Claremont Theatre
3338 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10031
3338 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10031
4 people
favorited this theater
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That YouTube clip is terrific! Looks like it was a packed house for those Edison photoplays. Would have hated to be seated behind some of those ladies hats that were seen parading out in the clip. Also noticed a couple of baby-carriages being strolled out the door – I guess bringing infants to a movie theater isn’t such a recent development after all! Although, I’d forgive the parents in this clip since I’m guessing cinema-going etiquette may have yet been fully established at this point.
Nice long shots of the building at the end, also.
Here’s a link to the video that should work.
Presented here is an Edison 1915 reel showing an audience exiting a performance at the Claremont. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCP702yYjsA
Well TV ownership was insignificant until the fifties and the main flight to the suburbs also occurred after the war.
You left out the competition from new palaces with live entertainment at depression prices.
thanks to Al A. for his learned assessment on the subject. in fact your reply prompts an additional question on my part. as i understand it the golden age of movie palace building was approx. 1910 thru say 1941? now of all those theaters it would be interesting to find out of the three reasons listed below percentage wise which caused the most movie theaters to close.
a)the Depression or b)t.v. sucking the life out of the movie biz or c)the neighborhood “changing”
My guess would be the depression. Some theatre owners couldn’t discount enough to compete.
certainly a quite attractive theater at least the exterior. one simple question- the theater closed in 1933 long before the advent of television which sucked the life out of the movie business or the “changing” of the neighborhood. so why did it close after only 19 years?
The Claremont circa 1913.
View link
A scene from the recent Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe movie “American Gangster” was filmed inside the Claremont Theater. Seeing as the story it set back in 1970’s Harlem, all filming locations were set up to mimic the time period. In the particular scene featuring the Claremont, Frank Lucas (played by Denzel) and his mentor/boss Bumpy Johnson (played by Clarence Williams III) are having a conversation while walking down to the corner of 135th and Broadway (the Claremont’s entrance). They then enter the Claremont (set up to be a circa-‘70’s electronic store with old-school TV’s and furniture) through double glass doors. That’s all I saw from the preview unfortunately. Looks like they decked up the inside of the Claremont real nice to film that scene, but I never caught when they were filming it. Subsequently the Claremont was obviously shuttered again and returned to being used as storage space.
Some recent color views of the remains of the Claremont Theatre can be seen near the end of a new article about the Manhattanville district at www.forgotten-ny.com
WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ, Opus 23, a 2 manual/4 rank was shipped to this theatre in 1913. It was reposesssed by the WurliTizer company. It was rebuilt as Opus 114, a style 1SP and shipped on December 14, 1916 to the Race (Irvine) Theatre in Chicago. The last that was know the organ still exisits and is playable at a seminary in Lisle, Illinois.
I figure the top-level restaurant/ballroom was under the same ownership. Surprised that this theater closed so early in the century. Though the “decline” of the surrounding area itself was said to have started by the 1950’s. Gentrification has been creeping up slowly over the last couple of years. The renovation and leasing to major chains (McDonalds, Starbucks which was replaced by T-Mobile) of the front section of the nearby Gotham Theater may have been one of the first benefits to come of this. Beforehand during the ‘90’s, I recall a whole lot of dingy/dirty stores leasing the block, all of which were wiped out in one fell swoop by the beginning of this decade.
This is a link to a NY Times article about the Claremont Theater and architect Gaetan (sometimes Gaetano) Ajello. I’m not sure if its the same link previously posted by Warren and Ed.
This link will take you to the Landmark Commissions proposal report on this building.
This link also goes to the Landmark Commission. The commission report gives an opening date of November 1914.
In one of those reports Warren, they give the restaurant/ballroom a name of “Broadway-Claremont or Clarendon restaurant and later, the Royal Palms Ballroom and Roof Garden”.
Here are two photographs I took of the Claremont Theatre in June 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/190807270/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/190807717/
An interesting observation I note in the Edison film, is that almost all the audience departing the theatre are turning to their right to go uptown. Only a few turn left.
Thanks! I guess that I didn’t wait long enough on the first try. Here is an image that I copied from near the end of the film clip, which includes the theatre’s two vertical signs. I wonder if the restaurant was also called the Claremont and under the same ownership?
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/claredison.jpg
The link does work. Its a streaming video and windows media player should open to play this video.
Ace, I get nothing but a blank screen when I try to connect to your link. Are you sure that you entered it correctly?
Apparently, Thomas Edison filmed a short, silent film circa 1915, filming the theater’s entrance as moviegoers were exiting the theatre, presumably after a movie. Here’s the clip, pretty interesting:
http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/awal/4185.mpg
This building truly deserves to have been designated a landmark. Though some renovation of what’s left of the theatre is recommended at least by me, perhaps also some good use being made of the property.
I live in the area, and this building has housed many a store (mostly local furniture/clothing stores) over the last 15-20 years or so, many of which had little success and/or business or something else and ended up closing not too long after opening. At one point stores were opening and closing on a back-to-back basis. Currently the building is closed to the public and yes, it appears to be utilized by the nearby “Tuck It Away” Self-Storage company. The C-Town supermarket located in what I suppose is a long-gutted part of the building has been there for ages now (its common practice in NYC for defunct theatre buildings to have their largest section gutted for supermarket use apparently.) Is it located in West Harlem at 135th Street & Broadway.
Here’s the direct link to the NY Times article. Not sure if that link will work for you if you don’t have an account (whch is free, by the way). Unfortunately, only the current photo accompanies the online article. The print version included a vintage shot of the theater as well. I’ll see if I can get a good scan and post it here.
This building is used by Tuck It Away self storage. Their address is 3330 Broadway.
The building was recently declared a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, according to an article by Christopher Gray in the Real Estate section of The New York Times of June 11, 2006.
Gray’s piece about architect Gaetan Ajello includes two photos of the Claremont, and is probably displayed at www.nytimes.com
The two-story theatre building occupied the entire block between 134th and 135th streets (with 90 feet of frontage on each).