IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
323 Sixth Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
26 people
favorited this theater
Once a single screen theater, the Waverly Theatre was subsequently twinned, with the closing and and conversion of the balcony into a second, smaller auditorium in the mid-1980’s. It was a funky little two-screen house which was the launching pad of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as a midnight cult hit in New Yew York.
Before it closed in late-2001, the Waverly Twin featured mostly films that double-run from the glossy and much more charmless United Artists Union Square Stadium 14 at Broadway and 13th Street. The Waverly Twin was also known for showing the occasional low-budget indie or art flick, and hold-overs whose runs had expired at other Greenwich Village theaters.
In June 2005, the Waverly Twin reopened as the three-screen IFC Center screening independent, foreign, documentary, and classic films. On December 4, 2009, two additional screens were opened, for a total of five screens.
Contributed by
Dan Braun
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Recent comments (view all 187 comments)
1966 photo added of Simon & Garfunkel on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, courtesy of Bob Greenhouse. Waverly in the background.
An expansion to 11 screens is on the books: http://www.indiewire.com/article/exclusive-new-yorks-ifc-center-plans-to-expand-location-more-than-doubling-screens-and-seats-20150826
When they converted this place from the Waverly to the IFC, did they basically gut it to the bare walls? I was here for Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte last night in Auditorium #1 and all I could see was bare brick walls & exposed ceiling duct-work, talk about the lack of ambiance. Guess that unfinished style is in nowadays, the post industrial grungy half finished style.
Yes, It was gutted back to the bare brick walls. I saw it being done on a visit I made to NYC in early-2005. Nothing of the original interior decorations were saved.
Thanks Ken Roe, you can see those bare brick walls in auditorium #1. I remember being at the Waverly many years ago, for some reason I remember it being more on the modern side of theatre design.
The rejected expansion rear exterior design can be seen here.
Thanks for that Al, They could make it blend in a little bit better with the existing architecture on Cornelia St. instead of making it look like every other modern building that’s built nowadays. Looks like they also wanted to shift the ticket booth over and have it flanked by a set of doors on either side at the front entrance.
The Cornelia Street facade looks like one of the New School’s outposts in the West Village. I hope they can make it work – 6 new screens is great (I just hope they’re more like the original theaters and not theater #5 – which appears to be getting flipped around in the new design – hopefully that’ll will mean a bigger screen. They may want to reconsider how the theaters will be numbered too – it may be a confusing building to navigate with a few theaters downstairs, two theaters upstairs in one part of the building, and a few on floors 2 and 3 in another part of the building (presumably accessed differently – – although maybe not – it looks like they’re relocating the elevator).
On February 28 1988 John Waters & Divine made a personal appearance on opening night. Unfortunately Divine, in what could have been a career changing performance, would pass away 10 days later. “Hairspray” would spawn a huge Tony winning musical and award winning big screen remake. Ad in photo section.
I’ve never been there but after reading many reviews I think I will not attend this theater. Why pay $14+ to see a movie with a small screen, bad ambience and questionable projection. I have a big 80" screen and projector at my home. I went to the Angelika a while back and was not impressed at all, I like Film Forum though.