IFC Center
323 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
323 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
34 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
IFC Center (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cineplex Odeon, Clearview Cinemas, Walter Reade Theatres
Architects: Harrison G. Wiseman
Functions: Movies (Classic), Movies (Foreign), Movies (Independent)
Previous Names: Waverly Theatre, Waverly 1 & 2
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
212.924.7771
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News About This Theater
- Jun 15, 2005 — Two Additional Profiles Of The IFC Center
- Dec 10, 2003 — Today's Newsreel
Once a single screen theatre which opened by 1938, the 550-seat Waverly Theatre was twinned on October 30, 1981, with the closing and and conversion of the balcony into a second, smaller auditorium. It was renamed Waverly 1 & 2. It was a funky little two-screen house which was the launching pad of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as a midnight cult hit in New Yew York.
Before it closed in late-2001, the Waverly Twin featured mostly films that double-run from the glossy and much more charmless United Artists Union Square Stadium 14 at Broadway and W. 13th Street. The Waverly Twin was also known for showing the occasional low-budget indie or art flick, and hold-overs whose runs had expired at other Greenwich Village theatres.
On June 17, 2005 it reopened as the three-screen IFC Center screening independent, foreign, documentary, and classic films. On December 4, 2009, two additional screens in a former café area were opened, for a total of five screens.
Contributed by
Dan Braun
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Recent comments (view all 202 comments)
IFC Center open on June 17, 2005 Please Update
Two exterior photos at the start of a “Forgotten New York” article on crosstown Third Street can be viewed here
PLEASE update, the two additional screens next to the main theatre. When it open 2005, it was a cafe IFC converted to make the two added theatres. Grand Opening ad posted.
Please update, became the Waverly 1 and 2 on October 30, 1981, grand opening ad in photos section
For a time, it was operated by Cineplex Odeon, and it over-charge customers for concessions. I believe the Village Voice may have ran a story about it.
Hello-
including the closing for renovations and the different configurations is this the oldest operating movie theater in Manhattan?
Aren’t you forgetting the Empire?
The Empie Theater just a lobby, the theater was built upstairs. The Village East is old
The Village East (Century) and IFC (Waverly) did not show movies prior to 1937. The Empire (Eltinge) showed movies in 1917. All three have had additions and reconfigurations. None of the three were built for movies.
The twinning of this theater was terrible. When you went into the balcony theater you walked in right by the screen almost on top of it. They had great curtains and masking prior to twinning. The Sutton was the same thing.