Greenwich Twin Cinemas

This theatre has 440 seats total. I don't know the exact numbers in each, but the second theatre is small and is in the balcony. When you enter, there's a chandelier, the box office and concessions on the left and a staircase just up ahead on the right. The main theatre is on the left. The building is shaped like an "L". If you go outside and make a right, just up ahead on the right is the end of the auditorium, at the sidewalk, right in a neighborhood. It's quite tall, maybe 40 feet and it's completely covered in ivy.

I checked the City Directories at the library. It opened in 1963 as the Greenwich Theater. In 1970 it was known as the Greenwich Playhouse at 354 Greenwich Avenue, then in 1971 back to Greenwich Theater. In 1991, it was Loew's Greenwich Cinema at 356 Greenwich Avenue. That's where the directories ended, I'm assuming until Clearview took over ownership.

The theater actually opened long, long before 1963. As far as I know, it opened in 1914 as the Greenwich Playhouse. The stage is still fully rigged, and there are several dressing rooms in the basement. I used to be the Division Mgr. for this theater during my tenure at Clearview.
It was announced last year that the theater would be closing. The building was sold for a huge amount of money given its location on prestigious Greenwich Ave. The current thinking is to gut the building for retail space. To my knowledge, Clearview is operating on a month-to-month, and the new landlord has to give them 120 days to vacate with notice. To date, they haven't received such a notice. The downstairs seats approximately 320, and the former balcony upstairs seats approximately 120. The chandelier in the lobby is a Clearview addition. The ceiling height in the lobby was lowered at one point, and upstairs in an office suite (that formerly served as Loews Division Office when they had the place) there is a storeroom that features what used-to-be the original lobby ceiling.

I thought it was built before 1963, but the directories in print from 1946-1962 had no theaters listed - not even a theaters header category! I even cross-checked "Cinemas" and "Movies".

Btw, I stopped by Criterion a while back to see if you were working to say hi. You weren't there and I left you a note.

Theater is currently "Closed for Renovations", to correct some water damage from the last heavy rain storm.

\"Close until further notice\".

Closed permanently on August 26, 2007.

There's an article about this theatre in - http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-vaudeville1dec24,0,2672263.story?page=2

"In April 1915, the film "Cinderella" screened in Greenwich Theatre. It starred Mary Pickford and was filmed at the estate of Commodore Benedict in Greenwich...Greenwich Theatre's initial run as a vaudeville and performing arts stage lasted only from 1914 to 1930, before being reopened as a cinema."

The theater building is in the process of being converted into an Apple store.