Academy of Music
126 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
126 E. 14th Street,
New York,
NY
10003
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 158 comments
Hey East Coast Rocker, yes Ron Poole is my dad. Me and my sister used to work backstage with Marsha, and my mom worked the bar downsairs by the ladies room. Do I know you? Or will I remember you?? or do you remember me? If you want to you can Email me privately :0)
Hey Noel if your dad is Ron Poole yes I knew him. He worked for UA as a district manager. So I take it you were not related to Gus Boviani and his family.
I worked there for about a year after Ron D opened it back up. Who is/was your dad? Prior to the change over the manager of the Academy was from the UA chain. His wife and daughter were his assistant managers. Yeah I know all about the archive room. I wish I had the time to snoop around in there but they usually had the consession stand locked. The spiral stair case you talk about was above the dressing rooms. Before you got to it there was a big a$$ blower motor with a 12" wide belt. That was part of the old air conditioning system. I left there shortly before Elton John played there and one of the things he asked for was to have the chandileer working.. They had to lower it with extra lines to make sure that the cable it was held up with did not snap. On a few occasions I had to climb the ladder on the back wall stage right side to get up to the fly level. Man that was a scary feeling knowing therer was nothing between you and the ground.
Great shots of the Anderson Theater and the Palladium guys!!! The rock photographer Elliot Landy also has some great shots of The Who and Janis Joplin performing there back in the 60s. Somehwere in the early 90s when i started to get really interested in East Village history, I discovered that the building at 66 2nd Ave. was the Anderson Theater. I never did get to go in before they demolished it and turned it into an apartment building, but I used to walk by constantly. I can see the catwalks on the side of the theater in my head right now. A friend of mine snuck in their during demolition and told me it was incredible. That’s OK, I got to go into the Fillmore East/Saint about a year before they took that down, so I don’t feel so bad about missing the Anderson. Going in the former Fillmore was amazing and heartbreaking all at the same time. The shots of The Palladium bring back some cool memories. I wish it still looked like that around here. I hate to say it, but I never actually went to a show there and hence never went inside. From the time I started living in New York City in 1986 until about 10 years later I never thought for a moment that they would be doing what they’ve done and continue to do to this town. It’s not just theaters and old buildings either. Businesses that have been in my neighborhood in the E. Village for years are all getting priced out. There was a great family run Mexican restaurant on Ave A and 11th that I just discovered has close along with a Chinese place up the street on Ave. A and 13th that has also just closed. I don’t get it. This town is getting frightfully generic by the minute. It’s sad.
Hey East Coast Rocker, did you work at the Palladium after Ron Delsner reopened it? My father was the manager there until Delsner left… the last show was Zebra, I remember that night well. My father stayed on for a bit when Robell and Scrager (sp?) took over but he could not take it anymore. The chandelier that was there was dropped to the ground and destroyed. I still have a few pieces of the crystals. My father used to take me all the way to the top where the circle was around the chandelier… there was this narrow, spiral staircase that seemed to go up forever… it was freakin dangerous, a few of the steps were actually missing. When you got up there you could look down over the whole orchestra, it was an awesome view.
I miss that place and can not believe what it became after Ron Delsner left it, and that it was just demolished like it never existed. On the 3rd floor behind the concession stands there was a HUGE storage room that no one used. We used to talk about turning it into a large loft type apartment. Back there were tons of old papers and artifacts. I have some stuff from that back room, but I am sure they demo’d all of the stuff that was in there along with the building. I can not even imagine the history that was in that area that I never saw and no one will ever see now.
I am trying to get together some info on the Palladium and put it up on my webpage… www.noelgypsy.netfirms.com … I have a pic or two up there now, if anyone has anything (photos, stories, etc) they would like to offer for me to post, that would be greatly appreciated. I have alot of old pictures that I will start scanning to post on the site. I have some pictures of the control backstage that are awesome, and many pictures of the chandelier.
Hey Sonoman that’s Rocker not Rob. Yes it was the Anderson. I just could not recall the name cuae there were 2 other theatres on Second Ave back then that and the Orphium. I was just looking on another window and found nothing here on CT for the Anderson which is/was located at 66 Second Ave http://www.noehill.com/cockettes/newyork.asp this is the only thing I have found so far on the Anderson. I was at that particular show in Nov 71.
Here is more info:
Anderson Theatre – was located at 66 2nd Ave. in the lower east side of NYC – 5,000 seats – theater entrance structure is still there with that same address but it is now a pharmacy business. The theater wrapped around a corner building and part of the theater was also on the south side of 4th Street. The 4th St. side of the theater is long gone replaced by some modern housing – began as Yiddish Playhouse circa late 1800s or early 1900s, then used as a music venue in the late 1960s – Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame Group, the Yardbirds (1968); Cockettes – early 1970s
http://www.world-theatres.com/#BROADWAY_THEATRES
PS. Control Data Corperation introduced computerized ticketing in 1969 under the name of “Ticketron” Years later another company took them to court because they claimed Ticketron had a monoply on venues in the U.S. and they lost. Here is the irony about that. The company that took them to court was none other then Ticketmaster. Now who is the monopoly? A few years back Pearl Jam wanted to tour and sell their own tickets for the venues they were planning to play. They did it for the fans who were tired of paying high prices for concert venues where Ticketmaster was at. Ticket master refused to let them do it. Later on a deal had been cut where as the ticket prices would be lower. TMaster has a good racket going. They get you for the price of the tickets and a surcharge for each one. They toss in what they call a facility charge plus they get a percentage from the promoter and the act. Makes you wonder why the cost of going to a concert is astronomical.
Hey East Coast Rob…the other venue on 2nd Ave you are referring to is the Anderson Theater. Many great great shows there, although the venue always flew under the radar. Fillmore patrons remember the Anderson. I saw the Dead at the Anderson..the show was a Hell’s Angels benefit, and they supplied the security AND an incredible amount of acid (dare I say it on this site). Overtly handing it out to willing takers. As for Allison Steele, she was not a natural beauty, but from where I sat in Wollman Rink Central Park (The Byrds concert) she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
Funny you should bring up theGrateful Dead. I was in 10th grade at Grady Vocational HS. I called up and said I was doing a review for the HS newspaper and they gave me backstage passes for Nov 11 through the 14th. At that time the Dead had played 2 other venues in Manhattan. One of them was the Fillmore East and another theatre down the block on 2nd ave. It was something I would never forget and i got to meet Allison Steel the Night Bird from WNEW FM 102.7. Man that was a fantasy come true.
I actually collect pre 1970 ticket stubs, and I call them “theatrical” tickets as opposed to the Ticketron or Telecharge tickets. About 99% of my collection are theatrrical style stubs, as computer generated simply did not exist until 1970. Many of my stubs glow like the day they were printed. One thing is for certain, the theater style stubs have so much more character than the computer ones, so relating to the event is much more tangible. By the way, I was going through a bunch of unidentified stubs yesterday, looking to match venues and dates to bands. I came across one ffrom the 46th St. Theatre in Brooklyn, the date Novemebr 13, 1970. Thanks to the Cinema Treasures message board (for the 46th street theater) I was able to identify the stub, which turned out to be the Grateful Dead. An awesome and rare find.
I’m finding that my old ticketmaster and teletron computer printed stubs are fading away really bad! I have one or two that I can just barely make out the concert information. Pretty soon all that will be left is the boilerplate formatting. The old colored stubs that I purchased directly from the venue box offices are holding up quite well. And those terrifc unique-to-each-show “glitter” tickets that came from the Grateful Dead’s ticketing office look as good as they day they arrived in the mail! I remember asking ushers to carefully rip the stubs so as not to ruin the artwork – sometimes vainly, sometimes successfully.
Hey folks…I’m a ticket stub collector of rock concerts, and so by default a theater maven. In fact more than 50% of my ticket stubs have NO BAND NAME on them, so I must google myself silly until I succeed at matching the band to the date and venue. If anyone is especially knowledgable about concerts that occured at the Academy of Music and other New York City venues, I can throw out a whole bunch of dates and venues, and would welcome any incite as to who performed at those those particular shows. And East Coast Rob, I have a hunch you could be a trememndous resource for me. If you’d like to contact me try me at
The Commodore (Fillmore East) was a Loews theater, not RKO.
The Fillmore East was the former RKO Commodore Theatre, and NOT on 14th Street. THAT structure is now a condo, but the former Fox’s Academy of Music is now the site of an NYU dormitory.
I did something here and don’t know what but it said it took my name off the mailing list for this thread. I hope not.
Anyone know if the Savoy theatre and hotel are still around. it was down the street from where BONDS used to be in the middle of the block.
Nope, The W is on the southwest corner of 47th and 7th! You must be thinking about the Embassy Suites Hotel that wraps around the Palace Theater.
The W Hotel is between 6th & 7th Avenues, while the Forum 47th St. fronted on the west side of Broadway.
That’s the one! Sorry you didn’t have a chance to see it, but I think you got to see most of them. There are many that I never got to see which is why I so treasure the memories of the ones I did get to see.
That would have been the old Forum 47th which became B.S. Moss' Movieland in the ‘80’s. Without checking the page, I think it was built and opened as the Central Theater. I believe it is listed here under the Movieland name. It’s one of the few Times Square theaters I never got a chance to visit before it was razed. The old storefronts on Broadway between 47th and 46th – where the theater’s main entrance was – are still standing, including the former Howard Johnson’s (now vacant) and former Horn & Hardart automat (now two level discount retailer). The Roxy Deli (adjacent to the old H&H) occupies Movieland’s former entrance and lobby space.
Hi Ed, I don’t remember the name of the theater, but I know exactly where it was. I believe the club lasted until about 1996. It stood exactly where the W Times Square Hotel stands now. The entrance to the club was on the side street pretty much where the hotel entrance is now. There were two dance floors, the main one, was where the orchestra section was. The other was two levels higher though it was not part of a balcony. The upper dance floor was known as the Tierry Mugler room and was designed by its namesake. In additon, there was a wonderful roofdeck where you could see and hear the cacophany of Times Square. One of my favorite features of this club though was the winding slide that went from the balcony down to the orchestra level. For $1 you got a potato sack and slid down to the main action below. I miss those days! I guess I should find out the name of the theater so I can post this memory there.
Where exactly was Club USA, Luis? And what former theater did it occupy?
Oh the memories! I never attended the Palladium before it became a disco, but I spent many a night there when it did. It was a beautiful space and I don’t think there will ever be clubs again like the clubs of that era: The Saint (Fillmore East), Studio 54 and Club USA in Times Square. All old movie palaces that that were adapated to wonderful effect. The clubs of today can’t possibly compare. I will always treasure those memories. It’s odd. I treasure other theaters because I saw films there, but these I have a different affinity for because I danced there. I wish we still had all of them!
The last people to put on anything there totaly destroyed the place. THE HUGE chandeleer that was rebuild that hung from the center cieling was taken down and who knows where that is if it is still around. I heard it cost $50k to restore.
One Saturday afternoon in early- or mid-1980s I was down in Union Square area and went over to look at the Academy. I went around back and noticed that the big loading doors on the rear stage wall were open because a truck was parked there for unloading. I walked up to get a look inside of the stage and auditorium, but was disappointed to find only a brick wall. The loading door at the Academy opened onto a corridor behind the stage and not the stage itself. It was really a huge theatre and its west side-wall really was an impressive bulk.
I was not aware of that one but there will never be a place like the NY Academy of Music.