Loew's Commodore Theater
105 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
105 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
10 people
favorited this theater
Originally opened in 1926 as the independently operated Commodore Theater, this movie house/Yiddish theater was taken over by Loew’s Inc. and later became known as the Village Theater. It can credit Lenny Bruce as appearing on its stage.
In March 1968 it became the Fillmore East concert venue. Over the years, innumerable bands played here including Santana and Chicago. After decades of success, the Fillmore finally closed.
In the fall of 1980, it was converted into what was to become New York City’s best and most celebrated gay disco ‘The Saint’, which became famous world-wide. This continued until May 2, 1988 when the doors closed following a non-stop 48 hours party. The building was used spasmodically for a couple of years for live events, then stood empty for a few years until the auditorium was demolished in around 1996.
Today the narrow facade remains and the lobby is now remodeled as an Emigrant Savings Bank. Apartments/condos called Hudson East were constructed on the site of the auditorium. In the lobby of the bank are pictures of the Fillmore, Village Theater and Loews Commodore Theatre as well as some posters from the Fillmore days.
Contributed by
Peter Holowczyk, William Gabel, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 181 comments)
The Allman Brother Band recorded their album,The Allman Brothers Live at the Filmore in this theatre,in 1971.
I feel like responding to Profjoe’s comment about the Saint. While I agree that the Saint embodied all of that was wrong with the promiscuous sex of the 80’s, it doesn’t take away that it was, in fact, one of the greatest discoteques ever built and lasted a little over 10 years, a significant part of its history. I had the pleasure of attending at the very tail end of its life and dancing under the dome was such an incredible experience. While sex may have been going on in the balcony, many, if not most were there to dance and dance they did. I’ve had the pleasure to have danced in many of New York’s storied clubs (many former theaters): Studio 54, Palladium, Club USA, The Roxy, The Limelight, The Red Parrot, Xenon’s, Bond’s International Casino, and on and on. None came close to the Saint which combined a stunning deteriorating theater with top notch lighting and special effects. The cherry on the banana split? No drinks were allowed on the dance floor. There were just four access points into the dome and they were manned to make sure the floor were always clean. Loved it and really, really miss it.
I was a carpenter for the NFE Theater (New Fillmore East ) during its renovation in 1973 and later went on to work there as an usher. It was opened by a guy named Barry Stein who made his money selling large quantities of marijuana. He hired the old Fillmore security crew to run security for him (Kim was the head of security – do not recall his last name).
Later that year, I lost my apt & lived in the NFE in a 1 room apt (no kitchen) with a shower on the 2nd level to the right of the stage with my dog Rufus. We would roam the theater at night… it was incredible. One New Years Eve show (approximately 1973-74), featured Ike & Tina Turner.
The early show ran over into the late show. So, those who had tickets for the late show were left standing in the rain at midnight… it was terrible organization. Also, the promotor, Barry Stein did not have all the cash to pay Ike & Tina & wound up gving them a huge bag of coke as payment.
Finally, after Barry had taken proceeds from drug deals he was doing and using the cash to keep the NFE Theater business afloat, he skipped town and died of a drug overdose 2 years later.
I remember the final days after Barry had gone and I was still there waiting to relocate, walking through the theater and being totally amazed at its beauty. A sad ending for an incredible building that helped define a generation.
If anyone who has worked there or has questions and would like to email me:
Correction: Barry Stein used his middle name as his last name hence; “Barry Stuart” is listed as promotor. Also, the head of security was Kim Yarborough and the dates of operation were 1974-1975. – Jonny B
Thanks Jonny B.
The PBS American Masters documentary on Elia Kazan (mentioned above) was shown again tonight. There was a nice exterior view of the Commodore marquee.
A few older posts (2006) on this site refer to the post-Loews brief incarnation of this as the Yiddish Village Theatre as a result of this 1966 photo of Timothy Leary from Ed Solero’s photobucket:
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Manhattan%20Movie%20Theaters/Loews%20Commodore%20aka%20Fillmore%20East/?action=view¤t=LoewsCommodoreLeary.jpg&sort=ascending.
I found an ad for this period hiding in plain sight in the New York Times.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25725093@N07/6574751901/lightbox/
On August 11th, 1949, Al Jolson performed on stage at Loew’s Commodore during the second night of his three-day tour of 18 Loew’s nabes to promote the soon-to-be-released “Jolson Sings Again.” That night, Jolson appeared at four Loew’s houses in Brooklyn— Coney Island, Oriental, Kings, and Metropolitan— then zoomed with police escort to Manhattan for the Commodore and finally the Orpheum on East 86th Street.
Great stories to read.I think Al Jolson must have played every theatre in the USA at one timeor real close too.
Even though the theatres were air-conditioned, Jolson always worked up a sweat during performances and usually stripped down to his T-shirt by the time of his last song. At one theatre, he even performed bare-chested, causing a woman in the front row to express amazement that he had hair on his chest. “What did you expect,” he shouted back. “Dollar bills stapled to my skin?”