Coliseum Cinemas

This theater was once part of the RKO chain. It was closed with the orchestra section gutted and converted into retail, while the loge and balcony where carved into first two, then four small screens. Dolby was never added to any of these screens, and from what i have heard there were often problems with the projection and air conditioning. Sometime in late June, these theaters closed and have remained so since.

The New Coliseum Theater 4 is closed for good June 2002

Theater location is Broadway and 181st Street.

I had read in the NY Times earlier this past spring that Jesus Nova (the former proprietor of the eponymous Nova Cinemas at Broadway and 147th Street) was trying to organize a group of investors who would renovate and reopen the Coliseum - does anyone know of any word of progress or what the current state of the theatre site is?

The Coliseum was built by B.S. Moss, whose affiliation with Keith-Albee eventually brought the theatre into the RKO fold. Designed by Eugene DeRosa with 3,462 seats, the Coliseum first opened on September 23, 1920 with high-grade vaudeville supplemented by a feature movie. At the time, it was the second largest vaudeville/movie theatre in Manhattan after the Capitol. The auditorium was in Adam style, with a large elliptical dome in the center of the ceiling. The grand lobby was 85 feet long, with two marble staircases. In its first years, the Coliseum had a 25-piece orchestra, plus an organist for the Moller 3/15 Op. 2954. Because of its location so far uptown in Washington Heights, the magnficent Coliseum was probably never visited by the majority of Manhattanites and certainly not by tourists, who usually kept to the midtown entertainment zone that was about 130 blocks south of the Coliseum. Under the RKO regime, the Coliseum ran double features that were first-run for the area. Its main competition was Loew's 175th Street, which didn't arrive until 1930 but far eclipsed it in movie palace splendor.

i I think jesus nove couldn't get the backing .

I was suprised he closed the Nova, I thought he owned the building.

i think there is too much overhead inurban areas of nyc

Very true but he had 3 screens at the Nova in a building he owned. The Coliseum had 4 cinemas in the balcony level. Maybe there was room to add more screens there and make it a multiplex.

Unfortunately, Jesus didn't own the building which housed the Nova. When the theatre closed in August of 2002 it was due to the landlord raising the rent to a level Jesus couldn't afford but one which was amenable to the proprietor of a 99-cent store. I'm not sure what condition the orchestra is in but I imagine it's probably a safe guess that anyone who reopens the Coliseum will be working with the existing theatre space.

A small quibble. I grew up in the neighborhood and saw hundreds of films at the Coliseum and the Loew's 175th St. Back in the 50's and 60's there were even ushers and a special section for children. The RKO Coliseum is/was located on 181st St. which is Washington Heights, not Inwood. Very sorry to learn that it was divided into four theaters and eventually closed.

Even worse was that the four theatres were all in the balcony, the auditorium was long ago gutted for retail use.

Awesome news - the Coliseum is reopening! I stopped by yesterday and saw the words 'Opening Soon' on the marquee and something in Spanish beneath those words. If my Espagnol-translating abilities were something more than south of rudimentary, I would have been able to make sense of them but, fortunately, two men were sitting on a bench in the lobby and when I knocked on the door, one of them opened it and told me that the Coliseum would be open for business again in about 30 days, with new seats and other improvements. The guy was really friendly and I suspect - and I certainly may be wrong about this - that the older man was Jesus Nova and the younger one who answered my knocks (and my questions) was his son. No matter who they are, they seem to have a real love for the theatre and for the neighborhood as well; on those two basis alone, let's hope they succeed!

HEY DUDE YEAH THE OTHER DAY I WAS PASSING by 181st an it said opening sonn and in spanish,i cant wait!!!.so whats your name and age we could become friends!am 15.do you have aol aim?

New seats have gone into this theater and it will reopen shortly.

It's good that they are giving this cinema another chance it deserves a chance too bad it will probably open as a quad I think this theatre was best as a twin. The screens were nice when they were a twin they were alittle smaller as a quad but nonetheless it great that it's reoponing and not going to used as retail space and yes i'm still eagerly awainting it's grand reopening.

Anybody knowing the whereabouts of Jesus Nova would be helpful.
br91975 seems to have facts, I would like to exchange mail with you.
Years ago Jesus and I made a film together (In Search for a Dream) english trans.
I have a new latin project directed by Leon Gast (When We Were Kings)
Jesus we need to talk.. SETI
Please send any info on Jesus Nova to FEATUREPOST@YAHOO.COM

Is the old RKO marquee still up on the theatre?

The old RKO marquee is gone.

Rumors about the reopening of the Coliseum have been circulating since October but there was a problem with the installing of the seats. Has anyone actually seen the seats installed?

There are upcoming summer movie posters both inside and out on the theatre. Work is being sone and it look like "opening soon" is soon. But you nevr know. The posters make me hopeful, though.

RKO is now open again

The new "Spiderman" and "Harry Potter" are among the movies being advertised as current at the "New Coliseum," which is being managed and/or booked by Creative Entertainment. Needless to say, it is no longer the RKO Coliseum. RKO no longer exists, unless under a different name that I'm not aware of.

The "New Coliseum" re-opened on June 30th. They are currently showing SPIDER-MAN 2, HARRY POTTER 3, and SHREK 2. Their phone numbers are: 212-740-1545 and 212-740-1541. Welcome back Coliseum !!!

Wasn't Creative Entertainment operating the Coliseum before it closed? Are they still running it, or is the credit in today's newspaper advertising an error by a mis-informed distributor? The ad in the NY Times for "Spiderman 2" says Creative Entertainment New Coliseum, the ad for "Harry Potter 3" just New Coliseum. The ad for "Shrek 2" has no mention of the theatre.

P.S. The introductory remarks for the Coliseum need to be changed. It's situated in the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan, not Inwood.

Creative Entertainment is a film booking service, like Lesser Theatres.

In other words, Creative Entertainment just books theatres and leaves the actual operation to others? If so, I wonder who operates the New Coliseum?

Warren Mr. Nova who also had the Nova Cinemas owns
New Coliseum he also had the New Coliseum in 2002 but closed it and
tried to make ago of his Nova Cinemas. When Nova cinema rent was raised way to high for Mr. Nova he closed the Nova Cinemas,
he than turned to bring back
New Coliseum and did so. Creative Entertainment books for many independent operators in the state of New York including Queen City who owns Ridgewood and Jackson Triplex.

Not too many years ago, the Coliseum was showing its Hollywood movies with Spanish sub-titles. I wonder if Creative Entertainment plans to revive that? The company recently switched the Jackson Triplex in Queens to a Spanish sub-titles policy.

Creative entertainment is old century and rko bookers.

Yes - Nick Guadagno and friends...

Cant believe there still at it all these years.

i wonder if ROSEY is with him ?

At one point they were (and may still be) booking City Cinemas dwindling empire...

they still book City Cinemas

Rose is boooking Clearview Cinemas now--she handles all of NJ, Westchester & Rockland Counties of NY, all of Long Island, CT, and PA.

joe do you know ROSE?

Yes, I work with her. I showed her your post yesterday, and she was wondering who you were...

Joe show her this list and see if she remembers, my movie history centurys york mgr,rko commack twin mgr, warner twin ast mgr ,art mgr, national twin and new warner mgr both at the same time and then manhattan south dm Cineplex Odeon.We had many a joke and busted chops with each other and Ken N.

It went from Century to almi century to RKO century warner to just RKO to CINEPLEX ODEON

Under Cineplex Odeon, the Coliseum was a twin. (I'm not sure if that encompassed the balcony being divided in half or an orchestra/balcony split.)

The orchestra part of the theatre has been gone for eons. RKO and then Cineplex were only using the balcony.

God what a bad twin

How is this doing as a quad?

It was a better twin than as a quad. they split the existing twin down the middle. which was already split when making the twin in the first place reducing patrons to seing a movie like they did in the mayfiar theatre downtown(a.ka Embasy 2-3-4) in the balcony theatres through a long tube that rises upward. I don't know if any of the original remnants of the theatre remain in the other auditoriums I only went to auditorium 2 which is the right half of the old twins theatre 1 the old projection booth remain but was covered up with drapery on the side walls. one good thing they replaced the seats with a more comfortable plush seating. It looked like a patch up job on the ceiling. They also finally removed the big black illuminated sign that read R.K.O. Colisuem sign that hung on the 181st street side

Is the marquee on the front or the side of the building?

It's a flat marquee, Robert, about five years old, and on the front of the building, directly above the theatre entrance.

Just out of curiosity, what's the approximate seating capacity for each of the Coliseum's four auditoriums? What's the size of the screens - tiny, decent, medium, etc.?

The theatre seats approximately 250 in each house. The screens are decent size, and the presentation is very good. All equipment and seats are new.

Hey--longislandmovies, Rose wants to know if you're initals are M.C.??

M.F.

What is the lobby like here?

When Cineplex took over and The Grand Pooh-bah came down from Toronto to tour the theatres that he thought he bought, they went here and he proclaimed that in the lobby he would install a cafe with carrot cake and coffee in fine china cups (similar to what eventually ended up in the Carnegie Hall Cinema). The RKO person who was conducting the tour said 'You can't use fine china cups here - in this theatre they steal the toilet seats off the toilets'. - the RKO person was advised not to tell The Grand Pooh-bah what he could or could not do...

I new Garth very well as he made me dm of manhattan south for Cineplex Odeon i never felt i could not talk to him honestly at any time.

Even though I was never a big Cineplex Odeon 'fan' - charging for squirts of butter, offering the same major studio product at each of their venues... and the layouts of some of those C.O. houses (i.e., the First & 62nd), among other faults - I think Garth Drabinsky, for the most part, operated under the best of intentions... the best of intentions, though... well, we know how those sometimes go...

Until Garth came to town there were no major theater renovations in nyc theaters all chains were milking the public..This is when the nyc theater boom began!

When this theatre was first twinned. The Orchestra and Balcony were seperate theaters. When the Orchestra was closed and turned into retail space the bacony was twinned and later made into a quad.

The only theatre I was ever in where the orchestra no longer existed was a dollor house in Scranton Pa. I dont recall the name or if it still exists. It may have been called The Strand.

It was possible to do this because there was always a seperate entrance for the balcony on 181st. At one time there was a small hole in the floor of one of the balcony theatres and you could see the store below it.

Had they kept the orchestra they could have made this a real multi-plex.

When was the orchestra and its accompanying lobby separated from the balcony portion of the Coliseum?

Sorry to have to post this here but there's no general info area on this website (if there is, someone please tell me!)...

Anyway...There is another theater on Broadway around (I'm guessing here...) 165th Street or so. It's on the southbound side of Broadway in the 160's or so. It looks like the auditorium ran parallel to Broadway. It's no longer a theater.

Can anyone tell me what it might be so I can look it up on here?

Thanks...

hey, anyone know about a documentary called "Santo Domingo Blues" being played there??? also can i get the number for this place?

Hello Julio,
The telephone number of the New Coliseum is 212 740-1545.
Do they regularly play documentaries? It sounds interesting.

dont know, but acorrding to the website of the documentary (http://www.santodomingoblues.com) this theater is showing it:
http://santodomingoblues.com/upcoming.html
so im not sure whats up.

The engagement of 'Santo Domingo Blues' at the Cinema Village on 12th Street (according to Cinema Village's web site) has been pushed back until February 4, 2005; I suspect the same is true for its run at the Coliseum, Julio and Divinity. To confirm that, my best advice would be to shoot an e-mail to Mambo Media, the company releasing 'Santo Domingo Blues', at mambomedia@yahoo.com

The Dave Clark 5 toured the RKO circuit with their film "Having a Wild Weekend"
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/DaveClark5.jpg

Here are two 1944 images. The marquee lists a current double feature of "Wing and a Prayer" & "Moonlight and Cactus." The auditorium ceiling was starting to show dirt smudges, probably from tobacco smoking in the balcony:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/127-2777_IMG.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/127-2760_IMG.jpg

no way this theater has 3095 seats

The Coliseum opened on September 23, 1920, with a reported 3,462 seats, including 1,800 on the ground floor, 1,262 upstairs, and 400 in boxes. When the boxes were closed in the "talkies" era, that reduced the seating capacity by 400. The 1954 FDYB lists 3,125. Figure!

3462 is the correct number of seats---that's what it had when B.S. Moss opened it in 1920.

Currently, the four theatres now housed in the former balcony seat around 250 each.

Doesn't 3,095 refer to the original seating capacity, not the current overall capacity of the "multiplex"? If you look at the picture Warren posted of the original auditorium, it doesn't seem at all implausible to me.

By the way, Warren, thanks for posting those great pictures. I had no idea that the Coliseum had a marquee that wrapped around the corner, or that there was a vertical sign on Broadway as well as 181st Street. (The vertical on the 181st St. side was still in place until just a few years ago.)

Wow! once again you Wowed me and probably every one on this site with your photos Warren. were they from THS. and if so do they have blueprints of these old theatres in there original form or is it possible to get blueprints of theatres of there oroginal or later forms.

Does anyone know anything about a small theatre that was located about a block from the Coliseum at 150 Wadsworth Ave? It was showing porno films until the mid-nineties but I know this theatre had been showing films since about 1915. There is a store in the theatre building now but the original facade is still intack.

YankeeMike, that theater was called the Heights and has an entry on this site: http://cinematreasures.org/theater/11135/

A corner of the original RKO marquee, which remained into the multiplex era:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/135-3503_IMG.jpg

CConnoly... your post way back about the theater on Broadway in the 160's... Try the Loew's Rio on this page: http://cinematreasures.org/theater/6713/

I was curious if this Creative Entertainment company was the same company who owned the Creative's Chopin Theater which was located at 910 Manhattan Avenue in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York?

who runs 181..now?

wally75

Creative Entertainment was the booker for several indepenant theaters , Much like Lesser. THEy do not own or manage the theatres.

Ah, the RKO/New Coliseum. This theater apparently has had much more of a rich and well-known history than my other childhood theater, the Nova. I haven't been into the Coliseum since late '99 though. At that time I recall it still doing brisk bsuiness. I frequented the Coliseum often throughout the '90's, but don't recall much about it (spotty memory). I recall a short climb up the stairs to the 2nd floor in a lobby that resembled a balcony (sorry, not too proficient in movie theater jargon), a small, nondescript room that held arcade machines (gone by the last time I visited, chalk it up to "bad elements" which wiped out almost all of NYC's indie arcades) and oddly-shaped theaters that pointed up.

Great to see that it's still open after its brief shutdown and with a fresh renovation to boot (wonder how that's held up as of late....). Interesting to read how much the theater's been altered and downsized from its original form. Anyone got any exact dates as to when each of its renovations took place, and perhaps more pre-'90's photos as well? I probably should visit it sometime.....

Two exterior photographs I took in July 2003 when the Coliseum had been closed for a year:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191897951/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191912748/

Here are current (May 2006) photographs I took. My thanks go proprietor and operator Jesus Nova for his courtesy and hospitality in allowing me to record these images, and to his polite and helpful staff for making me so welcome:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191913867/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191915377/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191916277/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191916923/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191917335/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191917824/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191918247/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191918829/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191919391/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191920051/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191920755/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191921281/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191921717/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191922061/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191922545/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191923092/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/191923481/

The building was clean and tidy and well maintained. Although I did not have the time to sit and watch a movie, I saw a couple of the screens which had begun their programmes and the picture quality, presentation and sound were very good. Definately a cinema to patronise if you are in the Washinton Heights area, or want a trip away from your local multiplex!

It looks great thanks for sharing these pics.

Great photos KenRoe! Looking at them the memories are slowly starting to come back to me. Both the inside and outside of theater look considerably better than my time frequenting the theater in the '90's.

So, going by the info I've gathered all over:

- Autumn '89: The theater was closed and eventually twinned. (Specifically: How so? Balcony/Orchestra or just the balcony?

- July 1991: The theater reopened as a quad in the configuration present to this day.

I'd like to know more of how the theater was chopped up from its original configuration until now. When were the corner marquee and vertical signs eliminated? I read in one of the posts here that one of the vertical signs were still around up until a couple of years ago, but I never saw it (perhaps because I was so oblivious back then)......

Also KenRoe, so you got an opportunity to meet Jesus Nova? Looks like he's doing well with the Coliseum after the shut down of the Nova Theatre. I'm looking for photos of the innards of that theatre.........

The orschestra section was closed sometime in the late 1970's. By 1986 the balcony had been twinned and would become a quad in 1991.

Ah, I see. So much conflicting information out there that it's mind-boggling. There was a guy who posted on the Loew's Paradise page who supposedly had done many a renovation of NYC theatres, including all of the Coliseum's renovations. Perhaps I should get him to post here or contact him myself.............

I can't even begin to picture how the original configuration of the theatre was, or even when the balcony/orchestra were separate theaters. Must've been comparitively big to the current quad (which is still impressive for managing to fit in 4 theatres in the balcony)

The main entranceto the theatre was on the corner of Broadway and 181st street. The balcony had a seperate entrance which is still used today. Retail stores replaced the orchestra section. Since the balcony had a seperate entrance it was easy to retain the balcony as a seperate theatre.

My fault, the guy who claimed to have been behind all of the Coliseum's renovations among many (says he was a pioneer in twinning theatres back in the '70's) posted in the Loew's Plaza page (another theater which he twinned). His name is "wobbly".

For those trying to remember what the Coliseum used to look like, check above for images in my post of 7/20/2005, which was almost exactly a year ago.

This 1947 ad shows a remarkable number of RKO theatres-- 19 in all-- presenting vaudeville, even though it was for one evening only on the slowest night of the week;
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/rkovaude.jpg

This website has some history of the New Coliseum Theater.

Yeah, I've been aware of that for awhile now, but I find that the info on the theater from that website clashes a bit with what I've heard around here (such as when the theater was split, then twinned and whatnot)

Ace, I show it reopened as a quad in 1992.

My guess is it twinned around 1971.

Something called the Cinema 181 was advertising in 1966 and I have yet to figure out where that was.

it was still 1 screen in late 70's....under rko...

i worked there before i went to 59th street...

wally1975

Ace is correct; I remember the Coliseum operating as a quad in the summer of 1991 when 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' was booked there.

I had my first chance to see a film ('Miami Vice') at the Coliseum this past summer and was as impressed as Ken Roe was during his visit back in May. The theatre was very well-maintained and the staff was nothing but very professional and friendly. Moviegoers in the five boroughs (and visitors from out of town) need to do all they can to support the city's remaining vintage cinemas (the Coliseum, the Jackson Triplex, the American, the Ridgewood, and any others I'm wantonly leaving out); the subway ride might be a bit long, but the trip is well worth it.

In August of 1991, NYC issued a c/o to a four screen theater at 4261 Broadway. Its possible that it was a quad prior to that date. That confirms what Ace posted. The seating given at that time was:

Theater#1-238
Theater#2-239
Theater#3-239
Theater#4-238

Total seats-954

Does any house have Dolby Digital or dts. Or is the sound mono or stereo

I lived near this theater from July 2003 to March 2006, but did not go to a movie there even once.

Does anyone have creative entertainment phone number?>???Bookers in ny.

I visited my nephew in the Heights a few years ago and we went to see one of the Scary Movie sequels, I believe it was 3, which would make it 2003 (it could've been 2 in 2001, not sure).

Speaking of scary...what a dump!!

Here are some exterior shots I took a couple of weekends back:

Entrance & 181st Street main facade
Facade over marquee
Main facade arch
Ornamental detail
Ancient window
Marquee
Main facade detail
B'way facade centerpiece
B'way centerpiece detail
B'way facade feature
Broadway & 181st
Display case

The name of the theatre as per the marquee is Coliseum Cinemas, so I believe a revision is in order up at the top of this page. I presume that in the evening, the neon comedy & tragedy masks at either side of the theatre name panel are brightly illuminated.

I believe this is now officially the longest running, still existing, movie theatre in New York.

In NY city Al?

I think on Long Island it is the FANTASY -1920- But can not find a date on the Bellmore theater and that is old also...

Yes, I mean Manhattan actually, although it may be the longest running in the whole city. This dates as far back as 1921, perhaps earlier.

As of 9/22/'08,the Photobucket links to Warren G. Harris' photos are all down. Any chance of seeing them again?

Here are new links to previously posted images:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/127-2777_IMG.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/127-2760_IMG.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/135-3503_IMG.jpg

Ah, beautiful. Thank you.

thanks warren...

RKO days.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=30&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31144

That's an amazing photo! Thanks for posting it up! Equally amazing is that big marquee! Interesting to see the location of what's the modern-day entrance to the theater today.......that is, there appears to be no entry at all! I can only imagine the marvel that place was back then.

Here's a photo of the theater circa-1986:

http://tinyurl.com/lra29w

I'm old enough to remember the Lerner retail store which appears to have replaced the former main entrance. Guess this indicates that, by the mid-'80's at least, the orchestra section was gone.

This is probably the earliest known photo of the Coliseum. It dates back to 1922, and most notably features B.S Moss' name on the vertical marquee, which indicates that its prior to RKO's decades-long ownership. Note that at first, a different, smaller marquee was used before the large, ornate marquee the theater was known for was installed. Its certainly a treat to see the theater untouched and in pristine condition. Enjoy:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee255/RexingtonSteele/BSMossColiseum-c1922.jpg

The theatre was closed back in June by the Department of Health after a few major health code violations. Here are the inspection notes.

http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=41172815&inspectionDate=20090624

Is it still closed? It appears they closed it almost five years to the day it re-opened after its two-year hiatus in 2002-2004.

Thanks to your comment, Ace, adjusted above to reflect Open, with website link, too.

Looks like they have reopened the theatre. They are currently showing Aliens In The Attic, Orphan, Harry Potter, Ice Age 3 and two Spanish films.