RKO Hamilton Theatre
3560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10031
3560 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10031
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 88 comments
The mechanics of most theatres are identical as is building and fire code.
Gravity is not just a good idea, it’s the law.
Bwaynightowl….I remember a similar opening being made in the fire curtain of the RKO keiths in Richmond Hill. They cut a doorway into the old curtain there, currently used as a bingo/flea market.
On 12/24/06, Life’s Too Short asked why the fire curtain had an opening in it instead of being raised.
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Without actually seeing it, my experience tells me it was probably brought in and tied off as a security measure. Most theatres still have fire curtains although they probably aren’t asbestos. Unlike the Empire Theatre on 42nd St that had an image of the Half Moon sailing up the Hudson (I helped to strike it), this fire curtain isn’t decorated or particularly interesting. Fire curtains are by nature very heavy and are counterweighted. The pipe ends travel in “smoke pocketsâ€, L-shaped angle iron that prevent the curtain from billowing upstage in the event of a fire in the flys.
I presume that what happened here was that the last one out of the stagehouse either removed weights from the arbor before bringing in the curtain which would leave the pipe greatly out of weight and almost impossible to raise. Or the curtain was flown in and the arbor chained off at the top. Either way, it would leave access to the stage limited the house fire doors left and right which could be locked. Without the means to raise the curtain, the only option would be to slice into the curtain and cut the bottom batten or pipe.
Do they still use the old auditorium for a warehouse, or is the whole auditorium now used for retail? What remains?
Here’s a street view from google of the Hamilton:
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Is this theater still used as a warehouse, or do they now use the whole auditorium for retail?
Here is a google street view of the Hamilton:
View link
Dear Life’s Too Short,
That is indeed sunlight streaming through the open exit doors, I know because I took that picture. When I was fortuanate enough to visit the theatre the property manager, who knew nothing about the property, could not figure out how to turn the lights on so he opened the fire doors on the south side of the auditorium.
The collection of original pictures, that I took, can be found in the many links I put up above or in a better link that Ed Solero generously put up for us (and made viewing the original pictures that I took easier to view). If there is any problem I will gladly repost the pictures that I took as I wanted to share them with other CT members.
I am sorry that some of the pictures are dark but as I said there was no light in the theatre when I took the pictures. I posted them believeing that this is how I saw it and it was a “better than not having them at all†situation
Gary Dennis
Movie Place NYC
I recently found this website and would like to let you guys know that it is a joy to find others with an interest in the history of this beautiful neighborhood. I grew up on 147th st and Broadway along with my 7 brothers and sisters. As a matter of fact my mom who is now 94 God bless her still lives in the same apartment after 60 plus years. So I can remember when the area was a lot different than it is now. In my search for additional info I came across some information that I think you guys would enjoy. Apparently between 1939 and 1940 for tax purposes the city took photos of each and every building in the five boroughs. The city has recently made these photos available to the public. Just google the “New york City Minicpal Archives” for additional info. Or better yet if you have the time take a trip to the archives at 31 Chambers St in Manhattan. there is no charge to view the pics which you will find after a little research assisted by one of the employees. even that is very interesting to do since you have to look through old maps and documents to locate the desired photo(s) There is however a fee to obtain copies of the photos of the building The fee is $35-$50 which is a little steep but worth it for the memories (Priceless!)Anywho Peace to all and Good luck in your search. I will be around let me know how it went
In the very last photo of Warren’s second post, is that an exterior window letting light into the auditorium?
Seems strange.
Ace—
Just now saw your post. I can tell you there’s a.. 5 or 6 story.. white apartment building on the corner of 146 & Riverside, across from the park, that was already there in, say, 1913, though the central row of windows was clearly added later. There’s a picture of one of my relatives as a young girl standing in the park right across from it with a small white dog.. Several of the addresses my family lived in in likely the early ‘20s, among them 543 W 146, are still there, and described by a 97 year old as having been really grand at the time, with thick carpeting and crystal chandeliers. They worked their way up (the American story, huh?) from addresses of long-gone tenements and wood frame single family houses within the same 2 or 3 blocks. Again, there’s a photo of one of my relatives in a grassy back yard, and a photo of their next door neighbor sitting on a wooden porch with that dog. Also in the background of neighborhood photos, are one and two family brick houses. In other words, it was quite a different world.
Joanna
alas, anyone in my family who might have known him is gone, though, if they really knew each other, perhaps they’re all chatting in The Great Beyond. :) I note from the family album that a lot of the neighborhood side streets Back Then had small, individual private houses, with porches and back yards. Ancient history.
Joanna
It was all classy up there back then. My Grandfather was a Dentist, Dr. George Saron. He worked out of the apartment on 140th and Broadway until the family moved to 90th and Broadway in 1943 or 1944. Perhaps some one in your family knew him.
Movie Place NYC
Hi Movie Place—
It was a stationary store (3557 B'way) and apparently a pretty classy one. When last (and first) I went up there, in 1998, it was a record store. My mothers/ grandmother’s family lived in a number of different apartments, all within a few blocks of the store, and went to the grade school there which, by ‘98, was an abandonned, graffiti’d shell with broken windows, but must have been really fine in its day. What a shame. Who knows, maybe some were classmates of your mother and uncle.
Joanna
My mother spent part of her childhood on 140th and Broadway. My late uncle clearly remebered every business on broadway in that area. Not a movie fan for some reason, he clearly remebered the Hamilton. I’ll bet anything that he would have remebered the store you speak of.
Movie Place NYC
Sorry for the confusion. Have no idea, offhand (tho I do have notes on it someplace) when it was constructed and will take your word that it was 1912. To repeat (from my long-ago comment) my original interest in the place came when I inherited a family photo album with many photos of my forebears that were taken in front of their store, which was across Broadway from the Hamilton. Many of the photos, posed in front of the store, therefore had the Hamilton Theater in the backgtound. When I said “c. ‘06-”, I was merely approximating the dates they likely acquired the store which is not necessarily when the pix were taken (tho, in any case, I’d say “before 1915.”) Point is, the Unknown (to me) Building across the street was so wonderful looking, I thought it might have been an uptown version of the Plaza Hotel, and went to some lengths, about a decade ago, to learn what it was. That was when I batted out on trying to reach current owners. hoping they could fill me in. Now that I do know what it was, no reason to care.
But thank you so very much for the offer.
Joanna
Dear Joanna,
I am not sure what it is that you mean. Are you saying that the structure was not a newly constructed theater in 1912? I know that some theaters were constructed out of existing structures, like The Winter Garden (which was a stable)or the Nemo which had been a beer garden.
I could probably find out who the actual owner is if you want. The property manager for the theater seemed to be clueless about a great many things concerning this theater.
Movie Place NYC
I see I last posted… a year and a half ago, but got a notice out of the blue tonite that there was action on the thread. In answer to the question someone asked a while ago, for personal reasons I stated above, I tried valiantly to track down the current owner when I was still trying to find out what the building housed at the turn of the 20th C. There must be some kind of shell game involved. The ostensibly current owners, as listed in city records, are a nonexistent company, and, IIRC, when tracked to yet another holding company, the phone was never answered.
I can only repeat that, c. 1906-15, the exterior was grand and regal.
Joanna
Warren – No, that’s “OK”, I’ve seen the photos, nice the way you lighten them up! I’m just curious about all those things, it’s magic to me, it’s a puzzlement!
“And now you know The Rest of the Story.” Paul Harvy
Warren – I was wondering if you knew the reason some of the photos fron December 26, 2006, but not all of them and the one from April 20, 2007 state “Photo not found”?
Not a big deal, but the Moller Pipe Organ, Opurs 2952, mentioned twice in the above remarks did not go to this theater, but went to the Tremont Theater(Hamilton). Sorry for my error.
“I thought I made a mistake once and then I found out I was wrong!”
We were to the theater today and we didn’t find a way inside the former auditorium, and all doors were closed and it doesn’t seemed to be still in use (we were searching for the tenant but nobody could help us in the neighborhood). Is somebody have an idea on who is the owner ?
I do not mind that you brightened the photos. I did not originally post the darkest pictures as I too felt there was no sense. If someone wants to alter it, fine with me. Again I am sharing this with all of you CT memebers who have posted such wonderful pictures and comments over the years. I have enjoyed them so much that this was the least I could do and offer. So if someone wants to brighten these images, if it makes a CT member happy or whatever to do that, go ahead.
This was, however, the way I saw the theatre when I walked in. Although I am a novice with the Photo Bucket thing I know that I could have brightened them or cropped them with Canon software, I am amazed though at what the camera was able to see that I could not.
I wonder why they bothered to cut a hole in the fire curtain, instead of just raising it. I also wonder if they realized that it was full of asbestos.
Some of the pictures do not have captions and were not posted above only because they were either repetitive or too dark. The space was badly lit which explains why the fire exit doors were opened. I also felt like a kid in a candy store and just kept shooting. Some of these photos I had no idea what they would look like as I was shooting into total darkness at various points. Enjoy.
Great team work, guys!
I show that the Hamilton stopped showing movies in March 1965 and that NONE BUT THE BRAVE and ESCAPE BY NIGHT may have been the last features.
Oops! Maybe I should post the proper link after all of that!
Here it is
Also, if you click on the “see all” link over the “Back” and “Next” images on the right, you’ll see thumbnails of the entire album so you can pick and choose which photos to visit in larger scale.
Great set of photos, Movie Palace NYC! Glad you were able to work out your photobucket issues. Since you actually spent some time writing descriptions for many of the photos, I encourage folks to view your album from this link:
RKO Hamilton Photo Album
I usually use the same technique you used of pasting the individual photo url’s on CT when I post photos, but when you want folks to check out your descriptive captions, I think it’s better to link to the photo album itself. I just cut and pasted the url address from the top of my browser. This way folks can flip through all your photos, sort of how they can on flickr.com. This functionality is fairly new to photobucket.
Anyway… click the “Back” button rather than the “Next” button when you open up the link, as the photos seem to be in reverse sequence.