AMC Loews Orpheum 7

This is a 2001 photo.

Approx. 2430 seats total. Screen #7 was originally THX certified.

Loews Orpheum VII opened on November 22, 1991. The seven auditoriums had from 225 to 450 seats, with a total seating capacity of 2,090, slightly smaller than the Loews Orpheum Twin which had previously stood on the site. The new theater was designed by Manhattan architectural firm Frank Williams and Associates as part of the commercial-residential development called The Gotham.

The May, 1992, issue of Boxoffice had an article about the Loews Orpheum VII. There were no photos, unfortunately.

Forgot to link to the Boxoffice article.

Curious that in the 18 years since this theater opened there are fewer than a handful of comments. Unlike its predecessor namesake, it must be a bland and anonymous set of screens. Walking through East 86th St. it is difficult to imagine that in the past century it was a thriving movie scene with theaters on both sides of the street. Did the area have the largest conccentration of theaters outside of Times Square?

The area certainly had its fair share of screens but I think Greenwich Village and the east 59th/60th zone almost always had more.

Thanks Al for the response but I was referring to the early decades of the last century. By the 60's & 70's many theatres had been bulldoozed for the massive building development that gripped Yorkville. As much as many applaud the dismantling of the 3rd Ave. El in the mid-50's, it led to a vast upheaval of the surrounding neighborhoods around the 3rd Ave. corridor.

In the teens, twenties and thirties, the areas around Park Row, the lower east side and Union Square challenged Times Square. The 166th Street and 125th Street areas also were well screened.