Town Theater
1250 New York Ave NW,
Washington,
DC
20005
1250 New York Ave NW,
Washington,
DC
20005
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The Town Theater, originally called the Pix Theater, was located not far from the White House. After it closed as a movie theater it became a museum.
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William
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Definitely NOT one of Washington DC’s largest, definitely NOT demolished. For most of its life, this theater was the PIX, the “dirty movie” house for Washington. People today would not believe how SOFT such movies were 50 years ago. A “sex” movie had maybe one blurred nudie scene, that’s it. DON KING did an admirable job of taking this theatre over and calling it the TOWN. He packed em in with first runs such as PSYCHO, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LA DOLCE VITA, WORLD OF SUZIE WONG. Despite the upscale audience though, they never could expel the odor of … from the PIX era. The Martin Luther King riot and looting spree placed the fatal bullet in the chest of the TOWN; like the rest of downtown DC; and NO I never did forgive the vandals or their admirers. Today the PIX or TOWN houses a wacky leftist womens museum.
I saw Richard Pryor’s “Live at the Sunset Strip” at this
theatre. (4/82) I almost died laughing! :)
This theater features prominently in George Pelecanos' novel “King Suckerman.”
October 19, 1950 Washington Post has a display ad for The Pix, 13th & H (building fronts 13th St NW, New York Ave & H St NW)
This theater is now double-listed. See also PIX.
Other long running films not listed above that played at the Town between 1959 and 1972. inclued in the order of their release: “Lover Come Back” (16 weeks), “That Touch of Mink” (12 weeks), “Irma La Douce” (16 weeks), “Charade” (13 weeks), “A Shot in the Dark” (13 weeks), “How to Murder Your Wife” (15 weeks, “What’s New Pussycat”(16 weeks), “The Silencers” (12 weeks), “Arabesque” (12 weeks), “Hombre” (11 weeks), “The Dirty Dozen” (20 weeks), “The President’s Analyst” (11 weeks), “Where Eagles Dare” (10 weeks), “Airport” (17 weeks), “The Stewardess 3-D” (22 weeks), and the champ, “Shaft” (23 weeks).
A couple of side notes: “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” played for 4 weeks in French, then 3 weeks in English. “Lover Come Back” and “That Touch of Mink” both starred Doris Day, and they played almost back to back in 1962. The last week that “The Green Berets” played at the Town, the film opened wide at a number of local theaters, something that had never happened before. At “Around the World in 80 Days”, the theater played the National Anthem before the screening started. Some of didn’t know whether to stand or not. In the end we did. Finally the original four-hour version of “Cleopatra” played at the Town in July of 1969.
Here are the films that played at the Town from the time of its opening in 1959, until the time that I left D.C. in January of 1972.
03/28/59 Never Steal Anything Small
04/03/59 Never Steal Anything Small/ Stranger In My Arms
04/10/59 The Devil Strikes At Dawn
04/17/59 Naughty Girl
05/06/59 Tank Battalion/Hell Squad
05/14/59 Shane/Desert Fury
06/04/59 The Last Mile/The Fearmakers
06/11/59 The Hangman/City Of Fear
06/18/59 I, Mobster/ California
06/25/59 The Man Inside
07/02/59 The Angry Hills
07/10/59 Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure/
——— The Man Who Could Cheat Death
07/16/59 The Wild Women Of Wongo/The Sins Of Lola Montes
07/23/59 Flesh And The Woman/The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful
07/30/59 The Mummy/THe Curse Of The Undead
08/05/59 The Beat Generation
08/20/59 The Hound Of The Baskervilles
08/27/59 Monika, The Story Of A Bad Girl
09/03/59 It Started With A Kiss
10/15/59 No Name On The Bullet/Floods Of Fear
10/22/59 Female And The Flesh
11/04/59 Bend Of The River/The World In His Arms
11/11/59 The Mating Urge/You Know What Sailors Are
11/18/59 Room At The Top/The Ladykillers
11/25/59 Tarzan, The Ape Man (1959/ The Oregon Trail
12/02/59 Wild Strawberries/Three Strange Loves
12/17/59 Li'l Abner
01/29/60 A Woman Like Satan
03/03/60 Breakout
03/17/60 The Wind Cannot Read
03/31/60 Cell 2455, Death Row /Edge Of Eternity
04/08/60 The Rape Of Mayala (aka A Town Like Alice)/
——— The Beasts Of Marseilles (aka Seven Thunders)
04/14/60 Around The World In 80 Days
04/28/60 The Bridges At Toko Ri /The Country Girl
05/05/60 The Greatest Show On Earth
05/20/60 Walk Like A Dragon/
——— The Prisoner Of The Volga
05/27/60 Killers Of Kilamanjaro/Battle Of The Coral Sea
06/03/60 The Warrior And The Slave Girl
06/10/60 Head Of A Tyrant/Too Soon To Love
06/17/60 The Wicked Go To Hell
06/22/60 The Brides Of Dracula/Leech Woman
07/08/60 The 39 Steps (1960 version )
07/27/60 Psycho
11/04/60 Hiroshima, Mon Amour (French)
12/02/60 Hiroshima, Mon Amour (English)
12/23/60 The World Of Suzy Wong
03/31/61 One-Eyed Jacks
05/24/61 On The Double
06/23/61 Love In A Goldfish Bowl
07/07/61 La Dolce Vida
11/10/61 Rocco And His Brothers
11/23/61 Beware Of Children
12/06/61 Everything’s Ducky
12/15/61 Mysterious Island
12/27/61 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone
02/07/62 The Mark
02/16/62 Lover Come Back
06/08/62 Spartacus)
06/22/62 That Touch Of Mink
09/20/62 Damn The Defiant
10/11/62 The Pigeon That Took Room
11/08/62 Requiem For A Heavyweight
12/07/62 A Streetcar Named Desire/Tobacco Road
12/21/62 Two For The Seesaw
02/14/63 To Kill A Mockingbird
06/21/63 Irma La Douce
10/11/63 For Love Or Money
11/01/63 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
11/28/63 Li'l Abner/To Kill A Mockingbird
12/06/63 My Little Chickadee/The Bank Dick
12/13/63 The Secret Passion (aka Freud)
12/25/63 Charade
03/25/64 Captain Newman, M.D.
05/29/64 The Chalk Garden
07/31/64 A Shot In The Dark
10/30/64 Send Me No Flowers
12/25/64 Kiss Me, Stupid
02/10/65 How To Murder Your Wife
05/26/65 The Satan Bug
06/09/65 Mister Moses
06/30/65 What’s New Pussycat?
11/11/65 The War Lord
12/24/65 Never Too Late
01/20/66 That Man In Istanbul
03/02/66 The Silencers
05/25/66 Blindfold
07/06/66 Arabesque
09/28/66 Fantastic Voyage
11/16/66 What’s Up Tiger Lily?
12/23/66 Gambit
02/17/67 Deadlier Than The Male
03/17/67 The Countess From Hong Kong
04/12/67 Hombre
06/28/67 The Dirty Dozen
11/15/67 Tony Rome
12/20/67 The President’s Analyst
03/06/68 Around The World In 80 Days
04/17/68 The Secret War Of Harry Frigg
05/29/68 Wild In The Streets
06/26/68 The Green Berets
08/07/68 Boom
08/21/68 The Wild Angels/Born Losers
09/02/68 CLOSED FOR REPAIRS/REFURBISHING
12/19/68 Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang
02/19/69 Three In The Attic
03/19/69 Where Eagles Dare
06/04/69 Can Hieronymus Merkin…
07/02/69 The Maltese Bippy
07/16/69 Cleopatra
08/06/69 Spirits Of The Dead
08/27/69 Justine
09/07/69 Medium Cool
10/22/69 The Christmas Tree
11/07/69 The Gypsy Moths
11/26/69 All The Loving Couples
12/17/69 Topaz
02/04/70 tick…tick…tick…
03/20/70 Airport
07/23/70 Two Mules For Sister Sara
09/02/70 It’s Your Thing (Music Doc.)
09/16/70 The Mcmasters
09/30/70 I Am Curious (Yellow) (English Version)
10/14/70 Quiet Days In Clichy
10/28/70 Black Angels
11/04/70 Myra Breckenridge/
——— Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls
11/11/70 The Stewardess 3-D
04/17/71 Pretty Maids In A Row
04/21/71 Grimms Fairy Tales For Adults Only
05/19/71 Secret Places, Secret Things
05/26/71 The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant/
——— The House That Screamed
06/02/71 Portrait Of Women
06/09/71 The Body
06/16/71 Flesh/Lonesome Cowboys
06/23/71 Shaft
12/01/71 Daughters Of Darkness
12/17/71 99 Women/House Of A Thousand Dolls
12/22/71 Honky
01/19/72 House Of Wax
Masonic Auditorium 13th & New York Ave.. Moving Pictures and Vaudeville, Pictures change every night.. Display Ad, Washington Post March 7, 1910..
I only saw a handful of films at the Town: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD,
HOMBRE, THE DIRTY DOZEN, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, and CHITTY, CHITTY, BANG, BANG.
After the 1968 riots it became unsafe to park on the streets in the area. I started college in 1969, and confided my downtown theater going to Keiths and the Palace.
I was in D.C. from early 1960 to middle of 1966. Most of the films there were Fox, Paramount, Columbia or Universal and were either Move overs or Re-Issues except for Fox. Around the World, Spartacus and other big 70mm films. I don.t believe The town could show 70mm so everything was 35mm.