David Cinema

The David Cinema was actually located at 236 W. 54th Street; its former space is presently occupied by the upscale Divine Bar West lounge club.

br91975;

This was a second David Cinema, located on W. 54th St which operated until about 1999.

My initial posting was for the original David Cinema, 238 West 55th Street which was operating in the mid 1970's. I have listing guides from that era which show it at that address.

I think this was almost next to the Studio 54 site. I used to laugh at the sign in front of it that was there around 1995..."Closed for Technical Difficulties, Projector Broken." Uh-huh.

The David Theatre i visited in the early 90's was located next door to the Ameritania Hotel on Broadway, it was a single storey classical facade and a grubby little theatre with a sloping floor. Badly projected porn films flickered on the screen while bored looking sleazoids and fat cab drivers cruised the aisles, it had hard plastic seats (easy to clean... if that ever happened) there were also endless corridors and blocked overflowing toilets full of silent sex hunters, one particular vivid memory is of cockroaches falling on peoples head as they climbed up the rickety spiral staircase behind the screen to the upper rooms where lonely sad naked guys sat waiting for someone to love them

I was going to some rave at the Ritz near the David in 93, I had no idea there were 2 Davids- I wonder which one the Ritz was near?

Woody-
"lonely sad naked guys" need love too.

That snippet of comment had to be the best thing I have ever read here...awesome!

The Ritz (that is, the uptown Ritz) was on W. 54th so I presume this was the David Theater that Greenpoint saw when he visited The Ritz in '93. The original Ritz, by the way, was downtown on East 11th just off 4th Avenue and is now known as Webster Hall.

Anyway... an ad for the David on 54th can be found in this cluster of porn ads from the NY Post in 1982:

Steve Scott Festival 3/8/82

Here's another ad from just a couple of days later, showing the David's programing had quickly turned over and featuring the photo of a gentleman who looks startlingly like Gabe Kaplan:

Fantasy Island Post 3/10/82

Here's a shot I found on flickr that looks to be for this incarnation of the David rather than the location on W. 55th Street. I only assume this because the car door in the photo looks like an 80's or 90's model. Anyway... looks like some fairly ornate ceiling fixtures hung in the foyer to the David, not to mention that the marquee canopy seemed to be arched and fairly wide.

A c/o was issued for a 175 seat theater at the above address on July 5, 1978.

I found this fuzzy image of the David's exterior on our friend Woody's flickr.com photostream. As for my first impression of the canopy per the photo I posted in my previous comment, I guess a partial view can be deceiving.

Here's another image from Woody's flickr account showing a more contemporary view of the New David Cinema site. The big billboard above the building doesn't bode well for any of the structures on that block.

http://www.colors-of-leather.com/Lthr%20bars/Bars%202nd%20page/CD/david_cinema.htm

The sign in Ed Soler's picture refers to a new building on the esat side of 8th Avenue between 53rd/54th, for which the land has already been cleared and construction has begun. The site is on the east end of the block and does not affect any of the structures in the photo, none of which are endangered any time in the forseeable future. The hotel on the corner is still in operation, the Divine Bar is still around, and just east of that is the "Studio 54" Theater which also is active. You can search this query in a composite view of Google Maps "260 w. 54th st new york" and see the block. "Studio 54" is just to the right of the construction site, next is a commercial low-rise, then the Divine Bar/ex-David, then the hotel on the corner.

Wasn't there a firehouse on the corner of 54th & 8th? Did they knock it down? It wasn't that old...

The New David.

http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=new+york&catpageindex=28&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31097

heres a blow up of a previous posting from a higher res scan, still grainy, i was staying in the hotel next door and our room looked down on the roof of the david
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3508099623/sizes/o/