New Metro Twin
2626 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
2626 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
11 people
favorited this theater
Opening as the Midtown Theater, this classic theater, located almost 60 blocks north of Times Square, survived several tumultuous years.
Beginning as a first run theater, the Midtown Theatre, now known as the Metro (Twin), switched to second run and then adult films during New York City’s darker years (the 1970’s and 1980’s).
Restored by Clearview Cinemas and twinned, the Metro Theatre has retained its beautiful and unique Art Deco facade.
This underrated theater closed in January 2003, shortly after the Olympia Theatre met the reaper, but reopened only a couple months later.
The Metro Twin was once more closed by Clearview in August 2004 but again reopened under independent ownership in December 2004 after a renovation. The New Metro closed once again at the end of 2005. The facade is legally protected, but the interior was gutted and offered for retail.
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Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 135 comments)
Yesterday I watched Harry Hurwitz’s 1971 movie in a 35mm revival at the Newport Film Festival, The Projectionist. It is a fictional story about a projectionist at what appears to be the Midtown Theatre. We see the exterior and marquee in several shots, and a theatre interior (same place used????) several times. There are also some stunning scenes of an array of lighted marquees on then-glorious 42nd Street. The movie is available on DVD and I have not found any other comments here referring to that film.
This is a January 2009 NY Times story. Photo included.
New book on Talbot theatres.
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For those of you following Peter Elson, it is interesting to note that his grandfather was Herbert J. Krapp architect of many of the legitimate Broadway Theaters. See a plaque in the Majestic Theater designating Mr. Krapp as the Architect of Broadway.
In response to the comment by Gerald DeLuca above, I’ve been told that the booth the projectionist is seen in is at the Olympia Theatre a few blocks north of the Midtown. I have the DVD and will have to take a look, but as I recall the projectors are at a downward angle that would be more appropriate for the Olympia which had a steep balcony and the equipment was the brands Loews used in many of their theatres at the time. That film was kind of legendary among projectionists here in New York, and I was always particularly interested because Chuck McCann, who played the projectionist, had been an usher at Radio City as was frequently cited by the staff when I was there.
There’s still a for sale sign where the marquee used to be at the Metro.
Here’s a photo taken 11/14/2009
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Here’s a 1933 view: View link
There is some wrong information about this theatre above.
It went from being the Midtown 99th Street porno house to the Metro Cinema in late 1982, a Talbot run repertory house.
It was restored and became the Metro Twin in 1986 while still one of Talbot’s New Yorker theatres, but having already gone mainstream first-run for several years with occasional quirky titles.
In 1987 Cineplex Odeon took over, re-did the lobby in faux marble, and re-opened with similar programming.
Just east of from Broadway on W. 99St between Amsterdam and Columbus where I grew up in the 1940s was the THE PARK WEST Theater, not mentioned on this website. My cousin Richard recalls that YOU GOT A GLASS OR DISH IF YOU WENT THERE and he ALSO BOUGHT DAY OLD PASTRIES ON COLUMBUS AVE BEFORE THE MOVIE [DAY OLD WERE MORE LIKE AWEEK OLD] THE FLOOR WAS STICKY AND IT SMELLED FROM URINE THE PEOPLE JUST WENT ON THE FLOOR.
My younger brother recalls that he remembered going there with either a slingshot or pea shooter and shoot at the characters on the screen. This was the days before TV.
Well, the owner of the Metro has finally found a new tenant though he is not saying who it is. Sadly, it appears that the interior has been gutted for use as retail. The exterior and marquee are protected.
The long vacant Art Deco Metro Theater at 2626 Broadway, between 99th and 100th streets, is set to be reborn as a retail destination, after owner Albert Bialek filed an application with the city’s Department of Buildings in late December 2011 for a $900,000 renovation that will convert the interior of the 79-year-old theater, DNAinfo reported. A retail tenant has already signed on to lease the space, which has been empty for six years, though the identity of the store was not immediately available. ”It’s something that everyone in the neighborhood will love, I think,” Bialek said.
Last year, Bialek, president of real estate consulting firm Albert Bialek Associates, gained control of the Metro, an Upper West Side landmark, from leaseholder John Souto. Souto had a 49-year lease on the property, which had formerly served as a pornography house, art-house movie theatre and two national cinema chains.