Beekman Theatre

Over on e-Bay till Feb. 7th. someone is selling the Beekman Theatre’s front door Art-Deco pull & push hardware. It is item #7586678750

howardbhaas. I made an error with the closing of the state that will close at the end of the month. As for the e-walk i work for loew’s and the sale to regal is going on> It looks like unless something changes it will be regal. as of jann 27 Amc will take over loew’s and for the first time in 102 years, there will be no loew’s theaters

A January 12 post above says the Loews State is now closed, but it is stilll listed with movies on Loews site as of today. Same post says Regal will operate Loews E-Walk. Is that mere speculation? Besides Clearview, there are other companies such as National Amusements or Crown that are in the general region that could do so.

As to the Beekman demolition photos, yes, thanks, Dave, for the photos of this sad story.

You’re very welcome. Here are two final images, January 21, 2006:
I believe that is the the last vestige of the raked floor of the balcony, at the rear wall of the site:

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Gone. The trees that flanked the Beekman entrance remain.

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As indicated in the very first post for this theatre, this was one my local theatres growing up. Thanks to AAlvarez for coming up with these lists. What they tell us is how flexible Rugoff/Cinema 5/RKO Century/Cineplex and finally Clearview were with this theatre in the variety of first run, Hollywood, foreign art and revival programming. When I get back to NY it distresses how few theatres are left on the East Side and though multiplexes and advance booking serve their purpose, it was a lot more fun when you used to line up for hours on a cold night around the block at the Beekman, the Cinema 1 or the Sutton.
For the record, from those lists I was there for South Pacific, Laurel & Hardy’s Roaring Twenties, The Two of Us, The Maltese Bippy, Lady L, The Liquidator, Z, The Confession, The Sorrow and the Pity, Little Murders (and I’m sure Paper Chase not Brewster McCloud), The Exorcist,Animal House, The Milagro Beanfield War, When Harry Met Sally, Mad Max 2 The Road Warrior, Clean and Sober and probably a few more

Wait a minute. You mean somebody named Frank Devlin DIDN’T sign the Declaration of Independence? No wonder I failed history.

That’s really cool astrocks. You were probably working there the first time I went to Radio City in 1973 to see the Christmas Show. I remember they showed the animated Disney’s ‘Robin Hood’ before the actual live show started. They don’t so that anymore.

Astrocks-Are they closing the Loew’s on 42 St.??

Wow that must have been great managing Radio City 35 years ago.

Mikeoaklandpark-2nd Avenue Deli closed literally out of nowhere last week. Their new landlord wanted to up their rent approx. $10,000 per month. Aside from feeling ripped-off, I think they were just plain insulted. They started taking the signs down this past Tuesday. Shame.

davebazooka-You are SO on the money with your comment. I’m not a native New Yorker, but have lived here 20 years. It’s interesting to hear you say that the ‘reinvention’ of New York started in the 70s. Let me tell you…it was a slow process that seems to have only excelerated over the last 5-10 years. In regard to all of the changes that are happening here, I find myself often in conversation with my friends about how things used to be cooler and edgier in New York City and we all agree that we probably got to see the last good chunk of the ‘Sin City’ that New York was known as. Dark, fun, scary, interesting, historical. A place that challenged not only physically but intellectually. That’s no revisionist history, that’s just a plain fact. I wanted to be in New York City because it was waaaay different from the monotony of the suburbs I grew up in, now it’s becoming everything I wanted to get away from.

Now that I am nearing 40 years old, what frustrates me the most is how the youth that are moving into this town now have absolutely no…well…BALLS for lack of a better term. I always saw New York as a place for experimentation by young people. Art, music, poetry, theater, and fortunately or unfortunately, sex and drugs. Now?…forget it, the only place you see a large congregation of kids is at Starbucks. That seems to be the new ‘hang-out’ for the youth of today. Good luck! No flavor, no curiosity, no nothing. A total generation of Paris Hiltons and Ryan Seacrests. Disgusting!!!!!

In the 1970s when New York City was “reinventing” itself, it did so in the image of wealthy suburbanites. Now it is primarily a town for rich financial types or corporate lawyers, and no one else. Many of these are notoriously conservative and not interested in diversity or urban “edginess,” so they bring the bland homogeneity of the suburbs to the cities and the result is the metropolis of today, increasingly governed by the interests of the wealthy, and as dull as the ‘burbs. Everyone and everything else, including old movie theatres and other landmarks, and the middle class, are expected to disappear, and there will ultimately be little support for them.

I realize this is a simplification, and it is not meant to generalize about all wealthy people, many of whom moved to the city to escape the suburbs and are probably equally disappointed about the city’s genericization. As a native New Yorker I am not sorry to see the days of high crime and widespread deteriorating neighborhoods behind us. But there is definitely a change for the worse afoot in NYC which is at risk of becoming nothing more than a giant boring mall.

Sad to see that. I was by there last night while riding the bus downtown. It was dark so I couldn’t see much. But since we’re on the subject here’s a short list of places vital to the landscape of New York City that we have lost in addition to the Beekman in the past year and some that will be gone by this time next year.

Howard Johnson’s Times Square (in business since 1959) GONE
2nd Avenue Deli (also in business for roughly 50 years) GONE
The Variety Theater (early 1900s?) GONE
The Sutton Theater (1950s) GONE

…and soon to be a memory by this time next year: legendary rock club CBGB.

The current…ahem..political climate, IMHO shares the blame for this genericization of New York City and it’s disgusting. In the last 10 years New York City has lost ALOT of it’s character. I’m running out of reasons to continue to pay high rent and deal with the shortcomings of living here.

I had hoped to get there while they were removing the Beekman logo, but I did not. They probably took it down very quickly so no one would stop and gawk. I peered through the black fence to see if it was lying around anywhere but it is nowhere to be seen. It may have been tossed into the wreckage pile and will be carted off with the rest of the building. Let’s hope it is indeed someplace safe! I think the Beekman logo out in that theatre on LI may have come off the original marquee, not this last vestige on the parapet, but I am not sure. :–(