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Fine Arts Cinema to close
posted by
HDTVdesignteam
on
September 12, 2006 at 5:15 am
GREENBURGH, NY — After 34 years, the Fine Arts Cinema is set to close. Working under a
handshake lease deal since 1992, the cinema succumbs to market pressure and must close its
doors.
The full story is available in the The Journal News.
Editor’s Note: In the back of my mind, I always knew this day was coming. I never was old enough to appreciate the art deco movie palaces of our past. Instead, this non-descript few hundred seat theater was my gem growing up. I loved when high-profile independent films would open in limited release and in the NY Metro area they would just be playing at the Angelika, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and this theater. The Fine Arts always had high-quality programming and a warm feeling inside.
It was the last remnant of a time when Southern Westchester was full of neighborhood movie houses like this. Now, like so many other areas of the country, the county’s moviegoing experience is anchored by a few luxury megaplexes. I’ll never forget seeing classics such as “The Ice Storm” and the restored cut of “Touch of Evil” here for the first time. It was never the most convenient theater(It had such a small lobby, you had to wait outside before they opened the auditorium up for the next show. A particularly rough task in the winter!), but it inspired me as much as any around. This is one I will really miss.
Comments (3)
Was sorry to read this last week.
But this wasn’t the first art house in Westchester. General Cinema’s former Hartsdale One up the road opened as an art house in the early 1960’s before going with mainstream films. And during the 1960’s and early 1970’s, nearby Bronxville ran some art films. And beleieve it or not, back then some x features also like “I Am Curious Yellow” “The Swinging Stewardesses” etc.
There was talk of an art house to be included in the Galleria Mall
expansion that was proposed and later dropped when Mills Company bought the mall several years ago. The theater operator was never identified.
The Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville will continue the legacy of the Fine Arts Theater which I once heard was the most successful siburban art house. True ??
The last art house in Hong Kong—the Cine-Art House—will be closed by the end of this year if the lease contract cannot be renewed by that time.
Peekskill’s Paramount Center For The Arts continues to show fine arts films.http://www.paramountcenter.org/screen.php
There are still a few around Westchester.