It was not an overhang. The balcony was raised above the street-level lobby, which made it possible to have these extra rows. Going through the balcony was also the only way to get to the projection booth.
There was a balcony, and in those days smoking was still allowed up there. There was also a house cat in residence for most of the time I worked there.
I just came upon this thread â€" is anybody still here?
I worked at the Elgin for many years during the ‘70s, when I was going to NYU (or not, as the case may have been …), put up the last marquee (the bogus double bill of “We Have Been Evicted†& “Gone with the Windâ€) and was there on its last day as a revival house and, on the outside, its first as a gay porn theater.
It was my second job ever: my first was at a stuffy mid-town first-run theater (the Cinema Studio); that summer some gonzo guys for way downtown four-walled the house for The Janus Film Festival. They loved movies — talked about them all the time — but were unpretentious former hippies who were pretty much just like Hawkeye and Trapper John.
These guys — Chuck Zlatkin and Steve Gould â€" seemed the epitome of cool. I begged them to hire me away from the drab, pretentious Upper West Side movie house where the manager cursed children under his breath for spilling water on the carpet and we ushers had to wear rayon pants with a stripe down the side.
“We’re assholes too â€" but different kinds of assholes,†Gould told me on my first day at the Elgin, where the dress code was almost pants optional.
It was not an overhang. The balcony was raised above the street-level lobby, which made it possible to have these extra rows. Going through the balcony was also the only way to get to the projection booth.
There was a balcony, and in those days smoking was still allowed up there. There was also a house cat in residence for most of the time I worked there.
I just came upon this thread â€" is anybody still here?
I worked at the Elgin for many years during the ‘70s, when I was going to NYU (or not, as the case may have been …), put up the last marquee (the bogus double bill of “We Have Been Evicted†& “Gone with the Windâ€) and was there on its last day as a revival house and, on the outside, its first as a gay porn theater.
It was my second job ever: my first was at a stuffy mid-town first-run theater (the Cinema Studio); that summer some gonzo guys for way downtown four-walled the house for The Janus Film Festival. They loved movies — talked about them all the time — but were unpretentious former hippies who were pretty much just like Hawkeye and Trapper John.
These guys — Chuck Zlatkin and Steve Gould â€" seemed the epitome of cool. I begged them to hire me away from the drab, pretentious Upper West Side movie house where the manager cursed children under his breath for spilling water on the carpet and we ushers had to wear rayon pants with a stripe down the side.
“We’re assholes too â€" but different kinds of assholes,†Gould told me on my first day at the Elgin, where the dress code was almost pants optional.
Best job I ever had.