Loew's Avenue B Theatre

Too bad the photos do not work anymore.

Good story of how Marcus Loew built the theatre at the site of his birth.Good history.

I spent many saturdays 7 sundays in the early 50s in that wonderful place. My friends and I would go around the corner on 5th street that sold a big brown greasy bag of french fries for 15 cents and would stay watch a double feature, a action serial, and 25 cartoons.
I laugh now when I think of how many times my mother would come to get me and bring me home, boy would I get it. It was a simple white building, and still remember the lion heads that stood out of the wall.

The theatre cost $800,000 to build. In his opening night speech, Marcus Loew said “This is the most pretentious of the houses on our string, because my better judgment was over-balanced by my sentimentalism and my longing to do something better here than I ever did before.” According to corporate histories, the Avenue B was never successful, but Loew’s kept it running for decades as a memorial to its founder, who was born on the spot.

Here’s a 1948 exterior view of the theatre, which was reportedly built on the site of a demolished tenement where Marcus Loew was born. After Loew’s acquired the better situated Commodore in the same East Village area, the Avenue B was reduced to subsequent-run status: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/129-2943_IMG.jpg

A photo of the Avenue B can be seen here.