Loew's Commodore Theater
105 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
105 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 149 comments
Correction – The first year’s membership fee to The Saint was $150.00
In regard to dave-bronx’s comments, The Saint did not use 6th Street as an entrance. I always entered through the lobby on Second Avenue, as that is where admission was collected. That may have changed after the dome was removed in 1988 and the place went on for another two years, but I doubt it. The 6th St. exits were off the bar/lounge area and could not accomodate the entering crowd.
I am pretty confident that the design of The Saint was to be an experience much like entering Radio City Music Hall. The idea being to guide the patron into an ever expanding space, from the intimacy of the lobby to the expanse of the dance floor.
I remember the first year’s membership fee to The Saint was $125.00.
Bill Graham has headaches with the Hell’s Angels, as he did out in Frisco as well. One night a bunch of them came into the outer lobby and demanded to be let in. Graham came out and told them that the show was sold out, and anyway, no one was getting in without a ticket. At which one of the “Angels” threw a heavy chain at him, striking Graham above the bridge of his nose and drawing blood. But Graham stood his ground and the bikers soon stood down and dispersed. He didn’t have trouble with them after that. At least, that’s how Graham relates the story in the biography composed of interviews with him and those associated with him over the years titled “Bill Grafham Presents.” Of even greater trouble for Graham was the neighborhood’s group of hippie, anarchist squatters who called themselves the Mother[fornicators]. But that’s a story for another day.
The Saint gave away the juice and draft beer. BYOB was not allowed. There is (or was) some kind of loophole where they could give away the beer, but if they sold it a license was required. Plus, the members paid about $350 for the season, entitling them to pay only a $12 door charge as opposed to $25 door charge for guests of members. Since there was no choice of libation they sort of had to provide something free of charge.
I was always under the impression The Saint served only overpriced juice and people brought their own stash.
The city seemed to feel that second avenue was already too congested and they did not want movie crowds blocking the sidewalk.
The Hell’s Angels seem to rule that area as their headquarters were on 3rd street. The local police kept their distance. I believe this is still the case today.
Cineplex Odeon had to be the worst theatre chain in the world. Their houses were poorly designed crap. They didn’t have a clue, that’s for sure!
Why would the city want the Cineplex entrance on the residential street when, as a theatre, it was always on the commercial avenue? The Saint used 6th St. for the main entrance (except for ‘special occasions’) after they got a liquor license, and changed their address to 233 E. 6th St., but that was because there was a church opposite the main entrance on 2 Av. The Liquor Authority will not allow a licensed premises within x-number of feet of a church. The first several years they had no liquor license and served no liquor, they just gave away beer.
And, the Hell’s Angels being referred by the NYPD? What’s up with that?
Among the problems that kept Cineplex Odeon from creating a multiplex here was a demand by the city that the entrance be moved to 6th Street, not 2nd Avenue, a requirement opposed by local residents for obvious reasons.
I do not recall any concerns about preserving the interior since that had been already dramatically altered during its time as The Saint.
I went in several times for water tank inspections while Cineplex held the lease. At the local police’s request, the Hell’s Angels were our security guards.
Those of you with an intimate knowledge of this theater will, no doubt, recognize that some of the above information is incorrect. For one thing, the theater did not sit parallel to Second Avenue it sat parallel Sixth Street and the side exits of the theater opened out onto the sidewalk along Sixth. The auditorium sat, essentially, on the same footprint as the apartment building that sits on the site today, Hudson East. I was initially thrown off by an old aerial photo of that corner, which made the building look like it lay the other way. I’ve since bought a copy of Amalie R. Rothchilds wonderful photo memoir, “Live At The Fillmore East,” which contains many excellent interior and exterior shots of the FE.
Only the narrow lobby portion of the building opened up onto Second Avenue, with an outside lobby covered in small tiles and display cases of, first, coming movie attractions, and, later, coming bands. This went indoors to an outer lobby (ticket window) and then an inner lobby (concessions).
Continuing straight, to the west, you walked into the auditorium. Here is another mistaken piece of intormation. Looking from this pont toward the stage, the box seat that held the sound board was on your right (stage left)—not on the other side, as I mistakenly said—and the box seats that held the light board was on your left (stage right). Both boxes were at about the second storey level, and directly above them at third storey level were oepnings on either side for the spotlight operators.
VIPs watched the show from the sound box, sitting behind the crew where they were screened from view by the audience below. John Lennon & Yoko Ono, who were spending time in New York prior to making the move official, came to some shows, and at 2 a.m. on the morning of June 5, 1971 (or was that the morning of the 6th?) came down on stage with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention to play three songs. Bob Dylan, who had moved his family back down from upstate and was living in the Village in the early ‘70s, is said to have watched some shows from the sound box as well.
Jerry Kovar, above, asked about a listing of all the concerts at the Fillmore East. If you go back to the www.fillmore-east.com Website and look down the left side, click on the tab labled Show Listings for a complete list of the shows from the begining, March 8, 1968 until the end, June 27, 1971. Also of interest to readers on the subject of this theater as the Fillmore East and in it’s previous decades as a movie palace, go down the left side and click on Artifacts, then click on Artifacts 4 to see a layout of the seating for the theater.
Here is another link that many of you will enjoy: http://www.davidgallery.net
When you arrive at the site, click on Photographers, then Amalie R. Rothchild. She was one of the theater’s official photographers for two years, and among the five pages devouted to her here are shots of many of the artists who performed at the Fillmore East in action on stage, but there is also a nice shot of the stage taken from the right, or east, during a performance of the Grateful Dead, with the box above stage right that was used by the sound crew; a shot from the back of the upper balconey down at the stage as jimmi Hendrix and The Band of Gypsies rehearse; and a nice shot of the main entrance shot from across Second Avenue.
The link to the clip, Part I, is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cswbMis-bR4
Also in the clip is a view south down Second Avenue, as well as north toward the church, an explaination of one of the components of the Joshua Light Show, and a view across the orchestra seats from left to right, or toward the east. Above I said a box seat on the south side, but, of course, that would have actually been the west side as the auditorium stood parallel to Second Avenue with only the lobby portion and it’s upper floors (which still stands) abutting Second Avenue.
Leave off the qoutes and the word East and just type: Welcome to the Filmore. That will also bring up a better print of the clip. There are two posted but one is of a poorer quality. I’ll go back and get you a link. There appears to be three clips from the documentary posted. This Part I shows bands being listed on the marquee and a shot of the large church up the street, crews working inside with a view of one of the box seats on the South side, Bill Graham on the phone and talking about his criteria for booking bands, a shot of the audience in the balconies and up through the orchestra section from the stage, Graham encouraging the audience to register to vote and introducing the Byrds with them decending a spiral staircase from the dressing rooms, the band playing “Jesus Is Just Alright,” and a brief snippet of Albert King on stage.
Maybe you could post a link to that because when I type it with quotes and without I don’t get what you talk about.
Wow. Thanks. It’s virtually impossible to find elements of the theatre other than a column here or there.
For those who would like to see some film footage of the exterior and interior of the theater as the Fillmore East, go to YouTube and type into the search window: “Welcome to the Fillmore East” to see some clips from the 1970 documentary made for New York Public Television. The late Bill Graham gives a brief introduction for a rebroadcast done in the 1980s.
I co-stage managed the last Black Party at the Saint. And did the same w/ a video premiere party around the same time. Both events were within the last year of the club. I remember the wall-to-wall crowds, and people hanging out on the floor of the balcony, which had no seats. The place was amazing. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the year, but the Saint was the most popular club in the country, if not the world, one all the others tried to copy, even moreso than the Palladium on E. 14th.
WHEN I WENT IN THE OLD THEATER BEFORE IT WAS TORN DOWN IT WAS GUTTED….IT WAS A SHELL OF THE SAINT, NOT THE FILLMORE EAST…IT WAS BLACK, NO BAR, NO STAGE, NO STAIRS EXCEPT THE SPIRAL STAIRS FROM THE SAINT, TO THE UPPER BALCONEY….IT STILL COULD HAVE MADE A COOL CONCERT SPACE…THE NEIGHBORHOOD NEVER WOULD HAVE ALLOWED IT. BOB HERMAN TRIED TO SAVE IT…NOBODY WOULD GET INVOLVED….ITS A SHAME REALLY…
Well, whenever you are presented with a theatre, go to imdb to confirm with the shooting locations. For August Rush…http://imdb.com/title/tt0426931/locations
The Loew’s Commodore Theatre/Fillmore East on 2nd Ave. was mentioned in Andy Warhol’s film, “Trash.” That’s the scene where Holly Woodlawn brings a boy home then later tells Joe Dellesandro she picked him up in front of the Fillmore East. Total TRASH!
Let me try this agian, In the recent movie August Rush they used a theatre that was supposed to be the Fillmore East.
In the recent movie they used a theatre that was supposed to be the Fillmore East.
I agree that the Commodore was never Loew’s flagship house. That booklet was a marketing tool to promote membership in the club, and we all know that when marketing a product there is a tendency to over-embellish the facts of that product. Or, it could have been an innocent error, associating the former name of the place, Commodore, with the word “flagship”.
Thanks for sharing that, dave-bronx. I noticed that one passage from the text of that scanned booklet refers to the building having been at one time the “flagship” of Loew’s Theatres. As Warren would say, “What rot!” I’d imagine that the Commodore was never more than a late run nabe. In NYC – particularly in Manhattan – I’d imagine the flagship of the chain would have been the Loew’s State in Times Square for most of the Commodore’s existence as a cinema.
Among those items are floor plans of the main floor, the added mezzanine containing the dance floor, and the upper part of the sheared-off balcony.