RKO Hamilton Theatre

3560 Broadway,
New York, NY 10031

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RKO Hamilton

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The Hamilton Theatre was opened in 1913 for B.S. Moss. Since closing in 1958, the building has been used as a church, a boxing auditorium, and in 1985, a disco. Since then, the lobby area of the former RKO Hamilton Theatre has been converted into retail space, while the auditorium is currently unused.

Contributed by William Gabel

Recent comments (view all 108 comments)

telliott
telliott on April 11, 2011 at 7:07 pm

I wonder how many old, abandoned theatres there are still left in New York. I mean there is this one, plus Loews Kings, Loews Canal, I think a couple of old RKOs….would be interesting to know how many are left.

Movieplace
Movieplace on April 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm

I thought there was nothing left of the interior of the Claremont. This is very exciting news. I grew up in a building designed by the architect of the Claremont.
I tried to cut and paste the address above but it took me to a Wikipedia page. I would love to see your recent pictures.

Movieplace
Movieplace on April 12, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Thank you KenRoe. And thank you Kevin for posting. The last shot is incredibly tragic. That graffiti was not there on the boxes when I was there. However, the fact that there is not even more “artwork” makes me think that whatever entry way used by the “artists” (I am being invredibly nice) has been sealed. Frustrating though, that this sort of thing happened and that the perpetuators do not realize what it is they are defacing.

Tinseltoes
Tinseltoes on April 13, 2011 at 10:24 am

On this day only in 1948, the RKO Hamilton and the RKO Regent in Harlem shared eye-bulging comedian Mantan Moreland as headliner of the vaudeville bill added to that night’s film program. After performing at the Hamilton, Moreland was whisked by taxi to the Regent. He could also be seen on screen that night at both theatres as chauffeur Birmingham Brown in Monogram’s “The Chinese Ring,” his first “Charlie Chan” mystery with Roland Winters as replacement for the deceased Sidney Toler. Co-feature was “Smart Politics,” with Gene Krupa and His Orchestra and Freddie Stewart & The Teen Agers.

Bway
Bway on May 26, 2011 at 12:50 pm

Very cool! Thanks!

Ross Melnick
Ross Melnick on June 5, 2011 at 5:38 am

We’re working to make pasted links automatically turn into hot links. New site, new software. Thanks for your patience while we work on this.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on November 7, 2011 at 11:14 am

I recently photographed the Hamilton. Check out the post at After the Final Curtain

Bway
Bway on November 9, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Wow, great spread of photos and article!

dougmarino
dougmarino on February 14, 2012 at 4:22 pm

so is this theatre landmark protected? who actually owns it today? I’m interested to know if that’s the reason why there are stores all around the ground level but there is such a massive un-used (and potentially valuable) space just behind it just decaying. i guess it just costs too much money to re-habilitate the space and the owners are just happy to rent the ground floor commercial space.

Tinseltoes
Tinseltoes on May 23, 2012 at 4:41 pm

Here’s a 1980s tax photo from the Municipal Archives: lunaimaging

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