Heights Theater
150 Wadsworth Avenue,
New York,
NY
10033
150 Wadsworth Avenue,
New York,
NY
10033
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 28 comments found
I spent a lot of movie viewing time at the Heights as a young teenager. Regarding sexual content, an early French language risque Jane Fonda film, Leather Boys, a gay themed 1964 British film, and The Collector 1965. Usually double bill, so neither of the first two films was the reason I went to the theater. Nor was I denied entrance. Of all things, I was refused admission to The Collector,with Samantha Eggar, as a woman kidnapped by sex deviant Terence Stamp, so go figure. My mother went with me another day. Also saw the two Beatles films on a double bill at the Heights. A lot of good memories.
A brief item from the July 1, 1916, issue of the entertainment industry journal The New York Clipper discussed two large new theaters proposed for the Washington Heights district, and added the editorial opinion that the neighborhood already had enough theaters to satisfy local demand. The final line said: “The Wadsworth, at One Hundred and Eighty-first Street and Wadsworth Avenue, could not pay with any policy, so a bit of advice, don’t be hasty and overdo it.”
As this house opened as the Heights Theatre in 1913, either there must have been another theater at or near this intersection, or the Heights used the name Wadsworth at some point in its early history. Advertisements or theater listings from the period 1913-1916 should reveal which of those was the case. If the Heights and the Wadsworth were the same house, it would have been closed for some time in the first half of 1916.
Here is the complete item (which I cited in a previous comment) about the opening of the Heights Theatre, as reported in the November 15, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World:
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!
I remember the Heights from 1951 and it was still there in 1957. I saw “Anna Karenina” with Greta Garbo there, and a documentary about Ireland.
Sonia Kutzin on March 25, 2012 at 1:20 pm
I recently saw “Children of Paradise” at the Film Forum. 60 years ago I saw it at the Heights Theatre. I was able to see the most marvelous foreign films there so many years ago, and am forever grateful for that experience.
The November 15, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World gave the opening date of the Heights Theatre as October 11. The house was fitted with a Hope-Jones unit orchestra.
Al, most red-blooded American boys are pretty normal in that respect! On the other hand, even though there was unprecedented nudity in such films as the Czech film CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (in 1967 anyway), often the films, such as that one, were extraordinarily unforgettable. I saw that on TV last year and it holds up as effectively as it did—-lo those 43 years ago!—-in story, acting, direction and cinematography. A true cinema classic. Thank you, Heights Theatre.
Thanks for your honesty, Gary27. So many on this forum have denied the sex angle of fifties and sixties ‘art house’ success.
Interesting.
My brother and friends would sometimes go to the Heights Theatre in the mid-late 1960s primarily BECAUSE it generally showed foreign films. That was a time when onscreen nudity was very scarce, unless you were old enough to see an “adult” film, but very often an “artistic” foreign film gave a young teenage boy an eyeful! Nowadays, of course, nudity in a PG film is no big deal, but let’s not forget what things were like 45 years ago!
This is a 1983 photo of the Heights.
The Heights.
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Luis—
I recalled this theater during a discussion of another theater which was in the midst of a change from “ethnic” movies to “XXX” movies (or vice versa, or worse vice):
/theaters/4030/
Reminds me of an ambiguous message on a marquee on a theater in what used to be a Greek neighborhood, just east of the GW bridge or maybe up near 181st street (not the theater at 181st & Broadway). It had begun to show porn movies, but still catered to remnants of the ethnic community, so the sign said:
“Only on Sundays, Greek movies”
Knowing the way different populations might interpret “Greek”, I imagined disparate people lining up at the box office, eyeing each other suspiciously. A wholesome, conservative family group alongside a furtive guy in a raincoat, each wondering what the other was doing there.
Maybe the Fair will show Indian porn. Men and women kissing each other openly, on the mouth?
posted by faberfranz on Mar 31, 2007 at 3:48pm
I subsequently posted a link to photo (a view from above as it is now):
/theaters/4030/
Regarding my earlier reference (March 31) to “only on Sunday: Greek movies”: happened to pass by that area and think I spotted that long-lost theater. Anybody know its name and history (it’s a low-scale women’s clothing store now).
Visible if one knows what to look for on Live Search:
2nd building south of SW corner, Wadsworth Avenue and 181st
street. One bus parallel to it, the other almost aimed at
its front entrance.
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Identifiable by a frieze of Tragedy & Comedy masques near
top, a mask at each side of wall beneath, and what appear
to be supports for now-missing marquee.
posted by faberfranz on Apr 14, 2007 at 12:58pm
And somebody responded by sending me here, for exterior photos you’ve probably already seen:
faberfranz….There was a Heights Theater located at 150 Wadsworth Avenue (near West 181st St.) That might be the building that you saw. The Heights Theater is listed on Cinema Treasures here.
posted by Lost Memory on Apr 14, 2007 at 4:12pm
Yeah, that’s it! Just the way it looks today. Or three days ago, anyway.
From Lost Memory’s link (/theaters/11135/),
posted by KenRoe on Jul 18, 2006 at 12:39pm:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/192797148/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/192797605/
posted by faberfranz on Apr 14, 2007 at 7:22pm
But I guess you want photos of how it was ‘way back THEN, when it was still a movie theater…
please does any body have pics of heights
I lived in the area from the mid 1950’s through the 1960’s. During that time I would describe the Heights as being an “art” theater. Most of the pictures shown there were foreign films. This is probably why it could compete with nearby theaters like the RKO Colisuem, Loews 175th Street, Lane and Empress (aka Astral).
I saw a programme from August, 1916, when the Heights was under the management of Landau & Bock. The bookings changed daily, and included a feature movie with several short subjects. Music was provided by the “Wurlitzer Organ Orchestra.”
Here’s a 1980 listing for the theater in the Post’s Neighborhood Movie Guide:
NY Post 12/11/80
Still grinding the triple X triple bills in 1982:
NY Post 3/10/82
Here are a couple of photographs I took in May 2006. Nothing has changed on the exterior apart from the removal of the marquee. Inside everything has either been gutted or covered over:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/192797148/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/192797605/
The Heights Theatre opened in October 1913 according to The Movie Lovers Guide to New York (1987 edition). There is a photograph in the book with the Heights playing ‘3 Big Adult Hits XXX’
As one of the Martin J. Lewis Theatres (1955). To the best of my knowledge, Lewis’s middle initial did not stand for “Jerry”:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/mjlewis.jpg
Opera playing on 181st Street :)
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The Jade was located on or near Canal St. I think it was one of those theaters that was discussed under another theater section on here but nobody wanted to add it.
BTW….I noticed in the ad that the Oasis was demoted to being in Brooklyn again.
In July of 1970 “Oliver” came out on a discount run. In Manhattan it’s playing the Heights and the Jade. Is the Jade a Chinatown theatre? Seems like an odd booking.
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It was still operating in 1987 according to the original edition of the book ‘The Movie Lovers Guide to New York’ by Richard Alleman.
It is listed in the the 1957 FDYB