Sunshine Cinema
143 E. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10002
143 E. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10002
25 people
favorited this theater
The entertainment beginnings of this building came in 1909 when it opened as the Houston Hippodrome, a venue for Yiddish vaudeville acts and films.
In 1917, the theatre’s ownership changed and the 600-seat venue was renamed the Sunshine Theatre. In the late-1930’s it was renamed Chopin Theatre. The theatre closed in 1945 and had been used as a storage warehouse into the mid-1990s.
Following a three-year, $12 million renovation project, the Sunshine Cinema is back and set to due battle with the famed Angelika and Film Forum theatres which, up until recent years had been the favorite destinations of the art house set.
The Sunshine Cinema certainly fills a need in the area as there are few movie theatres in or around the Lower East Side. The facade has been restored and 3 of the 5 auditoriums contain stadium seating, while all have plush seats and the latest sound and projection equipment.
The theatre is the first for Landmark Theatres in the much coveted New York indie market.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 72 comments)
Photo of the Sunshine courtesy of Nick’s Classic American Theatres.
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This was showing Slavic films in 1937-1938 as the Chopin.
This theatre had the New York premiere of Paranormal Activity (before the film before popular).
i find the photo posted by jflundy on 1/5/08 most interesting. first off it was neat to see the theater with a big ornate old fashion marquee. but what i find most fascinating is that date given for the. photo 6/23/29. unless NYC widened Houston St. subsequent to the photo being taken the street in front of the theater is wayyyyyyyyyyyy to narrow to be Houston Street. is it at all possible that the photo is not of the Sunshine Cinema that exists today?
Tree of Life is playing at this theater before it goes nationwide soon. It’s been selling well. Is Landmark showing it in digital projection or regular 35mm film?
bigjoe – Houston Street was widened in the 1930s when the subway was built beneath it.
Sunshine in the 1980s from the NYC Department of Records.
How does the sunshine compare with other indie houses in NYC?
Landmark is seeing to provide food and liquor service at this theater, according to this article.
Few exterior photos from July 2010.