Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show

A word about the seating capacity. I found a C of O dated February of 1971 showing a capacity of 165 seats for a motion picture theater on the 2nd floor. A bit later in '72, another C of O was issed that seperated those 165 seats into 102 for the motion picture theater and 63 for an "eating and drinking place." Not sure how that all fits together.

Articles in the NY Times published at the time of the theater's closing indicate that patrons would actually be approached in the darkness of the screening room by women offering their services (the 30-minute massage mentioned above).

Apparently, the managers at Rockefeller Center were made aware that they were the primary landlord for this operation when the Mayor's Office madde public a list of addresses and property owners where such establishments operated. It was with more than just a little embarrassment that the Center had to announce its plans to buy-out the lease and rid their property of the Paree. The lease arrangement, by the way, was via a complicated trail of subsidiaries and sub-lease agreements. Also involved in the chain was the Riese Brothers Organization, which at the time operated a number of chain eateries.

I should add that the Riese Organization continues to operate a number of national chain restaurants to this day.

The 102 seats were most likely for the movie theater and the other 63 seats were reserved for some type of "dining area". Would you eat food in a place like this? I hope they washed their hands before serving the "food". :)

Ed, LM, could the "San Francisco Sex Cinema" (I love that name, by the way) mentioned above be the infamous FRISCO, record holder for their MISS JONES/DEEP THROAT double feature?

No, Al... I thought about that, but found that the San Francisco (whose submission to CT I am working on) was located on Broadway adjacent to the old Astor Theater in the space that used to be the Wax Museum for Ripley's Believe It or Not! The Frisco was on Seventh Avenue between 48th and 49th, on the same block as the Avon 7th Ave.

Al....Do you have an address for the Frisco? If you do, I can check the property records.

No I don't have the Frisco address but I expected it to be around 720 Seventh Avenue, not Broadway.

Okay, a c/o dated July 1969 shows a 598 seat motion picture theater on the second floor of a building located at 710-720 Seventh Avenue. Could that be the Frisco? Do you have a timeline on the Frisco?

Lost... the Frisco lasted into the early '80's at least. I think 710-720 Seventh would be on the block of the old building between 47th and 48th that housed the Castro Convertible showroom and the Playland amusement arcade. I only assume this because across the street on the east side of the block you had the Mayfair/Demille at 707 Seventh, the CIne 1&2 at 711 and the Doll at 719. I always thought the Frisco and the Avon 7th were both on the 48th to 49th Street block.

I have this tiny photo of the Frisco marquee where you can see the Avon marquee down the block to the south. The marquee might actually read Avon II, which would have been an alternate name to distinguish it from the Avon on 42nd Street between 6th and B'way. Anyway, along the left side of the frame, you can barely make out the corner of the Mayfair/Demille building on 47th and the facade of the RKO Palace further down the street. That places the Frisco and Avon in the Studebaker building that ran between Seventh and B'way on the north side of 48th Street. That one square block bounded by 7th, B'way, 48h and 49th was littered with a number of porn establishments during the '70's and '80's.

The site where I found that photo (used in connection with a Roger Ebert piece) dates the image to 1973. And does 598 seats strike anyone else as being rather large for a porn theater during the days of 130 seat mini-cinemas?

From an ad I have for the Avon, I know that theater's address was definitely 724 Seventh Ave just north of the corner of 48th and 7th. That would make the Frisco more like 730 or so. That would also mean we have a bit of a mystery theater attached to that C of O at 710-720.

I also thought that 598 seats was excessive for this type of theater. Another c/o dated August of 1969 shows the same 598 seat theater. The address range for the building on that c/o is given as 710-720 Seventh Avenue and 1578-1590 Broadway. Could this be the Frisco or another theater?

It isn't the Frisco. The Frisco was definitely "above" the Avon address of 724 Seventh Avenue. The address 710-720 is a block to the south. Ditto the 1578-1590 B'way address - between 47th nd 48th. The Avon and Frisco occupied space in the old Studebaker Building that had a main address of 1600 Broadway (as does the high rise luxury condo that replaced it).

In the thread on the Eros Theater page, RobertR posted a 1969 article that refers to a "New Mini Cinema" with 130 seats on Seventh Ave at 48th Street and AlAlvarez chimes in that the Mini operated in '73-'74 at 732 Seventh Ave. That address jibes with the location of the Frisco... could the two theaters have been the same, operating as the New Mini before changing to Frisco around '73-'74? If not, the Mini was just a door or two away from the Frisco.

Is it possible that the 1969 C/O for 598 seats be for the Cine Lido? While it had an address of 200 W. 48th, the building where it occupied space might have been known as 1578-1590 Broadway. And 1969 also coincides with the closing of Lou Walter's Latin Quarter night club - which I believe was at least in part converted for the Cine Lido. AlAlvarez' listing for the Cine Lido lists the seating capacity at 575 which is pretty damn close.

A June 1969 c/o for 732 Seventh Ave shows a three story building. The first floor has a 130 seat theater. The second and third floors each have a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing).

A June 1972 c/o now gives the address as 732 Seventh Ave & 1604 Broadway. The first floor has a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor has a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing). The third floor is now a 200 seat theater.

An April 1984 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is a 200 seat motion picture theater. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.

An April 1988 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is still a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is now office space. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.

Both addresses must be the same building since all of the c/o's show block 1020 and lot 38. I hope that your as confused as I am. :)

I am definitely lost, Lost! The c of o's you're looking at for 732 Seventh and 1604 B'way must be a building to the north of the old Studebaker and possibly immediately adjacent - since it did not occupy the entire block. Perhaps the Avon - closer to 48th Street - was on the ground floor of the Studebaker while the Frisco was in an adjacent structure. But at least now we are talking about the right block. Where was the Metropole Go Go in all of this... wasn't it near here? Perhaps the cabaret? Al... do you recall?

Maybe I'll just submit a "shell" listing for the Frisco with very limited information and we can then move this discussion to that page and try to solve the mystery without cluttering the Paree page.

Ed....I guess that we're both lost then. I asked you to bring a map or at least an FDYbook. This is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Ollie. I hope that Al can rescue us before it gets dark. :)

I have no idea what theater(s) was located here. And I'm not sure if there was a triplex located here at one time or were there three individual theaters. Maybe you can add this one as the "Unknown Theater". Do we really need a name? LOL

Ha... And then I'll add a photo of a building with an enormous paper bag over it's facade!

How about the "Gong" theater? :) I checked the records again and under marquee permits it shows "WORLD 49 STREET THEATRE CORP". Could this be the Embassy 49th Street theater?

I was going to suggest that, actually. The World was on the same square block but at its northern perimeter on the south side of 49th Street. You should be able to trace a C of O on that site all the way back to the Punch & Judy Theater, which first opened back in 1914. I think that only had about 300 seats, however. And the building was mid-block at 153-155 W. 49th. Perhaps the owners of the World created an additional theater space on the block?

Okay, now I'm lost again. The Punch & Judy Theater is listed on CT as the World Theater located at 153 W. 49th Street. The mystery theater that we are trying to identify has three addresses acording to NYC:
BROADWAY 1604 - 1610
WEST 49 STREET 204 - 208
7 AVENUE 732 - 732

None of those addresses match the address of the World Theater listed on CT. On the World Theater page it mentions in the description that...."the World closed down and was taken over by Embassy Theatres, which renamed it the Embassy 49th Street and cleaned things up in a big way -- opening with a Walt Disney picture!". Did the Embassy 49th Street open in the same building as the former World Theater, or did it open at one of the addresses above? Wouldn't 153 W. 49th Street be on the opposite side of the street from 204 W. 49th Street?

Embassy 49th opened in the same location as the World Theater. And, yes, odd numbered addresses should be on the north side of the cross-streets in Manhattan. Hmmm. My memory may be faulty on which side of the street the World was on. I could have sworn it was on the south side of 49th. But then, that should be an even address number if so. The Ambassador Theater on the next block west, and which is definitely on the north side of 49th has an address of 219 West 49th. I think we need AlAlvarez to swoop in here and help sort out the addresses. I know that he has the addresses for a number of theaters (big and small) concentrated right in this area - which he posted at some point on the Rivoli page, I think.

Hi Guys, I have been out of town.

I show the Circus and all male Big top co-existing at 1604 Braodway.
There was a 49th Street Playhouse operating in 1982 that I cannot place.
732 Seventh Avenue is the Mini but I have no proof it was also the Frisco.

This from a NYT raid story, Dec. 9, 1972
"Three sheriff's deputies and a squad of policemen stood guard, as a crew of movers supervised by an attorney, Mark Belnick, removed the property of "San Francisco Adult Movies" from 1531 Broadway, between 45th and 46th streets, and put it into a avan for shipmentto a warehouse. "

That address is the old Astor also. (???)

Ed, I bow to your superior knowledge of porno venues, but are you sure that Paree Adult Cinema was in the onetime Earl Carroll's Theatre office building? For many decades, the largest part of the Seventh Avenue frontage was occupied by a Woolworth's store, which also had a side entrance on 50th Street. The Woolworth's store had a false ceiling that hid some of the decor of the theatre above it. I don't recall a porno theatre operating above Woolworth's. In fact, I think that Woolworth's would have objected to it...The World Theatre (ex-Punch & Judy) was situated on the north side of West 49th Street at #153 (a double plot sometimes reported as #153-55).

Absoultely positive about that. The address is verified in several different Times' articles and via a search of NYC Building Records. The Paree was somewhere on the 2nd floor of that office building in space that had previously been occupied by a pool hall. The pool hall dates back to the early 1960's and was familiar to the police department for its own history of public misconduct (ranging from fights, vagrancy and solicitation). If I'm not mistaken, one of the articles also makes reference to the Woolworth's on street level. Anyway, the Earl Carroll only occupied a tunnel lobby through the office building that fronted Seventh Ave with the theater in an adjacent building behind the structure (the facade of which was on 50th Street). So the Paree (and other space) could have easily been above a portion of the Woolworth's store.

Al... that article is mistaken about the address of the San Francisco. It was reported correctly (or so I assume) in two other Times articles as 1541 Broadway - placing it just to the north of the old Astor entrance (which ibdb.com lists as 1537 Broadway). The entrance to the San Fran (as with the Ripley's it replaced) was actually in the adjacent building through which the Gaiety/Victoria also had its Broadway entrance a few doors up the block.

Warren, Ed,

I am so glad this unravelling series porn mystery is bringing us together.

Lost Memory, can we have a (very heterosexual, of course) group hug?

No problem Al. Should I wear protection? :P

A few days ago, I asked about the old Metropole Cafe that was in the vicinity of this theater (and all the other addresses and C of O's we were trying to sort out)...

Here's a shot of some street musicians playing for change next to the old Metropole sign. One of the images in this series shows the Orange Julius and Doll Theater marquee that was on the southeast corner of 48th Street and Seventh Avenue. That places the Metropole on the east side of Seventh Ave (odd address number) between 48th and 49th Streets.

By the way... is the Metropole the go-go where Felix Unger goes to drown his sorrows at the very beginning of the film "The Odd Couple"?

The Metropole is one venue I have attended. The "entertainment girls" chatted you up while ordering $10.00 bottles of "champagne", ( I think it was dressed up Perrier), and you paid for it. That is how the Metropole made much of it's money. The pole dancers were actually carefully chosen and quite beautiful, as you would expect in Times Square.

...and as Dolly Parton would say "There's nothing dirty going on!", as far as I could see.

I think a lot of the "dirty" was going on in the porn theaters and those musty old 2nd-floor taxi-dance ballrooms that managed to survive into the '70's and '80's. When I used to get off the Subway at Seventh Ave and 53rd Street, walking down into Times Square was always a matter of dodging street-hawkers trying to lure you inside the various adult establishments that lined the strip. Never mind that my pals and I were like 15 or 16 years old!

I hasten to add, that there was some definite dirty going on in some of the straight theaters in the area... If one would classify any of the grinds on 42nd Street as "straight" theaters! I just mean non-porn houses. Some of those rest rooms and balconies were as rife with carnal activity as a room at one of the many short-stay flop houses in the area!