United Artists East 85th Street

1629 1st Avenue,
New York, NY 10028

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Showing 26 - 30 of 30 comments

longislandwally75
longislandwally75 on June 30, 2006 at 4:17 am

about the time i was mgr. of the rivoli, there was a ua theatre on the east side…
not the 65th or 85th steet….it was 0n 2nd ave i think..it was like a store front..you see when you walk through the door it takes you back about 50feet…you make a left to the rear of the theatre..
the back of the screen had black or dark blue drapes..
if you were to move them it would show a big window that faces
the ave…

any ideas'

wally75

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on May 8, 2006 at 4:41 pm

Photographed in July 2003:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/142910058/

bazookadave
bazookadave on October 19, 2005 at 3:36 pm

If this is the theatre I recall, I saw “Island at the Top of the World” here in the early 1970s when I was a kid on East 93rd Street. The theatre was new and had very 70s-style wallpapering in the lobby that looked like shiny contact paper with dark blue and green and black patterns resembling leopard spots. I went for other movies but completely forgot about this location for the last 25 or 30 years! It was in the bottom of an apartment tower that had just been built. I remember there was some hooplah about it being a new modern movie venue, so my mom took us to that “Island” movie, which I remember starred David Hartman.

UA80
UA80 on July 9, 2005 at 4:41 pm

UA East 85th St is another theatre Regal Entertainment Group is putting a beating to.

Regal switch this theatre to a basically all art format that is not doing that great.

This week is “March of the Penguins”.

They will keep this format until they kill this theatre off and will than close it.

This is also done by National Amusements / Multiplex Cinemas / Showcase Cinemas a division of Viacom. <-
That was a mouth full. ;–)

N/A will switch to an art format in theatres final six months or so to draw attendance down so they are “forced to close due a decline in attendance” or “for business reasons”.

This is what Regal now will also use to close a location.

Not as often anymore N/A would go sub-run to shutter locations but now uses the “art format” to close a location.

SethLewis
SethLewis on February 13, 2005 at 9:08 am

Even with a bland theatre there is a story to tell…believe this open around 1970 – possibly day dating with the also opening on Broadway Orleans (a Pacific house triplexing the Cinerama/Penthouse twins … the Orleans went porn very quickly after that) with A Dream of Kings a National General release with Anthony Quinn…After that it became part of the Flagship theatres showcase showing mostly Fox pictures…Somewhere in there it had a very long run of The Stewardesses a soft porn 3D picture on showcase…Remember riding by there as a kid as well and seeing on the tiny marquee “Stop Pay TV” which was the UA mantra at the time…It just settled over time into a neighborhood showcase house showing pictures from just about all studios in showcase runs…Over the years (I ended up living about four blocks away in the late 80s) I saw stuff as diverse as a double feature of The Sterile Cuckoo and Friends, a revival of Song of the South, a final run of The French Connection, You’ll Love My Mother a Universal programmer with Patty Duke, and in the 80s Fat Man and Little Boy, The Two Jakes, Joe and the Volcano, Born in the USA…I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s still there and surviving as a single screen not that it’s a glamorous theatre in a basement beneath a high rise

Sometime in the mid-70s probably just after UA opened the Eastside Playhouse on 55th and 3rd, this theatre was referred to as UA East 85th St a clunky name but probably to differentiate it from that theatre…particularly as there was some occasional day dating with it…The UA Yorkville wouldnt have been a bad name referring to the neighborhood it was in wouldnt it now