Sun Sing Theatre
75-85 East Broadway,
New York,
NY
10002
75-85 East Broadway,
New York,
NY
10002
3 people
favorited this theater
This theatre was located under the Manhattan Bridge and it is now demolished.
Contributed by
OttoBurger
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
I think that some major mistakes have been made about this theatre’s history as the result of an article published in The New York Times in June, 1960, when the Sun Sing was saved from demolition. That article claimed that the theatre was then 49 years old, which I believe was faulty arithmetic on someone’s part. I suspect that it was actually 39 years old, and that the Florence first opened in 1921, and not in 1911. My basis for this conclusion is an article in The New York Times of August 27, 1920, claiming that the City of New York had leased to Henry E. Jacobs the block bounded by East Broadway, Forsyth, Market and Henry Streets, under the Manhattan Bridge structure, which towered to a considerable height at that point. The twenty-year lease called for a ground rental of $9,500 for the first ten years, and $10,450 for the second ten-year period, or $199,500 for the full term.
Gronenberg & Leuchtag, architects, had filed plans for the improvement of the East Broadway block front with a two-story store and show-room building costing about $90,000. The balance of the plot would be used for a moving picture theatre seating 1,100. The estimated cost of this structure, according to the architects, was $120,000.
Under the plan, space would be reserved on the East Broadway frontage for a lobby to the theatre. The ground width measurements were 135.8 feet on East Broadway, 175 on Market, 208.10 on Henry, and 182 on Forsyth. The theatre would occupy a plot 116.4 feet by 99.2 feet, exclusive of the strip reserved for the entrance.
The NYT further reported that the theatre had been leased by Mr. Jacobs to the Florence Theatre Corporation, which would operate it. The term of this lease was also for twenty years, at a rental which would total about $400,000 for the entire period.
Nothing in the article suggests that the ground site had been used for commercial development prior to this. What is the evidence to support a claim that a theatre presenting Yiddish vaudeville and movies existed there in 1911?
I also wonder why Yiddish vaudeville would have been presented that far downtown. I don’t think that Yiddish showbiz extended much below Houston Street, and certainly not beyond Canal Street. This theatre would have catered to residents of Chinatown and Little Italy. The name “Florence” might have been in honor of that Italian city.
In September, 1925, the interior of the Florence Theatre was severely damaged as the result of an attempted robbery, according to a report in The New York Times of 9/24/25. Thieves tried to open the theatre’s safe with nitroglycerin, but the explosion started a fire that quickly spread and destroyed the proscenium arch, orchestra seats, the organ console, and flooring. The theatre’s proprietor, Albert Rosenzweig, said that it would cost about $15,000 to repair the damage. Ironically, the thieves fled without emptying the safe, which contained only $300.
A photo of the Sun Sing Theater can be seen here.
New Strand should be added as an aka name here.
New direct links to images described in post above of 7/30/07:
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Thank you, Warren.
In the mid 1920s the Florence Theater was operated by the M & S Chain. Jacobs was probably one of the partners in this extended network, so was Rosenzweig. There was no Yiddish vaudeville theater on this location in 1911. We would expect an ethnically mixed audience indeed but the owners were Jewish and they advertised for this theater in the Yiddish press.
By the way, Yiddish vaudeville did extend well beyond Houston Street, actually most of the Yiddish music halls were in the area below East Houston and north of East Broadway.
I agree with Warren’s post of August 3, 2007 that this opened in 1921 as the New Strand.
http://www.collamer-jones.com/tang/Nychina.html
I worked on this film in 1981.We shot inside the Sun Sing and a year later saw the movie there.