Harlem Grand Theatre
117 East 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10035
117 East 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10035
1 person
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Before it was the “Grand” it used to be the “Harlem Strand Theater.” The theater operated as the Strand from 1914-1917 when its owners were sued by Mitchel H. Mark Realty Corp (owners of the Strand Theater near Times Square) for trademark infringement.
Nice series of pictures you posted, nyyhec. You’re comment as to how this theater was originally operated as the Harlem Strand, should be repeated in this thread so that the site administrators know to add the AKA to this page.
In this photo, you can see how the vertical spelling out GRAND could have easily been converted from its original STRAND display, simply by replacing the first two characters at the top of the sign. Thanks for posting!
The reason why this particular church calls itself “La Sinagoga” is because their original location was in the basement of a synagogue on 109th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. It was a lot easier to say La Sinagoga instead of “Latin American Pentecostal Church” and it stuck.
Nothing that a church does surprises me anymore!
Interesting that a Pentecostal church would call itself “The Synagogue”.
Per Lost Memory’s prior post, the # of seats to this theater should be updated to reflect 1,432 seats. Current Use: Church
and a rather hideous looking one at that!!!!
Thanks. Now it works. Maybe it’s my computer. So, the building is still used as a church.
Hi Lost Memory,
The link is working perfectly now- there was binary issue in my FTP/Upload..all corrected.
<img src=“http://www.seanrichards.com/harlemgrand2009.jpg”>
try it again
The link doesn’t work for me. I receive a “Page Not Found” error.
Heres a pic of what the site looks like today with the “LA SINOGOGA"
http://www.seanrichards.com/harlemgrand2009.jpg
The earliest certificate of occupancy that I can find for this building is dated September of 1917. At that time there was a 1486 seat motion picture theater located here.
NY Times February 6, 1958
THEATRE BUILDING IN UPTOWN DEAL; Church Will Occupy Part of 125th St. Site — Other Sales in Manhattan.
A two-story building containing stores and the Harlem Grand Theatre at 115-25 East 125th Street has been sold by the United States Trust Company and Le Roy and Rodney Soher, who erected it several years ago. The buyer was the Latin – American Pentecostal Church, which will alter and occupy the theatre portion of the property.
As far as I can tell, the church is still located here.
The Harlem Grand is still listed in the 1955 Film Daily with 1432 seats.