Hollywood, the stripes on the facade when it was a theatre were blue and white.
I think this is the former Hollywood Twin Cinemas. Today it is a tourist center where the city tours buses pull up. The facade is painted in the colors of Burger King. Lovely. Sorry but I think this is an eyesore:
View link
Ed, I found a December 9, 1972 NY Times articles announcing a raid on the San Francisco Adult Movies at the basement of 1531 Broadway, between 45th and 46th, former premises of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Could this have been the Frisco again in 1982?
I just noticed in that Night Shift ad… “Free continental breakfast Sat & Sun”!!! I can’t make out the times.
I found the following block ad in an old copy of the Post I saved from the time of John Belushi’s death. The Hollywood Twin was in operation at this point as a revival house (as many of us have discussed above) but apparently there was an all-male twin adult cinema named the Night Shift that occupied the floors above the Hollywood and shared the same address:
Night Shift NY Post 3/8/82
I used to attend revivals at the Hollywood quite frequently during this period and, frankly, I just don’t specifically remember anything about the Night Shift. Here’s a full shot of that very same page including the Post’s Movie Clock that reveals the Hollywood Twin featuring the Richard Lester double bill “How I Won the War” & “Bed Sitting Room” in one auditorium and in the other a pairing of two 1970 films, “Boys in the Band” and “Something for Everyone”:
Post Movie Clock 3/8/82
Here’s a question for anyone reading this… You guys know anything about the porn theater called Frisco that is listed in the Movie Clock? I couldn’t find a listing for it on CT.
When the Hollywood was a gay housein the late 70s early 80s, the crusing areas had different environmental motifs. I remember there was a park setting — sort of an indoor version of the Central Park Ramble — and a cowboy bunkhouse.
I may be mistaken, but I think that in this period both sides were gay porn, and that the gay/straight divide came later in the 80s.
I remember when the Hollywood twin went “revival' in 1981 after showing gay porn for a long time. Though a small theater with a small screen, you just had to give the new management an A for effort.Though NOT the place to see a big screen epic like "Ben Hur” or “Docvtor Zhivago”,this film buff`s paradise always managed to have interesting programming, and generally the prints being screened were of a good quality.The last show- of many that I saw here was a double feature of “Gallipoli” and “Breaker Morant” in the early summer of 1984. Shortly after that, I purchased my first VCR, and sadly enough, I stopped going to film revivals.There STILL is nothing like seeingb one on a big screen as a communal experience. This I will always miss.
I have to dig around and see if I still have some of the seasonal flyers the Hollywood used to publish and distribute with its upcoming film schedules. This was a real dingy place to see a movie. As Richard Haine posts above, this had to be the worst of NYC’s repertory cinemas. I seem to recall that you entered the theater into a very tiny “lobby” where a ticket taker (usually a very tall and pale bald fellow) was stationed in between the two doors that led to either theater. I think there was a small candy counter tucked around the corner to the right. The theaters themselves were long and narrow with a center aisle and no matter where you sat, you could hear the sound of the 35 mm projecter clacking away behind you!
Prints varied wildly in quality, as Richard also points out, but the programming kept me coming back… very eclectic. Classic noir (a twin bill of Double Indemnity and Murder My Sweet sticks out in my memory), kitschy horror (The Hills Have Eyes, The House of Dark Shadows), imports (Antonioni’s Blow Up on the same bill as his The Passenger) and even a John Belushi triple feature (Animal House, 1941 and The Blues Brothers) one particularly long afternoon. I also saw The Wild Bunch on the big screen (well… bigger than a TV anyway) for the first time here.
This theatre was located at 777 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10036.
Damn. Does this bring back memories! I remember braving all the “action” on Eighth Avenue. The Hollywood Twin Cinema was a trip! I remember seeing a double-bill of “Local Hero” and “Tender Mercies” there. I caught “Fame” there for the first time.
I think after it stopped screening revival films it at one time was screening Spanish language prints or screening films for a Spanish speaking audience.
One of the original owners were Richie Cortez and then later on Nick Marino. Depsite the neighborhood they did very good grosses at one time. There were however many internal problems between the partners. I remember Nick Marino produced a film called Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers that premiered at the Egyptian.
One of the original owners were Richie Cortez and then later on Nick Marino. Depsite the neighborhood they did very good grosses at one time. There were however many internal problems between the partners. I remember Nick Marino produced a film called Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers that premiered at the Egyptian.