Clearview's First & 62nd
400 East 62nd Street,
New York,
NY
10021
400 East 62nd Street,
New York,
NY
10021
3 people
favorited this theater
Dismissed from the day it opened by locals, this 1991 multi-level multiplex is still surviving while many other Upper East Side theaters continue to close. Built by Cineplex Odeon as the long delayed replacement for the highly sought after Baronet & Coronet property, the site never gained the clout it needed and the Baronet & Coronet lasted longer as a result.
A Garth Drabinsky faux marble plex with good sound, smallish screens, and a victim of that unique Manhattan crime of being one block too far.
A battle with the city over the escalator caused several aborted openings. The seventh screen apparently came and went.
In 2013, Clearview Cinemas are being sold to Bow Tie Theatres, but this movie theatre will close, as the building’s owner will demolish and replace with a new construction.
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
I just realized this is the wrong theater I made the above comment about. The theater I meant is on 62nd and Broadway and I never knew its name.
The seventh screen lasted from 1996 to 2002.
One of the aborted opening dates was July 28th, 1991. Two prints of Mobsters and two prints of Another You were listed as playing.
According to this blog post by Lou Lumenick of the NY Post – http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/ziegfeld_including_chelsea_managed_6RLLoZEC6HsB7fThUDFY2N#axzz2Rz9eiRE7 – the First & 62nd Street Cinemas' days are numbered. When it closes, Midtown East will be left with just six operating screens – the Cinema 1, 2, 3; the two screens at the Beekman; and the single screen at the Big Cinemas Manhattan, on 59th Street. (If there was ever a prime neighborhood for Arclight to expand into the NYC market – and if they could find the real estate – this would be it.)
Sounds like rent negotiation to me. The landlord can’t do much with this building unless it is used to show movies. And the New York Post should NEVER be taken very seriously. This guy had all his facts wrong last time when he wrote about the Ziegfeld.
Al, et al, the Post is correct as I have heard from people who know, that the building will be replaced with new construction. This cinema’s days are indeed numbered.
As ordinary as this cinema is…was there last year and saw The Descendants…it breaks my heart that Eastsiders have to cross town or hit Times Square to go the movies…this is barely 20 years old this complex
I agree Seth Lewis. I lived in NYC from 76-83 and it kills me that all the theaters east side and west side are almost as distict as dinsours.
I uploaded an grand opening ad from July 25th, 1991 for the opening the next day. Someone else uploaded another ad also saying grand opening on November 27th.
rivest266, that July opening date never happened in spite of the ad. The city fire department refused to approve the width of the escalators they had previously specified. After some negotiations, (read cash changed hands), an opening day was re-arranged in November.