Loews State Theatre 4
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 190 comments found
Now THAT’S the Loew’s State 4! Thanks for the fix!
Photos of the original State have been removed from this theater’s page.
The ad at the top of this page is the original Loew’s State after it was refurbished in 1959. The Sony State Theatres had a simple marquee under the Virgin Megastore sign. I went there a few times. Always empty. Kinda sad.
I, too, found it interesting that there was almost never anyone in that subterranean quad despite a fair amount of traffic in the music store and the video store beneath that.
I was at the LOEWS STATE 4 in the basement once. The screen went dark hafway through the picture and NOBODY had a clue what to do. Did not see any usher and the girl in box office was busy chewing gum and gave us a refund and said very little. This was before IPADS for she would have been on that too.
Virgin had the ground floor, as well as two lower floors. The box office to the theater was on the second basement floor, and the theaters were located one level below that.
I went there for cheap movies, and the occasional free preview.
Times Square has been a shopping destination ever since a man stood on a corner and counted how many people were visiting the “old” Times Square of pornography and drug use. That’s when The Gap opened, and the “new” Times Square began.
Where there are tourists, there are consumers. New Yorkers might not shop there, but Barnum’s fools are still visiting Times Square and parting with money a century after he opened his dime museum.
Interesting that this theatre was built on the site of the original LOEWS STATE.
What were they doing with the seats, throwing them in a dumpster, or carefully loading them into a truck?
Saw them taking the movie theater seats out the back way of the Virgin Time Square as I walked back from the Toys R Us this afternoon. Had to happen sometime now that it’s completely dead. Alas, poor Loews. We hardly knew ye.
I understand Disney may be moving their Fifth Avenue store to Times Square because TOYS R US has done so well with the tourist family trade. Perhaps FOREVER 21 is hoping to cash on tourists who still think the dollar exchange rate is a bargain.
Times Square has never been a shopping destination. Toys R Us was a notable exception in its first years, but is rumored to be troubled now that the novelty has worn off. But if “Forever 21” is dumb enough to pay the rent, who’s to stop them, least of all the landlord.
90,000 square feet for junky clothes? I’d rather see a Target store – which would be a boon to both tourists and locals – move into that space…
“All the News That’s Fit to Print” can be found here. The ex-theatre is probably the “adjoining space” to be combined into the new store: View link
No problem. You gave me an answer to whats going in there. I was buying a dvd a few weeks ago there and the girl asked if I wanted one of there VIP saving type cards. I said no it will be no good in a few months, it’s not worth it. I said to her the store is closing in the spring along with Union Square. She said no it’s not, go ask one of your managers. She was not to happy after his answer.
Loew’s never knew how to run that 4-plex, every time I was there always a problem.
Just realized you answered Al’s question, William, as I was typing my response; apologies for the duplication…
Creative phrasing, Al; tip of the hat to you :–)
The ‘big toilet’ was actually next door, in the former Barcode space. As for the building which houses the former Loews State, word is that Forever 21 will be taking over the majority of the soon-to-be-former Virgin Megastore space, with Nordstrom Rack taking over the basement level and perhaps, even though this isn’t detailed in the linked article below (and I haven’t been able to verify this via other sources), the movie theatre portion of the building as well.
View link
No, that is next door and on the second floor from Virgin Mega Store in Times Square.
Could it be that this theatre is now literally a big toilet?
View link
Thanks, Howard — boy, what a time lag between Event and Publication … from Aug. 9th to late Oct. — but at least it is a start for me – THANKS !! Gayle
Gayle,see Introduction on that theater’s page
/theaters/557/
Would someone please tell me the DATE that the ORIGINAL Loew’s State Theatre, on Broadway, NYC had it’s Grand Opening? I have the Nov. 1921 issue of Motion Picture Magazine which refers to the opening as having already occurred that Fall. Am trying to gauge the time between writing the magazine articles and the publication month of them. I am guessing sometime in October, or even September, but an exact date would be terrific. ALSO, what was showing / appearing at that grand opening event? Thanks!
Actually, I retract that last statement. The theatres opened the week before with two prints of Mulholland Falls and two prints of Cemetary Man.
The theatre opened on May 3rd, 1996 with Barb Wire (on two screens, yes it was on two screens), Mulholland Falls and GoldenEye (in a special one-week reissue) and Cemetary Man (a horror film with Rupert Everett) sharing a screen.
ive been there only once back when it was new..just the music store.
These were comfortable subterranean theaters, but anyone could tell they were doomed. They were buried, without sufficient signage, in the bowels of the building. I never saw a movie in there that wasn’t close to being a private screening.