It just kills me to hear that the VP is no longer.I always thought it was a city designated landmark. I worked around the corner at the now destroyed Academy of Music. I know for a fact that the Academy was a designated landmark at the time it became the Palladium.At one point the new owners wanted to install a new AC unit in the building and started doing it before they asked for permission to break some walls down. I don’t understand how a landmark could be torn down unless the building collapsed or something. That whole block sounds like it is gone. Way back in the 70’s Luchows was a major fixture on 14st. They closed and relocated in the mid 70’s and that building is gone. Is NYU that powerful that they can tear down a landmark? Sounds like my memories of growing up in NYC are nothing but that now. All the reality is going away.
Hi NJshore. I was posting over at the RCMH forum with DenPiano. who works there. The man who used to maintain the Beacons Mighty “W” his name was/is Mel Robinson. He also used to maint ain the “W"s at the Sports complex that used to be the Brooklyn Paramount as well ass The NY Academy of Music. When I was working for Ron Delsener they were no longer showing movies. One day when I have the time and money I want to drive up to the city and just soak in some old memories but every time I turn around things i used to remember when I lived there are gone.
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Ca.
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
DenPiano maybe you can tell me if there is a local 1 Stagehand named eddie Kramer still working there and since you say you maintain the great Lady do you or did you know a guy named Melvin who I knew in the 70’s was doing the same thing. When I knew him he was doing the still existing at the time the one at the former Brooklyn Paramount, The NY Academy of Music before it was sold (the organ that is)RCMH and the Beacon. With the exception of the brooklyn Paramount I have had the pleasure of putting my hands on the keys of all the others. I only wish I knew how to play.
I will keep this one short. Back in 1972 I was doing some work for Bill Hanley Sound. I worked for him whenever her he had a sound gig in the NYC area. I got a call asking me to be at RCMH for what was the first show ever booked by an outside promotor. On of the headliners was Billy Breston McKendry Spring and some smaller acts. The Stage shows were still happening and the feature film at the time was Woody Allens Play it again Sam with Dianne Keaton. We came in to set up 3 days before the actual show. We were not allowed to do anything till after the last show ended. I spent 3 days crawling through the false ceiling running a few thousand feet of intercom wires from the stage to D Cove and all the way back to the P boths. RCMH had a load of followspots up there but they did not have the cutting power of a Super Trooper when it came to long throws to the staage. The concert was great the place was sold out and soon afterwards more concerts took place. Also after that first show RCMH made arrangments to get their own Clear Com headset intercom system to eliminate the time it took to run the cables.
I missed out on thos days as well. Being born in 1956. I do remember the building before Con Ed built it’s office on the site. I do however recall Mays, EJ Korvettes (eight Jewish Korean veterans), McCrorys as well as A&S. I used to love A&S’s elevators. They were all manualy operated and the operators were never more then and inch off on landing. I still order cheese cakes from Jr’s now and then. One of the few places standing. To add to that the Dime Savings bank building at Fulton and Dekalb.
When Howard Stein decided to get out of the promotions gig and left the Academy of Music on 14th street some of us that worked for him moved uptown to the Beacon. This was about 1974. Don’t shoot me if I am wrong on the year. Ron did leave the Beacon for a short period when he took over the Academy of Music and changed the name to Palladium. Ron left there and came back to the Beacon again. When I was working the shows there was an elevator that went to the top floor dressing rooms. In the 70’s it was not working. It was a real pain having to find someone when most of the lower dressing rooms were being occupied. From what I gather the elevator is now running. The stage is also at an angle where it is narrow on stage right and deeper stage left. The whole building is on an agle. This was another theatre where road cases had to get unpacked and then rolled back on to the trucks. Although I can’t play anything but the radio I did have a chance to play around on the “Mighty Wurlitzer” when it was it under going regular maintainance. I wish I did know how to play it. I also in my life ha the chance to mess around on both of the consoles at Radio City as well.
The theatre did leave a marlk on me though. During a multi day performance of Genisis post Peter gabrial days i was in the back stage alley and was asked to pick up some beer cans that were under a wrought iron fire escape stairs. As i was picking one up I stepped back and hit a can and I then hit my head on the stairs and had to get about 20 stitches.
The bowling alley did not last very long. My dad used to league bowl There and there were many complaints about the condition of the lanes. The building was right off the ocean and the humidity was warping the lanes. This was way back when wood alleys like that were not treated.
In my humble opinion I do not think there will ever be another movie theatre be it a single or a multiplex in this area. The area is mainly high rise apartments with the majority of tenants on public asistance and Seagate has been becoming another Williamsburg section with Hasidic Jews who do not go to movies. The other resident live in the nursing homes and geriatric centers there as well.
FYI: The location of where the Surf was built was originaly a DRAFT BOARD Location in Brooklyn 1918. It was also near the Infamous Half Moon Hotel which was a well known hangout for gangsters such as “Murder Incorperated” It is also believed Al Capone hid out there for a while when things got to hot.
It is a real shame to what has happened to this neighborhood.
I was up in Chico from April 17 -June 1st of 1997. I never got to see the inside of the building but It reminded me of the type of theaters I grew up with in New York City. I am glad it is still standing.
Wow another place I had fun at in the 70’s that bit the dust. Does anyone remember Mo Morrison or Jim “Jimbo” Butterfield? One thing I can say about the old Capitol is that I always alomst got laid when I was there. During the non summer season I was on call for the stage crew if they needed me and I was not doing a show for Howard Stein or Ron Delsener. I also did shows for John Scher at the now gone Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City and his other venues in Asbury Park with the exception of the Paramount that came later. Asbury Park used to be in Casino Arena and the old convention hall.
Hi Ed. No. DK’s “Rock Concert” did about 8 or so shows at the 46th street in a period of 4 weeks. They would tape 2 shows a week with different acts. PKoch “Rock Concert” was shown in NYC on Ch 7 WABC not WNEW Ch5 as it was known back then. Also the last time i was near the place it called Rosenbergs Furnature and when i asked if I could have a look around I was also given the brush off even after i told them I used to do work there.
Last night while i was getting nastalgic looking up places I used to go to as a kid or saw boarded up made me realize that the day of the “Super Theatre” is long gone and just about over with certain exceptions. The mentality these days is that if they have that kind of space they will turn it in to a multiplex. It is sad for i love old theatres and most should be declared landmarks and preserved.
Ed are you sure that is where saw concerts at and it was not the Calderone in Franklyn Square? I could not beli8ve they held concerts in that place with a stage that small.. I worked a show at the Calderone and once the band, sound and light gears was in and set all the road cases had to be rolled or carried back out to the trucks
OK am a little baffled here. before I moved to Arizona from Vermont I came in to the city in Nov of 1999. I could have sworn that what used to be the old Fillmore East had a sign stating that it was taking aplications for a condo complex being built there.
LOL @DC…. Teenage Lust was a band formed from former members of David Peel and the Lower East Side. They did not last long. Yes after the days of the Fillmore they tried to resurect the theatre they change the name to Village East. Prior to the Fillmore it was called the Village Theatre.
I was not sure what movies I had seen there. I went there to visit a girlfriend who worked as an usher there and when she had her breaks we would go off to a side room for some really great sex :)
Before the Duff closed it’s door it was really run down and the neighborhood it was in was also in shambles. At the time the Wesley Snipes Movie was playing people were shot and killed. I could not believe that it had happened. Then again they put airport type metal detectors at the Sunrise Cinemas in green Acres NY.
What was really ironic is that earlier that day I was in the area.
Roll-o Rama was at one time a Roller Rink and a Bowling alley. My mother spent many an evening there calling Bingo for an organization she was with. She would come home smelling like cigarettes.
Oh man here is another blast from my past. I also saw YES there and was almost caught up in a riot when Badfinger was playing there and the Pagans MC threatened to destroy the place if they let the late show go on. That is where I met my friend “Jersey Joe” Sciorintino. He owned a piano and organ rental company as well as being the house PA for the Ritz hired by Gus Ungano. Joe has since passed on in 2001 but his piano and organ rental company is still there in Highland park NJ run by his son Russel.
I started in the concert business in my teens in 1971. As far as the 50 mile radius in the riders depended on who was booking the shows. If you look at the logistics Bill Graham had the Fillmore. Howard Stien had the Capitol Theatre in Portchester NY and John Scheer aka Metropolitiain Entertainment had the old Capitol in Pasaic NJ. All within 50 miles of each other. For a short time there was also the shows at the Lowes 46th street in Brooklyn. I recal when I went to see the Dead at the 46th street they had played the Fillmore for 4 days as well as the Capitols in NY and NJ all within 2 weeks of each other. Then again the Dead at that time could sell out any place they played. They also hold the record for the most sold out shows at madison Square garden up until the death of Jerry Garcia.
I used to go to movies at the 46th st in the 60’s and then later on in the early 70’s i got to see the Gratful Dead along with the New Riders of the Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel for NRPS. I m et Micky Hearts grandmother who had baked a batch of Alice B Tokeless brownies and also met Allison Steele The Night bird from WNEW FM 102.7. I have fund memories of that show. I also wound up doing some stage work at the time Don Kirshners “Rock Concert” was being taped there.
My parents used to live around the corner from the Kismet. My father used to be a part time usher there to earn some extra income. I personaly have no memory of the place cause shortly after i was born they moved to Coney Island.
I know it was in the early 60’s when I saw King Kong vs. Godzilla there. At that time I was not aware that there was a Wurlitzer Organ there. The whole area has run down. One section of Coney Island is people on public assistance and the rest is Russian immigrants.
Wow. I grew up 3 blocks from the Lowes Coney Island. I was there when it became the Shore and then a bingo hall. From what i know Horrace Bullock the owner of Kansas fried chicken fast food place owns the building. He was hoping to also build an amusement park south of Neptune Avenue From Stillwell to where Steeplechase Park used to be but the plans fell through no thanks in part to High Singer. Three blocks over on W 17st used to stand the RKO Tilyou. It was named after the builder of Steeplechace park that closed it’s doord Sep 21 1964 and soon after the RKO Tilyou closed and was demolished.
I just came across this site tonight but it brings me to tears to read about the places i have seen or have been in that have gone the way of a wrecking ball. For some reason even though the Kings was closed as a public venue I was under the impression that Erasmus Hall High School was utilizing the stage and insides. I had no idea that the roof and interior was all messed up. I could go on and on here but i wont. As much as it pains me to know that the building still stands but in this day and age there seems to be no need for a 3600 seat theatre. Tthose days I am sorry to say are long gone.
Patsy somewhere in here or another forum you had made a typo and said it was the egg nogg that made you do it.
It just kills me to hear that the VP is no longer.I always thought it was a city designated landmark. I worked around the corner at the now destroyed Academy of Music. I know for a fact that the Academy was a designated landmark at the time it became the Palladium.At one point the new owners wanted to install a new AC unit in the building and started doing it before they asked for permission to break some walls down. I don’t understand how a landmark could be torn down unless the building collapsed or something. That whole block sounds like it is gone. Way back in the 70’s Luchows was a major fixture on 14st. They closed and relocated in the mid 70’s and that building is gone. Is NYU that powerful that they can tear down a landmark? Sounds like my memories of growing up in NYC are nothing but that now. All the reality is going away.
Hi NJshore. I was posting over at the RCMH forum with DenPiano. who works there. The man who used to maintain the Beacons Mighty “W” his name was/is Mel Robinson. He also used to maint ain the “W"s at the Sports complex that used to be the Brooklyn Paramount as well ass The NY Academy of Music. When I was working for Ron Delsener they were no longer showing movies. One day when I have the time and money I want to drive up to the city and just soak in some old memories but every time I turn around things i used to remember when I lived there are gone.
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Ca.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
To Denpiano. Thanks much. When I read you post I got a tingle down my spine. If you happene to run in to Eddie K tell him the Train Man is alive and well. I only wish I had a way to contact Mel Robinson but I know he was in his late 40’s when I knew him back in the mid 70’s so that would put him at about his late 70’s if he is still alive and kicking. He was a funny guy and he did know his stuff.Who is your friend? If Worked with Melvin I may have met him. I have to tell you I was very sad when I had to dismantel the Academy’s Mighty Wurlitzer. I believe it was sold to someone in San Diego Caa.
To Patsy. Hows the Egg Nogg? :)
DenPiano maybe you can tell me if there is a local 1 Stagehand named eddie Kramer still working there and since you say you maintain the great Lady do you or did you know a guy named Melvin who I knew in the 70’s was doing the same thing. When I knew him he was doing the still existing at the time the one at the former Brooklyn Paramount, The NY Academy of Music before it was sold (the organ that is)RCMH and the Beacon. With the exception of the brooklyn Paramount I have had the pleasure of putting my hands on the keys of all the others. I only wish I knew how to play.
I will keep this one short. Back in 1972 I was doing some work for Bill Hanley Sound. I worked for him whenever her he had a sound gig in the NYC area. I got a call asking me to be at RCMH for what was the first show ever booked by an outside promotor. On of the headliners was Billy Breston McKendry Spring and some smaller acts. The Stage shows were still happening and the feature film at the time was Woody Allens Play it again Sam with Dianne Keaton. We came in to set up 3 days before the actual show. We were not allowed to do anything till after the last show ended. I spent 3 days crawling through the false ceiling running a few thousand feet of intercom wires from the stage to D Cove and all the way back to the P boths. RCMH had a load of followspots up there but they did not have the cutting power of a Super Trooper when it came to long throws to the staage. The concert was great the place was sold out and soon afterwards more concerts took place. Also after that first show RCMH made arrangments to get their own Clear Com headset intercom system to eliminate the time it took to run the cables.
I missed out on thos days as well. Being born in 1956. I do remember the building before Con Ed built it’s office on the site. I do however recall Mays, EJ Korvettes (eight Jewish Korean veterans), McCrorys as well as A&S. I used to love A&S’s elevators. They were all manualy operated and the operators were never more then and inch off on landing. I still order cheese cakes from Jr’s now and then. One of the few places standing. To add to that the Dime Savings bank building at Fulton and Dekalb.
When Howard Stein decided to get out of the promotions gig and left the Academy of Music on 14th street some of us that worked for him moved uptown to the Beacon. This was about 1974. Don’t shoot me if I am wrong on the year. Ron did leave the Beacon for a short period when he took over the Academy of Music and changed the name to Palladium. Ron left there and came back to the Beacon again. When I was working the shows there was an elevator that went to the top floor dressing rooms. In the 70’s it was not working. It was a real pain having to find someone when most of the lower dressing rooms were being occupied. From what I gather the elevator is now running. The stage is also at an angle where it is narrow on stage right and deeper stage left. The whole building is on an agle. This was another theatre where road cases had to get unpacked and then rolled back on to the trucks. Although I can’t play anything but the radio I did have a chance to play around on the “Mighty Wurlitzer” when it was it under going regular maintainance. I wish I did know how to play it. I also in my life ha the chance to mess around on both of the consoles at Radio City as well.
The theatre did leave a marlk on me though. During a multi day performance of Genisis post Peter gabrial days i was in the back stage alley and was asked to pick up some beer cans that were under a wrought iron fire escape stairs. As i was picking one up I stepped back and hit a can and I then hit my head on the stairs and had to get about 20 stitches.
The bowling alley did not last very long. My dad used to league bowl There and there were many complaints about the condition of the lanes. The building was right off the ocean and the humidity was warping the lanes. This was way back when wood alleys like that were not treated.
In my humble opinion I do not think there will ever be another movie theatre be it a single or a multiplex in this area. The area is mainly high rise apartments with the majority of tenants on public asistance and Seagate has been becoming another Williamsburg section with Hasidic Jews who do not go to movies. The other resident live in the nursing homes and geriatric centers there as well.
FYI: The location of where the Surf was built was originaly a DRAFT BOARD Location in Brooklyn 1918. It was also near the Infamous Half Moon Hotel which was a well known hangout for gangsters such as “Murder Incorperated” It is also believed Al Capone hid out there for a while when things got to hot.
It is a real shame to what has happened to this neighborhood.
I was up in Chico from April 17 -June 1st of 1997. I never got to see the inside of the building but It reminded me of the type of theaters I grew up with in New York City. I am glad it is still standing.
Wow another place I had fun at in the 70’s that bit the dust. Does anyone remember Mo Morrison or Jim “Jimbo” Butterfield? One thing I can say about the old Capitol is that I always alomst got laid when I was there. During the non summer season I was on call for the stage crew if they needed me and I was not doing a show for Howard Stein or Ron Delsener. I also did shows for John Scher at the now gone Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City and his other venues in Asbury Park with the exception of the Paramount that came later. Asbury Park used to be in Casino Arena and the old convention hall.
Hi Ed. No. DK’s “Rock Concert” did about 8 or so shows at the 46th street in a period of 4 weeks. They would tape 2 shows a week with different acts. PKoch “Rock Concert” was shown in NYC on Ch 7 WABC not WNEW Ch5 as it was known back then. Also the last time i was near the place it called Rosenbergs Furnature and when i asked if I could have a look around I was also given the brush off even after i told them I used to do work there.
Last night while i was getting nastalgic looking up places I used to go to as a kid or saw boarded up made me realize that the day of the “Super Theatre” is long gone and just about over with certain exceptions. The mentality these days is that if they have that kind of space they will turn it in to a multiplex. It is sad for i love old theatres and most should be declared landmarks and preserved.
Ed are you sure that is where saw concerts at and it was not the Calderone in Franklyn Square? I could not beli8ve they held concerts in that place with a stage that small.. I worked a show at the Calderone and once the band, sound and light gears was in and set all the road cases had to be rolled or carried back out to the trucks
OK am a little baffled here. before I moved to Arizona from Vermont I came in to the city in Nov of 1999. I could have sworn that what used to be the old Fillmore East had a sign stating that it was taking aplications for a condo complex being built there.
LOL @DC…. Teenage Lust was a band formed from former members of David Peel and the Lower East Side. They did not last long. Yes after the days of the Fillmore they tried to resurect the theatre they change the name to Village East. Prior to the Fillmore it was called the Village Theatre.
I was not sure what movies I had seen there. I went there to visit a girlfriend who worked as an usher there and when she had her breaks we would go off to a side room for some really great sex :)
Before the Duff closed it’s door it was really run down and the neighborhood it was in was also in shambles. At the time the Wesley Snipes Movie was playing people were shot and killed. I could not believe that it had happened. Then again they put airport type metal detectors at the Sunrise Cinemas in green Acres NY.
What was really ironic is that earlier that day I was in the area.
Roll-o Rama was at one time a Roller Rink and a Bowling alley. My mother spent many an evening there calling Bingo for an organization she was with. She would come home smelling like cigarettes.
Oh man here is another blast from my past. I also saw YES there and was almost caught up in a riot when Badfinger was playing there and the Pagans MC threatened to destroy the place if they let the late show go on. That is where I met my friend “Jersey Joe” Sciorintino. He owned a piano and organ rental company as well as being the house PA for the Ritz hired by Gus Ungano. Joe has since passed on in 2001 but his piano and organ rental company is still there in Highland park NJ run by his son Russel.
I started in the concert business in my teens in 1971. As far as the 50 mile radius in the riders depended on who was booking the shows. If you look at the logistics Bill Graham had the Fillmore. Howard Stien had the Capitol Theatre in Portchester NY and John Scheer aka Metropolitiain Entertainment had the old Capitol in Pasaic NJ. All within 50 miles of each other. For a short time there was also the shows at the Lowes 46th street in Brooklyn. I recal when I went to see the Dead at the 46th street they had played the Fillmore for 4 days as well as the Capitols in NY and NJ all within 2 weeks of each other. Then again the Dead at that time could sell out any place they played. They also hold the record for the most sold out shows at madison Square garden up until the death of Jerry Garcia.
I used to go to movies at the 46th st in the 60’s and then later on in the early 70’s i got to see the Gratful Dead along with the New Riders of the Purple Sage with Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel for NRPS. I m et Micky Hearts grandmother who had baked a batch of Alice B Tokeless brownies and also met Allison Steele The Night bird from WNEW FM 102.7. I have fund memories of that show. I also wound up doing some stage work at the time Don Kirshners “Rock Concert” was being taped there.
My parents used to live around the corner from the Kismet. My father used to be a part time usher there to earn some extra income. I personaly have no memory of the place cause shortly after i was born they moved to Coney Island.
I know it was in the early 60’s when I saw King Kong vs. Godzilla there. At that time I was not aware that there was a Wurlitzer Organ there. The whole area has run down. One section of Coney Island is people on public assistance and the rest is Russian immigrants.
Wow. I grew up 3 blocks from the Lowes Coney Island. I was there when it became the Shore and then a bingo hall. From what i know Horrace Bullock the owner of Kansas fried chicken fast food place owns the building. He was hoping to also build an amusement park south of Neptune Avenue From Stillwell to where Steeplechase Park used to be but the plans fell through no thanks in part to High Singer. Three blocks over on W 17st used to stand the RKO Tilyou. It was named after the builder of Steeplechace park that closed it’s doord Sep 21 1964 and soon after the RKO Tilyou closed and was demolished.
I just came across this site tonight but it brings me to tears to read about the places i have seen or have been in that have gone the way of a wrecking ball. For some reason even though the Kings was closed as a public venue I was under the impression that Erasmus Hall High School was utilizing the stage and insides. I had no idea that the roof and interior was all messed up. I could go on and on here but i wont. As much as it pains me to know that the building still stands but in this day and age there seems to be no need for a 3600 seat theatre. Tthose days I am sorry to say are long gone.