I just noticed OnslowKUA’s comment about the Empress under the Lane: “On the same side of 181st Street on the same block to the east of the Lane was another theater called the Empress. This theater was unique in the sense that you entered it at the side of the auditorium in the middle.” True. At the entrance to the right there were a couple of vending machines, then the seats were to the left and the screen to the right. I remember that as if I were looking at it, if it were yesterday.
jrpollo, Right about the name. It had a second entrance from the “Wakamba” restaurant on O Street. I remember seeing quite a few European movies there, Giulietta Masina in “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria”, Ingmar Bergman’s “Through a Glass Darkly”, “Winter Light” and “The Silence”, Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica films, Gina Lollobrigida in “Pane, amore e fantasia” and “Pane, amore e gelosia”, Brigitte Bardot movies.
GaryZ, I used to go from the RKO Coliseum at 181st Street, the Heights, the Empress and the Loew’s 175th, to the Uptown on 170th Street. I sometimes went to one on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, saw “One Summer of Happiness”. At that site about Washington Heights they advertised two books, “Nosebleeds from Washington Heights” and “Oblivious in Washington Heights and Loving It”, I asked my son for either one of them and he sent me both for Mother’s Day. I’ve finished them both, but they’re both written by guys who lived west of Broadway and hardly even knew anybody who lived east of Broadway, neither of them mentions ever going to the Empress, the Lane or the Gem, or even the Heights. They went to the same Humboldt Jr. High School 115 as I did, but I guess it was a few years before me. I went back to New York in June of 2001 after a long time, but don’t know what was still left in Washington Heights, couldn’t find any familiar store, went to the movies in Times Square, saw “Sous le sable”.
Ed, Then from east to west on 181st Street, the Empress was first at 544 with the back of the auditorium to the east on Audubon Avenue, the Lane was next at 560 with the auditorium straight south the back on 180th Street and the Gem was last at 564 with the back of the auditorium to the west on St. Nicholas Avenue. None of the used book shops have answered me about old telephone directory yellow pages.
It wasn’t Los Angeles. The exact address of this theater was Juan Delgado 59 between Lacret and Luis Estévez streets in Santos Suárez. It is incorrectly positioned in El Cerro district in the street map. I think this was probably the last movie theater opened in the district of Santos Suárez before December 31, 1958.
Lostmemory, I have a list of most (134) movie theaters and a few photographs in Havana and environs, with their seating capacity. Does the site have an e-mail address where I could send it? I’m not on Facebook, YouTube, don’t have a scanner, don’t tweet or anything modern, my limit is e-mail.
In 1971 the Wometco complex at 316 North Miami Avenue was a group of old buildings (including what had been the original theater) connected internally, with the floor at different levels, termite-infested, claustrophobic, without windows, a veritable fire trap; there was an empty lot on the 3rd Street side for parking. I don’t recall it at any time looking like that drawing, that must have been only a proposed draftsman rendition that never materialized.
Mitchell Wolfson and Sidney Meyer founded the Wo-Me-T(heater)-Co(mpany) in 1925 and opened the Capitol at 310 North Miami Avenue. Headquarters for Wometco Enterprises operated at 316 North Miami for many years. I worked there for 13 months. They owned the whole city block. They had the studio where they filmed the Skipper Chuck kids' show. There was a Goodwill store on the N.W. corner. The “New World Center” of Miami-Dade College was named after Mitchell Wolfson.
Al, Yes I remember “La Novia” very well; several scenes have stayed in my mind all these years. The movie was a little “sappy”, but I loved the song, “Ante el altar está llorando, todos dirán que es de alegría”.
AlAlvarez, I don’t remember exactly when it started, but by l963 the Tivoli was already showing Sarita Montiel’s movies “La Violetera”, “Pecado de Amor”, “Frente al Pecado de Ayer”, “La Reina del Chantecler”, Spanish movies with Joselito and Libertad Lamarque, Argentinean movies with “Sandro”. I saw “El Bulín”, a very good Argentinean comedy. It later became a supermarket.
AlAlvarez, The Trianón was never much. A Jefferson store had occupied that inner corner back in 1965 – 1969, when the anchor store at the end was Master’s, there was a Western Auto there, J.G. McCrory’s or G.C. Murphy’s and Neisner five-and-tens.
AlAlvarez, The Town was one of the first movies I ever went to when I moved to Miami, in late August 1961 I saw “The Savage Innocents” with Anthony Quinn. “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley” was playing in the juke box in a nearby coffee shop and I had a Yoo-Hoo. And I think it was there I later saw “El Rufián”, a good Argentinean suspense movie, and “La Novia” with Chilean Antonio Prieto.
OK, I stand corrected. Since Dadeland was in Kendall, I didn’t think of it much, but the Twin Gables I passed often. — I worked for Wometco for 13 months.
AlAlvarez, the photograph shows the N.W. corner of Coral Way and 13th Avenue, 1301 Coral Way, that is not exactly the location where the theater was, the Parkway used to be half a block east, on Coral Way between 12th and 13th avenues, it’s now a parking lot. Zuperpollo restaurant is to the east, I think there used to be a beauty parlor to the west, now vacant. Once a fine art theater, with chess board tables in the lobby and complimentary coffee. Times gone by. The last movie I saw there was “The Robe” and there were 12 people in the place.
There used to be a Royal Castle on the corner. I remember seeing “The Green Berets” there. Armando Roblán had his live plays on the stage for years and lately variety shows.
I seem to remember where the Twin Gables used to be in 1962, there was first a Stevens and an Eckerds, then a Publix and an Office Depot and a Citgo service station on the corner, now a Winn-Dixie Marketplace and a Staples and the service station on the corner is Mobil.
If somebody remembers it more accurately, please let me know.
I remember the Coral, the Gables and the Miracle. Huricane Andrew took the ornate sign of the Miracle, which is now a playhouse, and the other two are gone.
In 1962 we had the Olympia, the Miami, the Florida, the Paramount and the Town on Flagler Street. The Olympia was turned into the Gusman Hall, and there isn’t one movie theater downtown now.
I just noticed OnslowKUA’s comment about the Empress under the Lane: “On the same side of 181st Street on the same block to the east of the Lane was another theater called the Empress. This theater was unique in the sense that you entered it at the side of the auditorium in the middle.” True. At the entrance to the right there were a couple of vending machines, then the seats were to the left and the screen to the right. I remember that as if I were looking at it, if it were yesterday.
jrpollo, Right about the name. It had a second entrance from the “Wakamba” restaurant on O Street. I remember seeing quite a few European movies there, Giulietta Masina in “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria”, Ingmar Bergman’s “Through a Glass Darkly”, “Winter Light” and “The Silence”, Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica films, Gina Lollobrigida in “Pane, amore e fantasia” and “Pane, amore e gelosia”, Brigitte Bardot movies.
GaryZ, I used to go from the RKO Coliseum at 181st Street, the Heights, the Empress and the Loew’s 175th, to the Uptown on 170th Street. I sometimes went to one on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, saw “One Summer of Happiness”. At that site about Washington Heights they advertised two books, “Nosebleeds from Washington Heights” and “Oblivious in Washington Heights and Loving It”, I asked my son for either one of them and he sent me both for Mother’s Day. I’ve finished them both, but they’re both written by guys who lived west of Broadway and hardly even knew anybody who lived east of Broadway, neither of them mentions ever going to the Empress, the Lane or the Gem, or even the Heights. They went to the same Humboldt Jr. High School 115 as I did, but I guess it was a few years before me. I went back to New York in June of 2001 after a long time, but don’t know what was still left in Washington Heights, couldn’t find any familiar store, went to the movies in Times Square, saw “Sous le sable”.
Ed, Then from east to west on 181st Street, the Empress was first at 544 with the back of the auditorium to the east on Audubon Avenue, the Lane was next at 560 with the auditorium straight south the back on 180th Street and the Gem was last at 564 with the back of the auditorium to the west on St. Nicholas Avenue. None of the used book shops have answered me about old telephone directory yellow pages.
It wasn’t Los Angeles. The exact address of this theater was Juan Delgado 59 between Lacret and Luis Estévez streets in Santos Suárez. It is incorrectly positioned in El Cerro district in the street map. I think this was probably the last movie theater opened in the district of Santos Suárez before December 31, 1958.
Lostmemory, I have a list of most (134) movie theaters and a few photographs in Havana and environs, with their seating capacity. Does the site have an e-mail address where I could send it? I’m not on Facebook, YouTube, don’t have a scanner, don’t tweet or anything modern, my limit is e-mail.
Didn’t the blaxploitation revival of the Capitol refer to the one at 1645 Broadway and 51st Street in New York?? I think.
In 1971 the Wometco complex at 316 North Miami Avenue was a group of old buildings (including what had been the original theater) connected internally, with the floor at different levels, termite-infested, claustrophobic, without windows, a veritable fire trap; there was an empty lot on the 3rd Street side for parking. I don’t recall it at any time looking like that drawing, that must have been only a proposed draftsman rendition that never materialized.
Mitchell Wolfson and Sidney Meyer founded the Wo-Me-T(heater)-Co(mpany) in 1925 and opened the Capitol at 310 North Miami Avenue. Headquarters for Wometco Enterprises operated at 316 North Miami for many years. I worked there for 13 months. They owned the whole city block. They had the studio where they filmed the Skipper Chuck kids' show. There was a Goodwill store on the N.W. corner. The “New World Center” of Miami-Dade College was named after Mitchell Wolfson.
Quite a few theaters starting with T in Miami, Town, Tivoli, Tower, Trail, Trianón, Twin, Triple.
Al, Yes I remember “La Novia” very well; several scenes have stayed in my mind all these years. The movie was a little “sappy”, but I loved the song, “Ante el altar está llorando, todos dirán que es de alegría”.
AlAlvarez, I don’t remember exactly when it started, but by l963 the Tivoli was already showing Sarita Montiel’s movies “La Violetera”, “Pecado de Amor”, “Frente al Pecado de Ayer”, “La Reina del Chantecler”, Spanish movies with Joselito and Libertad Lamarque, Argentinean movies with “Sandro”. I saw “El Bulín”, a very good Argentinean comedy. It later became a supermarket.
AlAlvarez, The Trianón was never much. A Jefferson store had occupied that inner corner back in 1965 – 1969, when the anchor store at the end was Master’s, there was a Western Auto there, J.G. McCrory’s or G.C. Murphy’s and Neisner five-and-tens.
AlAlvarez, The Town was one of the first movies I ever went to when I moved to Miami, in late August 1961 I saw “The Savage Innocents” with Anthony Quinn. “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley” was playing in the juke box in a nearby coffee shop and I had a Yoo-Hoo. And I think it was there I later saw “El Rufián”, a good Argentinean suspense movie, and “La Novia” with Chilean Antonio Prieto.
OK, I stand corrected. Since Dadeland was in Kendall, I didn’t think of it much, but the Twin Gables I passed often. — I worked for Wometco for 13 months.
AlAlvarez, the photograph shows the N.W. corner of Coral Way and 13th Avenue, 1301 Coral Way, that is not exactly the location where the theater was, the Parkway used to be half a block east, on Coral Way between 12th and 13th avenues, it’s now a parking lot. Zuperpollo restaurant is to the east, I think there used to be a beauty parlor to the west, now vacant. Once a fine art theater, with chess board tables in the lobby and complimentary coffee. Times gone by. The last movie I saw there was “The Robe” and there were 12 people in the place.
The first twin in Miami was the Twin Gables, actually on S.W. 22nd Street, not in Gables.
There used to be a Royal Castle on the corner. I remember seeing “The Green Berets” there. Armando Roblán had his live plays on the stage for years and lately variety shows.
I seem to remember where the Twin Gables used to be in 1962, there was first a Stevens and an Eckerds, then a Publix and an Office Depot and a Citgo service station on the corner, now a Winn-Dixie Marketplace and a Staples and the service station on the corner is Mobil. If somebody remembers it more accurately, please let me know.
I’m not sure whether this is the Cinematheque where I saw foreign movies in the late 70’s. There was no absinthe then.
I remember the Coral, the Gables and the Miracle. Huricane Andrew took the ornate sign of the Miracle, which is now a playhouse, and the other two are gone.
I loved it. Remember seeing “Ship of Fools” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” there.
It was the Dixie in 1962, run down and smelly by 1964.
In 1962 we had the Olympia, the Miami, the Florida, the Paramount and the Town on Flagler Street. The Olympia was turned into the Gusman Hall, and there isn’t one movie theater downtown now.
It was THE theater that showed Cinerama. And the box office lady proudly boasted a very youthful neckline.