Loew's Commodore Theater

105 2nd Avenue,
New York, NY 10003

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DavidZornig
DavidZornig on March 24, 2021 at 12:16 am

Current article with photos.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2021/03/22/the-short-life-of-a-1960s-east-village-rock-venue/?fbclid=IwAR2bdPokXJGXnFlm3umr2_DpPPegIxzKlXjxd7wSd7AHIK81bsFF5YA2C6Q

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on February 15, 2021 at 5:14 pm

Hello-

to stevenj thanks for your reply. I wondered why if it was so successful it closed after not that many years. as stated the building wasn’t torn down till yearsssssssss after the Fillmore East’s last show so I figured there had to be a lot more behind why it closed long before the building was razed.

the one show I can remember seeing at the Fillmore East was Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company. I am 98 ½% certain the Staple Singer were the opening act.

stevenj
stevenj on February 14, 2021 at 4:32 pm

bigjoe59…..In 2016 John Glatt’s book Live at the Fillmore East and West was published. I read it about 2 years ago and still have a copy of it. The closing of both Fillmore East and West (the SF venue’s closing was announced the day after Fillmore East had its last concert) was a long time coming. I went to many concerts at the original Fillmore and then Fillmore West. Graham occasionally was called out on stage from the audience whenever he raised ticket prices (“capatalist pig” etc) while he was on stage in the middle of announcing the next act. Every time he would point out that it was the bands that wanted more money and he had no choice. (Ticket prices at the time as I recall were $2 - 3.50). At one show I attended he asked a heckler to come up on stage and debate it with him. The heckler declined -(if you ever heard that Bronx accented angry profanity laden mouth you would decline too!!) In the book he’s quoted as saying that “Woodstock syndrome would be the beginning of the end”. That is, that the bands would want a lot more money from a lot more people than could attend old theaters and ballrooms, even SF’s Winterland that had 5400 occupancy for rock shows. High overhead at all the venues plus drugs and police problems, Graham feeling abuse from the press and public and a front page story in the SF Chronicle that moved up the closing of Fillmore West signaled the end. Apparently somebody spiked some “liquid refreshment” during a Grateful Dead show at Winterland with acid that sent a lot on bad trips to the emergency room at nearby Mt Zion hospital. More bad press for Graham. Graham decided that if you can’t beat em, join em. So he started doing mega concerts at stadiums and indoor and outdoor arenas where he wouldn’t lose money and the bands could get rich. He went into acting briefly (Apocalypse Now) and staged the final show at Winterland (The Last Waltz) in 1976. In the book, the last concert held at Fillmore East sounded like one for the ages.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on February 13, 2021 at 6:25 pm

Hello-

I read the intro at top but it doesn’t answer a question I hoped it would so hopefully a fellow poster might have inside info. if it was so successful as the Fillmore East why did it close as such. its not like the Fillmore East closed because the building was being demolished the next week. did the landlord up the rent and Bill Graham couldn’t afford the rent hike?

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on February 4, 2021 at 4:04 pm

Article about Bill Graham with photos.

https://www.pollstar.com/article/author-robert-greenfield-on-bill-grahams-90th-birthday-he-never-would-have-sat-in-a-board-meeting-147201?fbclid=IwAR081F6x0L-oVVlj2F3C7QZF7Dl2S-ch2yeT_SHAleiHQBQyIzGo3ftSrD8

Comfortably Cool
Comfortably Cool on February 16, 2020 at 10:27 am

A major exhibition honoring Bill Graham, who turned the former Commodore into a rock palace known as Fillmore East, is currently on view at the New York Historical Society. More details here

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on December 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm

Link with multiple 1968 Elliot Landy Getty images.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photo-of-jimi-hendrix-l-r-jimi-hendrix-mitch-mitchell-noel-news-photo/86203742

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on September 5, 2015 at 11:18 am

December 1969 photo added, photo credit Amalie Rothschild, via New York Historical.

thomas27
thomas27 on September 28, 2014 at 3:01 pm

Since April 22, 2013 it’s an Apple Bank for Savings branch after the acquisition of 29 Emigrant Savings Bank branches.

http://evgrieve.com/2013/04/bank-branch-become-bank-branch-at.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bank_for_Savings#Acquisition_of_29_Emigrant_Bank_branches_in_2013

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on March 19, 2012 at 9:43 pm

Here’s a clickable version of the link posted by bicyclereporter. An amazing image.

There’s also a link below that photo with three more shots from the same Doors show, starting with this image. Just click on the thumbnail pics below the photo to see the other shots in the series.

bicyclereporter
bicyclereporter on March 19, 2012 at 3:53 pm

If you go inside the bank, they have a select # of pix of the theater’s interiors and exteriors, but none show the ornamentation as we’d like. There are a few Youtube videos of bands playing there, but only with shots of the columns and the proscenium.

Until today. Thanx to the Gothamist, this picture of The Doors shows a shot looking up and amazing detail! A rare shot!

http://gothamist.com/2012/03/19/flashbacks.php#photo-3

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on December 26, 2011 at 1:54 pm

Great stories to read.I think Al Jolson must have played every theatre in the USA at one timeor real close too.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on December 26, 2011 at 8:46 am

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&current=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/

michaelkaplan
michaelkaplan on September 16, 2011 at 9:55 pm

The PBS American Masters documentary on Elia Kazan (mentioned above) was shown again tonight. There was a nice exterior view of the Commodore marquee.

jonbarone
jonbarone on November 17, 2010 at 1:34 pm

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

jonbarone
jonbarone on November 17, 2010 at 1:19 pm

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:

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on November 11, 2010 at 4:48 pm

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.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on November 11, 2010 at 3:41 pm

The Allman Brother Band recorded their album,The Allman Brothers Live at the Filmore in this theatre,in 1971.

Rory
Rory on October 7, 2010 at 10:37 am

In a recent “American Masters” documentary on Elia Kazan by Martin Scorsese, Scorsese states that during his childhood he saw many films at Loew’s Commodore for the first time, including “On The Waterfront.” It was one of the Second Avenue theatres he often frequented.

gd14lawn
gd14lawn on September 26, 2010 at 4:01 pm

ProfJoe, I feel the Fillmore East also did it’s part by “showing films or popular entertainment that held society together” and “giving and reinforcing a sense of community and belonging”. It was a different community and culture than in the past, but the theatre adapted with the times. I’ll bet when it changed from a Yiddish theater to a cinema, there were people that were also very unhappy, and thought the neighborhood was ruined. You celebrate the time it was the Loew’s Commodore, so as unhappy as you were with the Fillmore, please allow us to celebrate it. Myself and many of my friends consider that site hallowed ground.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on June 1, 2010 at 12:34 am

Lighten up guys.

aarfeld
aarfeld on May 31, 2010 at 11:59 pm

Joe,
You’re a superficial pinhead. You give far too much power to a little theater if you imagine that “it ruined a neighborhood.” The East Village was in serious decline, just as much of the rest of the city was, long before and long after Fillmore East existed. It was only in business for three years, provided a workshop where NYU students learned valuable theater craft, and brought a lot of additional business to Ratner’s Deli next door—as their clientel were slowly dying off or moving out of the city. Live performance is what has kept many such theaters in existence—as in the case of the Beacon Theater and many others. If Bill Graham had kept it going the theater might still be intact today. Up and down Second Avenue dozens of other such theaters are long gone—for all of the reasons that movie palaces have been unable to compete in the modern market. Find another scapegoat, for you are a black-eye on the soul of civilization.