Loews, at the end, had their concession stand in the middle of the room too. I don’t think theatres built in those days had concession stands at all. I wonder when people started eating popcorn at the movies?
When the Loews Theatres were sold off by the Loews Corp., and they were moving the home office from 666 Fifth Ave. over to Secaucus NJ, all the stuff they had in the way of old blueprints, photos and other miscellaneous items from the construction department was given to the THSA – even stuff for theatres they still owned and operated. About 5 years ago I was looking for blueprints for the Tower East in order to remedy some systems problem there, and a member of the THSA (who also posts on this site) came through with xeroxes from the THSA archives.
The curtains were put up in 1988 during the renovation. They did use them for a time, but now they stay open because they have those stupid advertising slides at intermission – a revenue-generating program.
Thanks for the response. Probably that one exterior was taken in 65, for some reason. The others all have the same odd quality to them, including the arcade view, where the Cinema I marquee has the title ‘Boccaccio 70’, which was the opening picture in both theatres.
Here are some interior photos from the mid-1970s. In the view looking at the house from the stage you can see the Cinerama projection booth under the balcony. In the view of the stage from the top of the balcony, the curtains on either side of the stage are where the Cinerama screen extended to on each side. That screen required that the opera boxes on each side be ripped out. These have now been restored, and the Cinerama booth removed. View link
Here are some pictures of the former Loew’s State. The color photos are from the 1970s, prior to the restoration. The huge lobby was being beng used as a dinner theatre. The photo of the auditorium shows the Cinerama projection booth under the balcony, and you can see where the balcony had to be cut back in front of the booth to accommodate the projector beam. The crane photo is from the early 70s when they removed the sign that was in danger of falling down. behind the engine of the crane you can see the entrance of the Palace, which is boarded up and has had the marquee removed. The b&w photo of the lobby is from the opening in 1921. View link
Here are some photos of the former Loew’s Ohio –
the red one is aprx 1971, after vandals broke in and set off the standpipes and damaged the plaster. the other two are the lobby and auditorium when it opened in 1921. View link
I have made a photo gallery of the Cinema photos that I have. The ones labeled “1962…” are scans of 3.5"x5" snapshots given to me by Abe Geller, the original architect. They are reductions of his original 8"x10" photos taken when the theatre was completed in 1962. Since this was one of the earliest 2-screen theatres (the AIA guide to New York refers to it as a “piggy-back pair”), Mr. Geller drew up the cut-away view, probably for architectural and theatre trade publications, to show how the 2 theatres were configured into such a tight lot – 75' frontage x 110' deep.
The photos labeled “1988…” are scans of of 8"x10" photos, also given to me by Mr. Geller upon the completion of his renovations.
…and it’s a pretty ugly apartment building at that! I don’t see much improvement to the neighborhood, aesthetically speaking – it looks like something Robert Moses would have built, a short ‘project’. The people on 6th St. went from looking at an old ugly wall to looking at a new ugly wall with windows. Soon, all the real eastate in Manhattan will be occupied either by apartment buildings, Starbucks, hospitals or the Gap – and everything else will have to move to the outer boroughs.
As I recall, the feature presentations were all flat; if we had a scope film we ran the same one and the “reels” [the 2 C’s] were oval instead of round.
Excellent news – are they the old ones with the original logo or the newer ones with the GCC inside of blue circles?
dwodeyla: If someone does come up with Timmy, I think I’ll pass on that one – after I saw it for the first time, I never wanted to see it again :) I have a couple of blue ushers jackets and I think a couple of dark blue manager jackets hanging in a closet in my parents house in Ohio.
The interior is very similar to that of the 57th Street theatre – the cove lighting in the ceiling drops and the procenium – were duplicated in the newer theatre. Ben Schlanger, the associate architect mentioned in Warren’s post above, was also involved with Abe Geller in the original designing of the Cinema I – Cinema II (now C1,2,3) here in New York. He is also credited as the architect of ‘The Cinema’ in Washington DC.
I mentioned to ‘dwodeyla’ that everybody loved those things, even people not in the business or into theatres, and would tell me that they liked going to the movies at the local General Cinema “because they have that little projector-thing with the silly music before the movie” –
In those days the technology and production standards for all those kind of snipes wasn’t what it is today. These, being custom circuit snipes was a little better than most. The generic snipes we used to get from National Screen Service for intermission (the dancing hot dogs and popcorn boxes singing “Let’s go out to the lobby for something good to eat”) was an animation that had washed-out color and was often out of sync.
Those were made up by Pike Productions out of Chicago [at that time], but there is no longer a listing for them in the Chicago area. I don’t know if they are still in business.
If anybody manages to find one please let me know, too. I worked for GCC from the late 60s to the late 70s, and could kick myself for not latching onto a few of them during those years [who would have ever thought they would go bankrupt?]….
BTW, the originals were the GCC logo on a black background. they would get scratched and become worn, and due to the black background it was very obvious. Around 1970 they added a deep red keilidescope background so the scratches wouldn’t be so obvious and we could get a little more life out of them.
The building presently occupying the site of the old RKO Proctors 86th Street IS the Gimbels building. Gimbels went out of business about 86 or 87. I was still living in the neighborhood and watched as it was stripped down to the frame with only the concrete floors remaining. Some NYC law says when a vacant property is sold the asbestos has to be removed, and apparently this building had lots of it. When the exterior walls were removed you could see into the auditorium and also see the raked floor as though it was a cross-section architectural drawing. Through all this, the RKO marquee remained, all wrapped up in plastic, on the 86th St. side of the building. Once the offending asbestos was removed, the narrow section was built on top of existing frame, and the brick walls and windows installed (Gimbels was windowless) and the interior rebuilt as apartments with the entrance on 87th St. By the time the theatre was getting ready to re-open, Cineplex had taken over. The RKO marquee had been similar to that of the old RKO Warner-Cinerama-Strand on Times Square: a million little light bulbs cascading down the front of it and across the ceiling to the entrance doors. Cineplex re-did it, and of course it had to have the pink neon, and it was only slightly less dull than the way Duane Reade has it now.
I had heard that Clearview did not want to give up this theatre, but when they received the lease renewal it was put aside and forgotten about until it was too late – so the landlord signed Duane Reade.
Somewhere along the line the place was a burlesque house, though I don’t know under which name, and the infamous Blaze Starr was the headline act. The Woody Allen segment of “New York Stories” was filmed here. Also, once upon a time, a play titled “Once Upon a Mattress” played here. The female lead, a young, unknown actress, Carol Burnett, suddenly became known.
I worked here both before and after the plexing. The decor of the main auditorium is intact. Prior to the renovations, the ceiliing had serious water damage, and a fortune was spent to restore it and the rest of the decorative plasterwork. It was originally a traditional theatre with an orchestra and balcony. The orchestra floor was removed to give height to cinemas 2 and 3 in the basement, making the main theatre look like it has stadium seating. It’s actually the balcony which was extended down to the stage. Behind the ceiling panels of the lower cinemas is the decorative plasterwork of the underside of the balcony. The ceiling panels had to be installed for acoustics, but the original plan was to leave the plasterwork exposed. We had been told by Landmarks that all the decorative plasterwork had to be either restored or entombed, but could not be destroyed. As for the other cinemas in the plex, #4 was build under the storefronts, #5 was built in the vaults under the front sidewalk, #6 was built on the stage floor and #7 is in the fly loft over the stage. Projection, storage and restrooms are in the trap room area under the stage.
I haven’t been in there in years, but after the renovations were complete and the main house had the curtain closed and the chandelier and stage spots lit up it looked spectacular. The theatres in the cellar were plain boxes and I never really liked them, but the two in the stagehouse with exposed brick walls were more interesting than the 4 in the cellar. I think it was a fair trade-off: the restored main auditorium in exchange for small theatres squeezed into other areas of the building. It seems to have kept the place commercially viable. Otherwise, it would have sat empty and decaying until there was nothing left of it, like the Kieths-Flushing.
According to the April 2005 Loews directory the seat counts are: 697, 100, 100, 194, 193, 299, 299, 299, 299, 491, 717, 100, 100, 196, 193, 297, 299, 299, 299, 495 – total of 5966 seats. Since its opening one of the highest grossing theatres in the country. It was designed by David Rockwell.
Loews, at the end, had their concession stand in the middle of the room too. I don’t think theatres built in those days had concession stands at all. I wonder when people started eating popcorn at the movies?
When the Loews Theatres were sold off by the Loews Corp., and they were moving the home office from 666 Fifth Ave. over to Secaucus NJ, all the stuff they had in the way of old blueprints, photos and other miscellaneous items from the construction department was given to the THSA – even stuff for theatres they still owned and operated. About 5 years ago I was looking for blueprints for the Tower East in order to remedy some systems problem there, and a member of the THSA (who also posts on this site) came through with xeroxes from the THSA archives.
The curtains were put up in 1988 during the renovation. They did use them for a time, but now they stay open because they have those stupid advertising slides at intermission – a revenue-generating program.
Thanks for the response. Probably that one exterior was taken in 65, for some reason. The others all have the same odd quality to them, including the arcade view, where the Cinema I marquee has the title ‘Boccaccio 70’, which was the opening picture in both theatres.
Here are some interior photos from the mid-1970s. In the view looking at the house from the stage you can see the Cinerama projection booth under the balcony. In the view of the stage from the top of the balcony, the curtains on either side of the stage are where the Cinerama screen extended to on each side. That screen required that the opera boxes on each side be ripped out. These have now been restored, and the Cinerama booth removed.
View link
Here are some photos of the Allen from the early 1970s:
View link
Here are some pictures of the former Loew’s State. The color photos are from the 1970s, prior to the restoration. The huge lobby was being beng used as a dinner theatre. The photo of the auditorium shows the Cinerama projection booth under the balcony, and you can see where the balcony had to be cut back in front of the booth to accommodate the projector beam. The crane photo is from the early 70s when they removed the sign that was in danger of falling down. behind the engine of the crane you can see the entrance of the Palace, which is boarded up and has had the marquee removed. The b&w photo of the lobby is from the opening in 1921.
View link
Here are some photos of the former Loew’s Ohio –
the red one is aprx 1971, after vandals broke in and set off the standpipes and damaged the plaster. the other two are the lobby and auditorium when it opened in 1921.
View link
I have made a photo gallery of the Cinema photos that I have. The ones labeled “1962…” are scans of 3.5"x5" snapshots given to me by Abe Geller, the original architect. They are reductions of his original 8"x10" photos taken when the theatre was completed in 1962. Since this was one of the earliest 2-screen theatres (the AIA guide to New York refers to it as a “piggy-back pair”), Mr. Geller drew up the cut-away view, probably for architectural and theatre trade publications, to show how the 2 theatres were configured into such a tight lot – 75' frontage x 110' deep.
The photos labeled “1988…” are scans of of 8"x10" photos, also given to me by Mr. Geller upon the completion of his renovations.
View link
It is slated to close by the end of the year…
The HMV has been replaced by Best Buy, and there is a Barnes & Noble and Staples on the Lesington Ave. side.
…and it’s a pretty ugly apartment building at that! I don’t see much improvement to the neighborhood, aesthetically speaking – it looks like something Robert Moses would have built, a short ‘project’. The people on 6th St. went from looking at an old ugly wall to looking at a new ugly wall with windows. Soon, all the real eastate in Manhattan will be occupied either by apartment buildings, Starbucks, hospitals or the Gap – and everything else will have to move to the outer boroughs.
As I recall, the feature presentations were all flat; if we had a scope film we ran the same one and the “reels” [the 2 C’s] were oval instead of round.
Excellent news – are they the old ones with the original logo or the newer ones with the GCC inside of blue circles?
dwodeyla: If someone does come up with Timmy, I think I’ll pass on that one – after I saw it for the first time, I never wanted to see it again :) I have a couple of blue ushers jackets and I think a couple of dark blue manager jackets hanging in a closet in my parents house in Ohio.
The interior is very similar to that of the 57th Street theatre – the cove lighting in the ceiling drops and the procenium – were duplicated in the newer theatre. Ben Schlanger, the associate architect mentioned in Warren’s post above, was also involved with Abe Geller in the original designing of the Cinema I – Cinema II (now C1,2,3) here in New York. He is also credited as the architect of ‘The Cinema’ in Washington DC.
I mentioned to ‘dwodeyla’ that everybody loved those things, even people not in the business or into theatres, and would tell me that they liked going to the movies at the local General Cinema “because they have that little projector-thing with the silly music before the movie” –
I have that ‘Thank you for coming to Loews’ jingle on a VHS videotape from Cinema Concepts, but I have to figure out how to get it into the computer….
In those days the technology and production standards for all those kind of snipes wasn’t what it is today. These, being custom circuit snipes was a little better than most. The generic snipes we used to get from National Screen Service for intermission (the dancing hot dogs and popcorn boxes singing “Let’s go out to the lobby for something good to eat”) was an animation that had washed-out color and was often out of sync.
Those were made up by Pike Productions out of Chicago [at that time], but there is no longer a listing for them in the Chicago area. I don’t know if they are still in business.
If anybody manages to find one please let me know, too. I worked for GCC from the late 60s to the late 70s, and could kick myself for not latching onto a few of them during those years [who would have ever thought they would go bankrupt?]….
BTW, the originals were the GCC logo on a black background. they would get scratched and become worn, and due to the black background it was very obvious. Around 1970 they added a deep red keilidescope background so the scratches wouldn’t be so obvious and we could get a little more life out of them.
The building presently occupying the site of the old RKO Proctors 86th Street IS the Gimbels building. Gimbels went out of business about 86 or 87. I was still living in the neighborhood and watched as it was stripped down to the frame with only the concrete floors remaining. Some NYC law says when a vacant property is sold the asbestos has to be removed, and apparently this building had lots of it. When the exterior walls were removed you could see into the auditorium and also see the raked floor as though it was a cross-section architectural drawing. Through all this, the RKO marquee remained, all wrapped up in plastic, on the 86th St. side of the building. Once the offending asbestos was removed, the narrow section was built on top of existing frame, and the brick walls and windows installed (Gimbels was windowless) and the interior rebuilt as apartments with the entrance on 87th St. By the time the theatre was getting ready to re-open, Cineplex had taken over. The RKO marquee had been similar to that of the old RKO Warner-Cinerama-Strand on Times Square: a million little light bulbs cascading down the front of it and across the ceiling to the entrance doors. Cineplex re-did it, and of course it had to have the pink neon, and it was only slightly less dull than the way Duane Reade has it now.
I had heard that Clearview did not want to give up this theatre, but when they received the lease renewal it was put aside and forgotten about until it was too late – so the landlord signed Duane Reade.
Somewhere along the line the place was a burlesque house, though I don’t know under which name, and the infamous Blaze Starr was the headline act. The Woody Allen segment of “New York Stories” was filmed here. Also, once upon a time, a play titled “Once Upon a Mattress” played here. The female lead, a young, unknown actress, Carol Burnett, suddenly became known.
I worked here both before and after the plexing. The decor of the main auditorium is intact. Prior to the renovations, the ceiliing had serious water damage, and a fortune was spent to restore it and the rest of the decorative plasterwork. It was originally a traditional theatre with an orchestra and balcony. The orchestra floor was removed to give height to cinemas 2 and 3 in the basement, making the main theatre look like it has stadium seating. It’s actually the balcony which was extended down to the stage. Behind the ceiling panels of the lower cinemas is the decorative plasterwork of the underside of the balcony. The ceiling panels had to be installed for acoustics, but the original plan was to leave the plasterwork exposed. We had been told by Landmarks that all the decorative plasterwork had to be either restored or entombed, but could not be destroyed. As for the other cinemas in the plex, #4 was build under the storefronts, #5 was built in the vaults under the front sidewalk, #6 was built on the stage floor and #7 is in the fly loft over the stage. Projection, storage and restrooms are in the trap room area under the stage.
I haven’t been in there in years, but after the renovations were complete and the main house had the curtain closed and the chandelier and stage spots lit up it looked spectacular. The theatres in the cellar were plain boxes and I never really liked them, but the two in the stagehouse with exposed brick walls were more interesting than the 4 in the cellar. I think it was a fair trade-off: the restored main auditorium in exchange for small theatres squeezed into other areas of the building. It seems to have kept the place commercially viable. Otherwise, it would have sat empty and decaying until there was nothing left of it, like the Kieths-Flushing.
Westgate was an open-air shopping center until about 1969-70 when they roofed it over.
The architect of the Cinema was Ben Schlanger, who was also instrumental in the development of the Cinema I-Cinema II in New York City.
According to the April 2005 Loews directory the seat counts are: 697, 100, 100, 194, 193, 299, 299, 299, 299, 491, 717, 100, 100, 196, 193, 297, 299, 299, 299, 495 – total of 5966 seats. Since its opening one of the highest grossing theatres in the country. It was designed by David Rockwell.