Bay Cinema
570 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10016
570 Second Avenue,
New York,
NY
10016
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 38 comments found
Opening ad;
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Closed on January 6, 1994.
Renewing link.
Man, I loved this theater, but it was so out of the way, I only went twice- They Live in ‘88 and Postcards From the Edge in '90. I do remember driving home from the airport a lot and passing it and craning my neck to catch what they were showing.
How interesting that the staff could not pop popcorn during the movies. That’s one of the things I miss from the old days: the sound and aroma of popcorn popping. I was a goner when my senses picked them up. Had to slip back to the lobby to make a purchase.
There was also a porno movie that had the porno star buck naked in the booth of the Bay Cinema. I actually showed that movie but alas was not there when they filmed it. I believe that it was Neeto theater productions that filmed that movie there.
The Bay Cinema will live in movie history after all with a cameo in LOVE STORY, of all films.
In the scene where Jenny and Oliver drive into New York you can see them drive by the Bay Cinema with the free standing marquee advertising FUTZ.
The exclusive reserved performance engagement of a film about a man in love with a pig. Ah, the sixties!
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Yes it was porno in the 70’s I was there working as a projectionist. It was run by neeteo (or neato) theaters and were a great company to work for. When Walter Reade took it over I was there showing the opening day through ET (that ran 6 months) until the early 80s.
I actually wrired the 8 track mag sound in that theater when they put dolby in. I kept that theater running great and we had great sound and presentation. I really miss the place but life goes on.
Saw the Joe Cocker film “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” in the early 70’s when the theater was called “Kips Bay”. That’s how it was advertised. I think it should be listed that way on this site, as I thought it was missing. Glad it’s here, anyway.
The Kip’s Bay Cinema (I always remember the word “KIP” in front of it, was a gigantic screened theater right near the East River. It did play The Endless Summer for quite a spell and was one of the few, selected, theaters to show ET when it first opened.
Warren, it was indeed always the KIPS BAY until the January 1978 Walter Reade take-over. The porn years started in 1971.
The Kips Bay Theatre first opened on October 17th, 1962, under the management of Associated Independent Theaters. A report in The New York Times said that the Kips Bay seated 550 and was the first Manhattan cinema to be built in a shopping center. Although this ad doesn’t mention it, the NYC premiere engagement of “Requiem For a Heavyweight” was shared with the Criterion Theatre in Times Square:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/kipsbay.jpg
P.S. Was this ever called Kips Bay Cinema? The original name was Kips Bay Theatre.
Universal reissues helped AIT through a product shortage in August, 1968: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/AIT68.jpg
Jkane, prophetically advertised as THE FIRST ROGER CORMAN FILM FESTIVAL it was a precursor to the Kips Bay’s exclusive first run of “GAS”, starring Country Joe and the Fish.
I found a c/o dated October 1962 for a new building at 556-576 Second Avenue. Included in that address range is a 514 seat theater.
AlAlvarez, thanks for the verification; didn’t realize it was that early. Wonder who programmed it. It was great fun seeing those ‘50s & '60s films on the big screen in a festival-like environment, even if the turnout was pretty weak. I believe the Museum of Modern Art had an AIP tribute a little later in the 70s, with Panic in Year Zero! & X—The Man With the X-Ray Eyes among the attractions.
JKane, according to the NYT, the Roger Corman festival ran in early 1971 at the Kips Bay.
I think it was the Kips Bay that hosted a Roger Corman festival around the mid-70s. A great lineup (Day the World Ended, Atlas, et al) but a bit ahead of its time, I think (before Roger was widely recognized as a moving force in the film world), since I recall attendance being pretty sparse at most shows. If it wasn’t the Kipps Bay, it was another theater nearby (East 30s) but I’m pretty sure it was this one.
Saw The Outsiders here when I was 9. I was real young, but I remember walking in and the screen seeming HUGE!
Paul & Tom in 70mm
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I ran this place for a couple of months. “Field of Dreams” was huge there during that period. The theater was sort of annoying to run though; very little lobby space, plus there were no doors on the theaters, just curtains. So we couldn’t let anyone in until the previous show had cleared out, and we couldn’t pop popcorn during the movie.
Anytime AIT needed a filler in the 60’s and 70’s they would book “Fantasia” here.
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I’ve been to that old Kips Bay theatre many times and still live in the area. The actual theatre took up most of the space it lived in. It didn’t have much of a lobby and had a narrow hall in the back from which to enter and exit. The theatre’s screen was hugh, yet it had the smallest consession stand (always a line). I remember when you went to find a seat the theatre was always too dark, maybe to cover up its age. And walking down the aisle towards the front you felt like you were walking downhill. The last film I saw there was Joe Versus The Volcano. It was great…. but a little sad. My girlfriend and I were the only ones in the theatre. I suppose the end was near.
This theater had a desk (built IN) as a box office one of the few theaters i have ever seen with this set up.