First Avenue Screening Room
1105 First Avenue,
New York,
NY
10065
1105 First Avenue,
New York,
NY
10065
3 people
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Showing 1 - 25 of 30 comments found
New ad in photo section claims 220 seats.
I’ve got the very 16mm print used for the premier of the first X rated film ever screened here, it was THE DEVIL IN MR. JONES (a gay knock-off of the classic by Gerard Damiano). I ran in early ‘75, IIRC.
Current occupant is the dog spa/gym as mentioned last October. Not good reviews of the spa on the web.
O.K.
I was here once, when it was the porno-chic Eastworld – late ‘70s I think? My only memory is of buying popcorn , then climbing a very narrow (spiral?) staircase to the small and mostly unoccupied auditorium…..
My recollection is that this site originally opened as the York Cinema in the ‘60s and premiered the coming of age Greek language film “Young Aphrodites”.
In April, 1975, this was being advertised in The New Yok Times as The Byron, and described as “The East Side’s First Gay Movie Theatre.” The current feature was “Tuesday Morning Workout,” featuring “J. Brian’s Golden Boys” and “actually filmed on location in San Francisco’s most famous gym.” The Byron operated continuously from noon to 11pm, with late shows on Fridays and Saturdays.
KingsBiscuits,
There was a York on 64th Street in the sixties but I have no recollection of this being anything but a porn house in the nineties.
Looks like the theater is gone. I passed by a couple of days ago and they have the Running Paws Athletic Club in it’s place. I guess it was inevitable that it’s days as a theater we long gone.
This theatre was also known as the York Cinema back in 1991/1992 and played second-run films ($2.00 on weekday matinees, $3.99 at night and on weekends).
Renewing link.
This theatre last showed movies as the Art East in 1994. First Avenue Screening Room, Byron and East World were former names.
I walked by what is left of this theatre on Saturday for the first time since April ‘05 and it is still here, looking awful shopworn. The marquee is still there, but there is a for rent, ideal for retail space banner draped over it. It doesn’t look like they are having too much luck renting the space. I never stepped foot inside the theatre and can only imagine what it looks like. The slot where you slipped the money to the cashier is still open to th elements.
I had only been here once, in the early 1990s to see a foreign film, I believe it was Europa Europa. It was perhaps a bit run down, andmy lasting impression was that it because it was on First Avenue, it was so out of the way for me.
Back in 73-74, they had a Marx Brothers festival. The first one I remember is a double feature of “A day at the Races” and “ At the Circus”. Went back the next week and it was, I think, “A Night at the Opera” and can’t remember the other one. In between movies, they played the audio to the Groucho album Live at Carnegie Hall.
The earliest C/O that I have found for a theater at this address is dated February 28, 1973. It lists a 276 seat motion picture theater at 1105 First Avenue.
When it was a gay porn house in the mid-70s, it was called the Byron (as in Lord Byron, not, as some wags had it, Stuart Byron).
With the lack of East side screens right now and more when they destroy Cinema 1 & 2 they could actually get first run product here. This listing should also be updated to include the other name of Art East. What was it,s name as porno was it East World?
I wish I had taken a photo of the exterior of this theater during its porn days…. The marquee announcing “Squalor Motel” was a highlight for folks coming off the ramp from the Queensboro Bridge.
I walked by here on Sunday and Chicago City Limits has vacated the premises and it is now for rent. The lobby is cluttered with debris and the slot in the box office where you slide the money is open to the elements. As I said elsewhere, I never stepped foot into this theatre, though I do remember in the early 1990s walking by to check it out when it opened for about a minute as either an art theatre or a rep house. I remember the film “Jacquot” was the last film to play there.
A short hop from there is the Queensboro Bridge. In the late 1960s there was talk of the Cinémathèque Française constructing a New York branch of the famous Paris institution in the form of a screening facility beneath the Manhattan end of the bridge’s concrete support structure. That, of course, never materialized, but what a great idea!
Thats it the Art East, I cant remember if he tried commercial movies first and then went art or the other way around.
The address for the First Avenue Screening Room/Art East Cinema/Chicago City Limits was indeed 1105 First Avenue.
The First Avenue Screening Room was known as the Art East Cinema during its brief run as a discount house in ‘91-'92. Its grand-reopening presentation as the Art East Cinema was an offering JUST shy of being an art house-type flick – the Leslie Nielsen comedy 'All I Want for Christmas’.
I saw Diary of a Shagentu Burglar there. The theater was very uncomfortable.