St. Marks Cinema

The St. Marks Cinema closed for business sometime around 1985. Several businesses, including most prominently a pizza parlor, presently occupy its former space.

Saw Blade Runner here in 1982

The 1926 Film Daily Year Book lists 600 seats for this theatre. The name was apparently always St. something, but I'm not sure if it was St. Marks and St. Mark's. Regardless of year, FDYBs say St. Marks.

Sorry, that should have been St. Marks OR St. Mark's.

Was this and Bleecker St ever owned by the same person? On 3/10/72 they shared a block ad in the NY Times. St. Mark's was playing Fellini's "The Clowns" along with "Barbarella". They also had "Trash" Fri & Sat at midnight. At the Bleecker Fri to Sun they had "North By Northwest" along with W.C. Fields in "David Copperfield". The midnight show here was T.A.M.I. show. Weird double features huh?

I sell the Pizzeria their non-carbonated beverages.

Christmas 1983 "Return of the Jedi". From the showtimes you can tell it was a double bill which they usually always had.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/Jedi.jpg

I was the Manager of the St. Marks and the Bleecker St. Cinema back in 79, 80, & 81. The owner of the Bleecker did not own the St. Marks at that time - of course I knew both owners. The St. Marks actually had three owners/partners. I had the job at the Bleecker first, then left, then took the job at the St. Marks. The Bleecker was a very hip place for people to hang out - as Manager, I was privileged to have been introduced to several celebrities during my tenure there - including the model/actress Lauren Hutton, actor Cliff Robertson, and journalist/photographer Susan Sontag. When we exhibited the movie LOLITA there, we were mobbed by Russians who were not permitted to see it in the Soviet Union. The St. Marks was a different story. It was two dollars to get in for a double feature - so many down and out people took advantage of the opportunity to sit in the air conditioning for four or five hours for that small price. The St. Marks was quite a circus.

I remember seeing a few films here back in the day when I lived in the West Village. I remember seeing THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKEROO BONZAI, the film with Richard Farnsworth where he played a train robber, THE BOUNTY w/ Mel Gibson, MR. MOM on a double bill with another film I can no longer remember.

I patronized the place from '82 to '85. I think they also had midnight movies. I can't remember if they were every night or just on weekends. I never went to any of those, though.

There's no apostrophe in the name of the theatre, which was St. Marks, not St. Mark's. The name of the cross street with Second Avenue is also St. Marks, not St. Mark's.

Fond memory: a double bill of Anne Bancroft in "Garbo Talks" and Jeff Bridges in "Star Man."

I moved to NYC in 1986. I have heard about the St. Marks over the years and guess I missed it by a year or two. By the time I got here The Gap was already in place, the one corporate blemish on the block and probably the entire East Village at that time. The irony is...now that it's gone, the rest of the block is now super corpo. Anyway the question is for anyone who might know: the building that the St. Marks Cinema formerly occupied...is that the building that's there now or did they tear it down and put up the current structure?

Attended St. Marks only once, in the 1970s, for a sensational double bill of "The Last of Sheila" and "Strangers on a Train." - Ed Blank

Back when we had so many one-screen theaters, we had no way of knowing that eventually they'd be all but extinct and that we'd never get in them again. St. Marks Cinema may not have been special, but like all theaters a few years ago, it was one of a kind. Each had a feel all its own. - Ed Blank

Lived a couple blocks away in the early-mid '80s. Think I recall seeing DAYS OF HEAVEN there just before the St Marks' demise around 1984 or '85. TAXI DRIVER was a midnight perennial on the weekends, as was A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, for the NYU crowd. I remember an old-fashioned somewhat roccoco water fountain in the back of the auditorium. We who lived in the 'hood were very sorry to see this theater go to be ignominiously replaced by a GAP (which justly died about 10 or 12 years ago).

The theatre closed in late April or early May 1985. The final double bill I believe was The Killing Fields and Wim Wenders' Hammett.

And the second film that played with Return Of The Jedi was Max Dugan Returns with Jason Robards and a young Matthew Broderick just before he did WarGames.

Renewing link.

The St. Marks.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=30&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31174

More views
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=149&ProductID=31172
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=149&ProductID=31173

I went to the St Marks in the 1950's. The cost was 25 cents. We lived at 144 east 4th street until 1959. Every Sunday we first went to 9:30 services at St Marks on 10th street. Then it was home for lunch. After lunch it was off to the movies. I have many fond memories growing up in that area.

We lived on the Bowery near the St. Marks from the 60's thru the 80's. It was fondly nicknamed "The Itch". Nobody dared sit in the front row because it was reserved for the "Hell's Angels" who occupied a whole tenement on 5th St. and 1st Ave. Everyone was stoned. I remember a triple feature of "Eraserhead", "Freaks", and at midnight "El Topo" ( or El Poto"). After the show we staggred out and had cabbage soup at the Kiev. Those were the days.

Drinks at St. Marks Bar & Grill, then on the St. Marks Cinema for double-feature picture show! Early 80's on Lower East Side a vague but happy memory...the air just smelled and felt different there than the rest of the city. Sigh.