Loew's 72nd Street East

I think you mean The Paris, not the Plaza… is the UA East (1 Av-85 St) still open?

Not that it matters to any of us, but as I think about it more, I’m wondering if the condominium owners realize what will be in store for them once a supermarket opens in their building.

First, a supermarket has mice and roaches virtually built into the place, they get delivered with the first shipment of produce. While the theatre has been there, if a blue-haired resident on the 33rd floor has has been traumatized by an unfortunate encounter a roach the size of a Buick in her butlers pantry, the building manager was immediately dispatched to the theatre to inspect my extermination reports and snoop around the place with flashlights looking for actual vermin or evidence thereof, which they never found at least while I worked there.

Second, a supermarket requires a lot of rooftop refrigeration equipment to oprerate their coolers and freezers in the store. The theatre has one small cooling tower on the roof, as far away from the apt. tower as we could get it, yet if the drive belt on our cooling tower started to wear and the unit rattled a little more than usual I would get a barrage of phone calls from surly apartment residents demanding that I shut off my air conditioning until it was repaired.

Also, There is also the matter of deliveries to the market in the overnight hours, seven days a week.

I predict that after a while the residents will regret the day they agreed to install a supermarket, and look back on the halcyon days of the little old Loews Tower East longingly. “Alas,” they will say, “I fear we have erred. Our quest for big bucks per square-foot was misguided.” But it will be too late, too late for them, too late for us. The Loews is gone. Time marches on. And you can never go back. (I’m getting sappy now, I better stop).

:(

Saturday, I watched “Fair Game” Exiting, everybody received comp passes because heat wasn’t working properly. AMC doesn’t light up the auditorium well enough for me to photo with my camera, which is a shame since pretty white & red decor of side walls deserves photographing!

I have a few photos and/or videos of upstairs & downstairs lobby areas and stairway with metalwork. I also have a few photos from 2005. I expect to send those photos & videos to THSA for safekeeping. Today seems to be the last day forever, judging from above comments. I will miss the Tower East!

Dave is right. The “bean counters” have destoryed the entertainment industry. By taking the “Show” out of Showbiz, they have made a night out at the cinema about as exciting at spending Saturday night at Wal-Mart.
Of course at Wal-Mart you can grab lots of free samples. At the cinema you have pay big money for that. lol
It’s no wonder AMC is closing so many houses. Their management is better suited to run a super market than a theatre.
But lets be fair AMC is not alone.
Oh well maybe Chinese company will move it and re-invent the biz.

Very sad indeed I always liked seeing movies here.

On a side note, since Mikeoaklandpark has mentioned Frank Theatres, I noted the other day that they have quietly taken over the Sunrise Cinemas chain of theaters in Florida.

I think the lease is up for renewal. I seem to recall back around 2000 there was great uncertainty surrounding the question of renewing the lease or letting the place go. At the 11th hour Loews signed on for another term of 10 years.

To me it makes little sense to close this theatre, since due to zoning restrictions they can’t build a new 35-plex across the street, even if the property was available. Zoning was changed in the early 1980s to say no new theatres may be built and existing theatres may not add any square-footage in the area bounded by 57th St to 79th St., 1st Ave to 5th Ave. So, in light of the restrictions, I would think they would want to maintain their presence in the area.

The theatre will make money but they can’t just play just any rubbish there like they can on 86th St. It requires a mix of more upscale general release films and foreign product. It also requires a film booker to actually know his theatres, histories and the demographics of the area where they are located. A booker of a place with 25 or 30 screens can use the booking theory of “throw enough sh*t against a wall and some of it will stick”.

The large national circuits are owned by private equity investment firms as well as many of the regional chains and have purged all the theatre people from their ranks. The financial people are running the show these days, micro-managing everything from the home office. History, tradition and common sense have been thrown in the trash. Nothing matters but the bottom line.

City Cinemas or Regal, would be good.

BW photos are mentioned above. Years ago, I tried to photo auditorium but couldn’t due to lighting. Perhaps somebody could take a 30 second video of the auditorium (before the film starts) with their camera? Just shoot it quickly in the auditorium, without bothering the theater’s staff and capture the pretty colors of the walls & the screen.

Does anyone have any interior shots of the theatre to share? I doubt that I will be back in Manhattan before its closure and would love to know what it look like during its original incarnation.

I regret to announce that the Walmart of the theatre business from Kansas City has decided the last day of operations for the Loews Tower East 72nd St will be Thursday December 9, 2010, as per CT member astrocks. Unknown at this time if the place will be offered to another tenant for use as a theatre or gutted for retail use.

A couple of 2009 photos of the exterior of the 72nd Street:
Photo 1
Photo 2