United Palace
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
27 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 256 comments found
Tinseltoes, Then it must have been the RKO Coliseum. I remember Broadway was blocked by the snow, it was February 1st, we took a taxi coming out of the theater, but the driver stopped in front of the Presbyterian Medical Center and told us to get off, he couldn’t go on.
Guarina, if you’re talking about the original release of “Giant” in 1956, you couldn’t have seen it at Loew’s 175th Street because it didn’t play there. If you saw it in its first run in the Washington Heights area, that would have been at the RKO Coliseum. Prior to that, you could have seen it in Manhattan only at the Roxy, where “Giant” played its exclusive NYC premiere engagement.
How depressing! I think I saw “Giant” with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor there in an early February, there was a heavy snowfall.
Here’s a 1980s tax view of the entire block, with marquee and entrance at the right side of the photo: lunaimaging
I remember Loew’s 175th from 1951 and it was still a theater in 1957. The “Big Three” railroad-car style diner was across 175th Street, there was a photo studio across Broadway. My cousin worked as an usher there while in high school.
Thanks for the Link Tinseltoes.
Loew’s 175th Street is prominently mentioned in this Wall Street Journal article by Will Friedwald about uptown theatres that have found God: wsj.com
Yes, Tinseltoes, the Tony"s will be at the Beacon. While I am extremely disappointed that the country will not be exposed to this gem of a theater there is no better other theater to host the Tony’s than the Beacon as Alto so eloquently pointed out. The theater is actually on Broadway and was recently renovated. It will still reflect very well on New York, but it would have been very nice to have really gone outside the box for a change.
As I suspected above on 7/14/10, the deal to present the next Tony Awards at the United Palace fell through. The telecast will be held instead at the Beacon Theatre, which is about 100 blocks to the south of Washington Heights and probably seems safer and more convenient for members of the elite group that presents the Tony Awards.
Yes Al, you are correct that Radio City was not specifically built as a movie palace but a movie palace it most definitely is. That is how it was used for a majority of its life and how it is remembered by most.
I still think that the Tony committee made a brilliant move in scheduling the Tony ceremony at Loew’s 175th Street Theatre. It will focus attention on one of the nation’s most magnificent movie palaces while at the same time letting people everywhere know that not everything happens in midtown Manhattan. There is a wealth of architectural splendor throughout the boroughs and this will highlight it.
Radio City was never built as a movie palace. The Roxy (Center) was the failed movie palace. Radio City was built as a Music Hall and settled for movies when music shows failed.
I’m not surprised about this move, considering…in January 2010, the Allman Brothers Band, which held a 40-year relationship with the Beacon Theatre, was forced to move its legendary annual NYC concerts from that venue to the United Palace (breaking a 20-year, 190-show string) because – you guessed it – Beacon management booked a Cirque du Soleil production on an extended run!
It’s great that a Loew’s “Wonder Theatre” gets such an honor bestowed upon it, and that Broadway is actually celebrated ON Broadway…but 175th Street? Is it impossible today in NYC to find a theatre that’s both on Broadway AND boasts comparable capacity, quality, aesthetics or amenities, either in or closer to Midtown Manhattan?
What about the Upper West Side? The recently restored 2894-seat Beacon Theatre is magnificent! Want even more “spread-out” space for red carpet, crowds, traffic and parking? Go a few blocks down to the newly renovated Lincoln Center and its 3800-seat Metropolitan Opera House – it may not represent the authentic “classic” theatrical setting that we desire, but it’s classy, prestigious and celeb-friendly (for those of you with short memories, the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony was held there in September of 1999 and 2001).
I’m not at all worried about any Tony “threats” to the theater. Let’s remind ourselves that the Tony’s have been housed in one of the world’s greatest movie palaces for many years: Radio City!
In addition, many acts have played the United Palace whose fans I feared had the potential to damage the theater much more than the performers. But my fears were not warranted. The United Palace has maintained the theater beautifully and I have no reason to think that it will change anytime soon.
If the “Tony” event does take place (I’ve heard that it’s not a done deal yet), let us literally pray that no physical harm is done to the theatre, which has been exceptionally well-maintained by the church over the years and retains its “original” look. Please spare it from desecration by network TV technicians who might want to break through walls and/or ceilings.
Here’s a link to Riedel’s article.
View link
I would guess that the vast majority of those who attend “Tony” ceremonies have never been to Washington Heights in their lives, and certainly wouldn’t know how to get there except by chauffeured limo or taxi. Perhaps chartered bus service will be provided from a location in the midtown theatre district?
new york posts MICHAEL RIEDEL on broadway ny post july 9th read
show gets tony new digs
What great news!!
We are so lucky that this church had saved this theater years back, and now while still functioning as a church, it also has been used more and more as a real theater again too.
This is amazing news!
What a fitting tribute to such a spectacular setting. If only we could convince the church owners to upgrade the theater name. United Palace is such a clunker!
It was just announced that the Loews 175th Street theatre will be the home of next year’s TONY awards!!!!! How fabulous is that? It seems that Cirque de Soleil has Radio City booked for next June. A new home needed to be found and so they moved on up to Washington Heights! This will be a great showcase for one of the country’s most beautiful theaters.
Thanks Bway.
According to ticketmaster, there’s a couple of concert events scheduled at The United Palace Theater, including Elvis Costello:
View link
Now the Rev. Ike has died is everything still going at this church/moviehouse?
Does the theater/church still have film projection capabilities?
In March 1969, the 175th Street stopped showing movies after a run of “2001: A Space Odyssey”.