Cinema 1, 2 & 3 by Angelika
1001 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10021
1001 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10021
34 people
favorited this theater
Showing 301 - 325 of 364 comments
I was watching a documentary about the making of the notorious flop “Heaven’s Gate” and there was some news footage of the Cinema I,II,III in the documentary because this was where HG had its disastrous premier. Canby in the Times panned — belittled the filme — and after a week it was pulled from theatres, shortened and re-released in theatres to no avail.
I remember Ralph Donnelly from the days when I took Richard Brown’s film class (early 90’s) and he would guest host the class when RB was otherwise occupied. Ralph always seemed like a class act. He is listed in the Walter Reade Theater’s calendar as one of the “President Emeriti.” I remember reading somewhere — this was awhile ago — that they had a big testimonial dinner for Ralph. Probably when he retired.
Does anyone know just what it is exactly that the Landmarks Preservation Commission ACTUALLY does, besides drawing salary and expenses from the City of New York?
They aren’t interested in the Cinemas –
They aren’t interested in the Beekman –
They weren’t interested Sutton –
They weren’t interested in the Trylon –
They claimed they were interested in the Keith’s in Flushing, and look what happened to that –
They claimed they were interested in the Loew’s Kings in Brooklyn and look what happened to that –
It seems that for anything to get protected by them, it has to be either huge, like Grand Central Terminal or the Empire State Building, or miniscule, like the old jailhouse window behind the Manhattan Municipal building, or a lamp post in Chinatown. Anything in between is, apparently, fair game for developers and sleazy property owners like ___ (you fill in the blanks).
The saddest part is that with Cinema 1-2-3 closing it only leaves the Clearview-plex and the 59th Street East. The East side once abounded with top notch cinemas, and unless that zoning law gets changed there will be no new ones. Too bad the Manhattan 1 & 2 and the Gotham (Trans-Lux) did not hang in awhile they would have all the bookings they needed.
In today’s (March 24, 2005) issue of the on-line version of the “New York Times” there was an article that mentions Cinema 1, 2, 3 along with the Beekman. The article is “In Preservation Wars, a Focus on Midcentury” by Robin Pogrebin. (Registration Required)
The article confirms that, “Plans have been announced to convert Cinemas 1, 2 & 3 … into retail space” and puts the fight to save Cinema 1, 2 & 3 into the larger context of the fight by preservationists to get the Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold hearings on a number of mid-20th Century buildings that a good number of citizens (some of them quite distinguished in the preservation field) feel are legitimate candidates for landmark designation.
What’s especially interesting to me with regard to the plans for Cinema 1, 2, 3 is that the owners said in the January 27th issue of “Our Town” (a free weekly community newspaper) that the theaters were going to continue as theaters. (See my post on the Beekman page.)
Another poster, Robert R, responded that he didn’t believe the owners, and his distrust was, apparently, very quickly proven to be justified!
This theater’s claim to fame was it’s upper east side location and it’s artwork outside reflecting the current and future attractions. It’s auditoriums and presentatations were always second rate especially when compared to the west side movie palaces of the day.
In Xan Cassavetes' documentary about LA’s Z Channel cable service from the 1970s and 1980s, there is some news footage from opening day of “Heavens Gate” at the 1, 2, 3. Growing up in Los Angeles, I used to feel cheated that New York City had all these great movie theatres, and get all the best movies first.
When I finally moved to New York City in 2001, I went to the 1, 2, 3 to see “I Am Sam.” While the movie wasn’t all that good, the theatre it played in was horrid. The tiny one, where I couldn’t hear half of the dialogue because the first “Lord of the Rings” movie was playing in the main theatre and the sound was cranked up to 11. The seats were in various states of disrepair, the screen masking atrocious and the aperature plate cut so wrong that part of the movie was playing on the ceiling.
Three and a half years later, I have yet to go back, and I live up the street from the theatre. If this was a great theatre before, I never would have known it in these modern times.
Good idea, fueshd!
People should be aware that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has been dragging its feet regarding a number of potential landmarks recently. It seems to be part of an unspoken “plan”: if you’ve already secretly decided not to landmark something, don’t allow a public hearing on it (the first step in the landmarking process) to be “calendared.”
Recently a very strong potential candidate for landmarking, the Paterson Silk Co. Building on 14th St. (an early design by Morris Lapidus, who is famous for the Fontainbleu Hotel in Miami Beach) was unexpectedly pretty much destroyed. (See the 3/9/05, “New York Times” article, “Wrecking Ball Dashes Hopes for a Lapidus Work” by Robin Pogrebin.) This was another case of where a number of the big names in landmarks preservation asked the LPC to hold a public hearing, and they refused to schedule one.
But perhaps the “stink” over the loss of this building (the LPC seemed to be put on the defensive in the NY Times article) might be useful in the fight for at least a public hearing on some of the others, like the Beekman. So you might want to mention the loss of the Paterson Silk Building in your letter.
A interesting “wrinkle” with regard to the Cinema 1, 2 and 3 case: It is an unwritten law (and possible a written one, too, I forget) that once a building’s significant features have been altered, it is “too late” for landmark designation to save them. (Which is why developers try to sneak a demolition or alteration in before something is landmarked.) But in the “NY Times” article referred to above, the Chairman of the Landmark Preservation Commission claimed that he could still landmark the Paterson Silk Building and have the building rebuilt. So I hope people get a chance to read that NY Times article and directly challenge the LPC on this statement if they get a reply saying that Cinema 1, 2, 3 has been altered too much for landmark designation.
All concerned people should contact the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to express outrage over the potential loss of Cinemas I II as well as the loss of significant artwork. Request the LPC to designate the Cinemas I II as a New York City landmark. Landmark status will prevent further demolition of the building. Every letter or email helps.
Robert B. Tierney, Chair
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007
F: 212-669-7955
.gov
Please contact Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts for more information.
Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts
20 East 60th Street, #4B
NY, NY 10021
www.friends-ues.org
212-535-2526
could dave-bronx please contact me about what is happening with this theater. I amongst others have been lobbying to have it protected
my email is
THANKS
john
The artwork has been put into storage (knowing City Cinemas, that means the $500,000 Bolotowski painting was probably thrown on the floor of a self-storage unit in Queens), and will not be re-installed in the theatre. “Major repairs” have been defined as some painting and ceiling panel replacement. What a bunch of hairbags……
Good to hear of the reprieve, but it appears obvious that City Cinemas/Reading is more interested in real estate, and not movie exhibition. What became of the suggestion that Harvey Weinstein might offer to purchase & operate both the Beekman & Cinema 1,2,3 – saving them from the wrecking ball?
Great news. At least one theater got a reprieve. Was city cinemas going to operate the theater in the new high rise?
I won’t give City Cinemas a dime of my movie going money.
According to a source that I was finally able to get in touch with today, the artwork and other elements were removed from the interior and the exterior was altered specifically to prevent landmarking. It was their intention to demolish the building and put up a highrise, supposedly with new theatres in the bottom. The demolition was to occur this spring, but whatever the deal was fell through. I’m told that two days ago they found out the building won’t come down for at least another 5 years. Certain major repairs are going to be made, I’m trying to find out what kind of repairs, though I doubt it will include restoration of the artwork or the exterior.
What great theaters in the 1960s. Great competition for the fading movie palaces… But neither of the venues lasted… The hoi polloi today are only happy with those horrible multiplexes… I guess TV and the plasma screens have taken over…. They have, as far as I am concerned.
As much as I loved the old Cinema 1 & 2, this place has gone down and might as well close. The sad this is there is nothing being built to replace it.
Cinema 1 put up curtains in 1989 for the addition of Cinema “3."
It’s been downhill ever since.
When I lived in NYC, they never had curtains. When did they install drapes. Was it during the addition of theater 3? For many years they didn’t have masking. In the late 70’s Cinema 1 had masking. When I went back several years and saw Prince Of The City, they had that dumb strip.
Cinema 1, 2, 3 is just in sad shape. I love the back wall but on Friday’s screenings, which were packed, they had ONE person serving concessions and TWO people guiding people into Cinema 1 and 3 upstairs. I set my coat down in Cinema 1’s upper section, went down to the long concessions line, and got back to find the film had already started. I sat back with my popcorn and the seat back fell out from behind her. I moved over one seat to the aisle, but the intense bright lights under the handrails leading to the upper section had me moving another row back. Luckily the legroom is good, but…
When the lights came up I saw the horror that was adding the hallways to Cinema 3. It’s just completely awkward. And sadly I noticed the curtains did not move before or after the show. I asked the ushers and they said that the curtains go up once before the first show and down only at the end of the last show.
It’s just too simple to create a nice experience. It really causes more problems to have bad management than to just spend a few hours figuring out a better scenario.
The back curved wall is nice, the odd ‘gallery’ is interesting, the scultpure down to Cinema 2 could be cooler, but it’s great to be in that upper lobby and imagine how great it must have been to go to a premiere exclusive film and look out over east side New York in front of Bloomingdale’s.
As it is now, Cinema 1, 2, 3 is one of the lesser filmgoing experiences in town. It just doesn’t have to be this poor. Especially with audiences filling the seats.
Hey Guys. Not for nothing, but the Cinema I has been a s#thole for YEARS. Small screens, uncomfortable seating, bad sound, clueless employees – good riddance.
Ditto for the Beekman – yes, it was nicely kept up since the renovation, BUT,,,they had (might still have – don’t go there anymore) a focus problem w/their scope lens, had a busted speaker for over a year and they LOVE to run the movies at a volume level that is just above inaudible. Really, if you’re gonna play a movie on level 4.0, what’s the point of going to a theatre? $10.50 for television sound? No thanks.
I think it is very vicious and sneaky to deface buildings to prevent their being landmarked. I recently walked past Cinemas 1,2,3, saw the stuccoing over the beautiful blue tiles, and wondered what was going on. Not too long before that, I had passed by the Sutton Theatre and was perplexed to see that the columns on the facade had been hacked at. Later that theatre was demolished. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Beekman Theatre similarly defaced, in advance of its demolition, to prevent it from being landmarked. This is the mentality of our time.
I saw the original Rocky here at a 2:00am showing, with the usher crying, Don’t you know you won’t be out until after 4am? I guess he wanted to go home a little earlier. We smoked some weed, right in our seats, and had a great time.
I also saw The Elephant Man here…the movie took pains to carefully show the sight of him bit by bit. Well, by the time he was fully revealed we were sort of prepared for it, and we watched in quiet amazement. However, some ladies had arrived late and hadn’t been prepared, so when he came on screen again they started shouting and carrying on at the top of their voices, much to the annoyance of the upper eastside types that otherwise filled the theater. I had to laugh because I felt like I was across town on 42nd Street. Those Deuce audiences always expressed their opinions loud and clear, unlike their staid eastside counterparts!
Speaking of “Heaven’s Gate,” I went to the final showing of that epic at Cinema One on a rainy Thursday night. I was seated in the front row of the raised rear section, and next to me was Pauline Kael, who chortled throughout the film, took notes, while eating danish pastries and sipping on miniature bottles of whiskey.
I think it sucks that this theater is also going to close. There are no theaters left on the east side except the New York Twin which has never been a great theater. There are no multiplexes on the east side. Why would someone go all the way across town when they have tow beautiful theaters as the Beekman and Cinema 1,2,3. I know Cinema 1 & 2 were nice when I went there in the 70’s and 80’s b 4 the split of theater 2.The one thing didn’t like was that strip that they used in place of masking. Did City Cinemas ever put in reasl masking?
I saw “Heaven’s Gate” there during that week because it became must-see movie among many serious film buffs. Although I have some reservations about the picture, it is in many aspects quite extraordinary. Since then the “director’s cut” has become a bit of a cult movie and is available on DVD.