Lyric Theater

This was one of the two small theaters I first attended alone as a child around 1950-52(the other was the Miller on Sutter Avenue), as I lived within two blocks of both of them. I remember the admission for children was 12 cents for weekday matinees and 20 cents on weekends. Interestingly, the manager told my father that he needed to do about $200 per day to make ends meet, and that he was having problems doing that. TV, of course, was already becoming popular in NY by then. Since I left the neighborhood in late 1952, I have no idea how long the Lyric(or the Miller) lasted.

Here is another photo of the Lyric with the same movie title on the marquee as in the previous photo.

A new link to an image that may or may not be this Lyric Theatre. To further add to the confusion, the February 25th, 1932 issue of Box Office Magazine reported the Hendrix Theatre as not only closed, but also demolished!
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No, that’s Berenice Abbott’s famous photo of the Lyric Theatre at 100 Third Avenue in Manhattan.

Click on the (map) above next to this theaters address. Then click the satellite button on the map and use the slider on the left side of the screen to zoom in. The red balloon should be over a vacant lot which is the location of the former Lyric theater. To the left of the lot are five similar sized buildings. Next to those are two larger buildings and then Van Siclen Ave.

Now, look at the photo that Warren posted above on May 4, 2006 at 7:24am. To the left of the Lyric theater there should be five apartment over store buildings. Next should be two larger buildings. It appears to me that the buildings in the photo minus the theater itself, match the Google satellite photo. In that case, the photo posted by Warren and the photo I posted in the 42nd St Lyric theater section on this website should be photos of this Lyric theater on Pitkin Ave.

The Lyric theater on Pitkin Ave did have an El train run past it at some point in time. I checked the nycsubway.org website and found the following: a train coming from Eastern Parkway ran east on Fulton St. It then turned south on Van Sinderen Ave and east again on Pitkin Ave. It then turned north on Euclid Ave. The Lyric theater was located on Pitkin Ave and Hendrix St. Van Sinderen Ave is one block before Hendrix, so the train turned onto Pitkin Ave one block before the Lyric theater and would have passed the Lyric theater as it headed east.

The Google satellite map shows an empty lot at this address so this building was probably demolished.

The theatre was previously known as the Hendrix, with a seating capacity variously reported as 600 or 500 in early Film Daily Year Books. It was re-named the Lyric circa 1935-36, with the seating capacity reduced to 400.