RKO 86th Street Theatre
1284 Lexington Avenue,
New York,
NY
1284 Lexington Avenue,
New York,
NY
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This theater was located in Yorkville on Lexington Avenue, on New York City’s upper east side. It was built in 1926.
After being demolished, Gimbels was built on the site, which in turn has been replaced by an apartment building.
Contributed by
Jean
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In July, 1959, RKO Theatres, by then a subsidiary of Glen Alden Corporation, sold the 86th Street and four other large theatres to a real estate syndicate called Theatre Realty Company Partnership, according to reports in The New York Times and Variety. No purchase prices were disclosed, but as part of the deal, RKO leased back the operation of the five theatres for a term of 25 years, with options to renew. In addition to the 86th Street, the theatres sold were the Fordham in the Bronx, the Albee in Brooklyn, and the Madison and Keith’s Flushing in Queens.
The theatre’s main entrance was on 86th Street, hence the name. Here are new links to previously posted images. The exterior view was taken in 1947 during the engagement of “The Late George Apley” & “Bedelia”:
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On Friday January 26, 1962, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly-Joe DeRita) embarked on a three day promotional tour for their latest feature film, THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES. They were accompanied by “The Herculean Giant” (almost 8 foot tall Dave Ballard) and popular DJ Clay Cole, who was one of the stars of the co-feature, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK.
On Saturday January 27, they appeared at the RKO 86th Street at 4:55 PM.
Swann Auction Galleries will be selling the design for the original corner sign of this theater on March 26. We don’t have a date on it, but it’s presumably from a renovation circa 1960-1975. An image can be seen here: View link
It’s a sketch for the corner vertical sign which is shown here and dates back to at least 1947, when the photo was taken:
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Some nice shots of two eras here.
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WOW that first one jogged my memory!!! Thanks for the link! What a shame to demolish that beautiful theater and replace it with that awful Gimbels East building. Everything for the almighty dollar.
This theatre was still open in October 1968 when it closed after playing “For Love Of Ivy”. It was replaced by the Gimbels store and the RKO 86th street Twin.
Here’s a link to some unnarrated newsreel coverage of an invitational screening of the Rock Hudson starrer, “Battle Hymn,” at the RKO 86th Street in 1956: View link
Stripped down to its steel frame, It appears that the old marquee now used for Duane Reade is being renovated or demolished. This marquee was for the smaller RKO movie house that was built into the Gimbels East Ibuilding that replaced the original RKO 86th. If I recall correctly, this smaller theater was supposed to make up for the loss of the palace.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/davebazooka/RKOmarquee2.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/davebazooka/RKOmarquee.jpg