Metro Twin
2626 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
2626 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 152 comments
I remember going to the Metro to see the Laurel & Hardy festival. I entered the theatre and was so impressed by the large auditorium and beautiful decor, I had to catch my breath. The place was packed with an appreciative audience, adding to the enjoyment further. Then about a year and a half later, I had a nightmare that the Metro was about to twin! That morning, I took the LIRR to Manhattan, and went to the Metro to see the theatre more than the show (from the start, I have hated the twinning of movie theatres originally built as single-screens, a hate that began with the Washington Theatre in New Jersey). Luckilly, a Humphrey Bogart double-feature was showing, so
I was able to enjoy the show at the now half-filled theatre. A few months later however, my nightmare came true…..
David Freeland’s article in last week’s NY Press noted that “a soon-to-be-named ‘celebrity operator’ has been hired to run the (Metro) and scout out cutting-edge films from around the world”. Is Peter Elson the ‘celebrity operator’ Albert Bialek makes reference to and what exactly qualifies Peter Elson as a ‘celebrity booker’, at least one worthy of note? The films shown in his previous properties – the various Embassy theatres in Times Square, the Embassy 72nd Street, and the Guild at Rockefeller Plaza – may have been mostly dignified (especially the majority of the bookings at the Embassy 72nd Street and the Guild), but I’d hardly classify them as being ‘cutting edge’.
Any chance one screen will be revival>?
The Midtown, designed by the architecture firm of Boak & Paris, opened in 1933. From 1948 through April 1972, it was part of the Brandt circuit, featuring sub-run foreign and independent fare starting in the 1950s. It exhibited films such as Belle de Jour, Shame (and just about every other Bergman movie), Breathless, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Repulsion, L’Avventura, Straw Dogs, and Gimme Shelter, though never in exclusive engagements. After Brandt’s management, it operated as an adult film venue.
In 1982, its operation was taken over by Dan Talbot’s New York Cinemas and it was twinned. Renamed the Metro, it opened for business as an exhibitor of repertory art house fare on October 1, 1982. The facility’s HVAC system was overhauled and new bathrooms were installed in 1986.
On July 17, 1987, management of the theatre was assumed by Cineplex Odeon. Clearview Cinemas operated the theatre from December 1998 through August 26, 2004.
It is expected to be re-opened, with new seats and screens and under the management of Peter Elson, in November 2004.
The theatre’s Art Deco facade received landmark designation in 1989.
Regarding some of the other comments about this theatre:
1. If one discounts for occassional short-term closings which generally mark the history of old cinemas, the Metro is the 2nd-longest operating movie theatre in Manhattan, exceeded in age only by the New Coliseum, which opened 13 years earlier. I am excluding Radio City which, though it opened at the end of 1932, is not primarily a film exhibitor.
2. Regarding the Midtown moniker, I think there are two, likely related, explanations. First off, the theatre is located at the “approximate” halfway point on Manhattan’s north-south axis. There are about 120 blocks above, and 120 below, the Metro. Second, one must consider the context of the times in which the theatre was built. It began operation less than two years after the George Washington Bridge opened to traffic on 10/25/1931. The location of the Loew’s 175th Street theatre, opened in 1930, is evidence of the belief of the time that the GWB would transform upper Manhattan and, probably, result in the neighborhood in which the Metro is located becoming known and thought of as “Midtown.”
May be some good news:
http://cinematreasures.org/news/12147_0_1_0_C
So I called the Landmarks Commission, feisty Upper West Sider that I am, and the recording states that the theater IS being refurbished and WILL remain a theater! This is terrific news, although I’ll miss those $6 prices from the terrible seats!
I have heard from reliable neighborhood sources that the Metro was to become a temporary home for the Gristides store across the street while the new high rise was being built. The “twinning” would be undone and once the new store could open it would be restored as a theater. Unfortunatly only the exterior has been landmarked. The interior would be a simple restoration. If the Rapp & Rapp’s State in Jersey City can be restored then so could this.
I had also heard that the property owner has been trying to put this together for quite some time. The property owner is also the landlord of the art deco building just south of the Metro.
Speaking of art deco, the architects of the Metro also designed the beautiful 315 Riverside Drive.
Wait! Just got in from a walk and Gristides has posted big signs; a letter from their CEO says that people have been posting scurrilous rumors about their takeover of this theater, and that he has spoken directly with the owner of the Metro Twin, who intends to keep it as a theater. Now, I have no idea if this is true or not — but an interesting development. I thought the front, at least, was landmarked…
I think it is so sad that this adorable little theater was cared for better. It’s not too late for them to restore the interior to its former glory but with modern comforts don’t you agree? The neighborhood has to speak out and write letters to the local community board and the landmarks commission. The N.Y.Landmarks Commission’s address is: 1 Center St. 9th floor north, N.Y., N.Y. 10007. Even if they must put commercial businesses inside, cafes, restaurants, bookstores or boutoques are better than a Gristedes supermarket! They can’t even maintain quality standards of cleanliness, appearance or freshness of food under normal supermarket circumstances across the street, why should they be allowed to takeover a charming landmark? This neighborhood is undergoing some great transitions, and is sensitive to what changes are made. A supermarket would make it a cheap, has been. Is thaour future?
THE EXTERIOR OF THE 1933 METRO THEATER
WAS DESIGNATED A NEW YORK CITY LANDMARK
ON JULY 11, 1989 BY THE
LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION.
IT IS STILL IN DANGER
OF BEING DESTROYED!!!!
CALL THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION
AT (212) 669-7923
TELL THEM OF THE THEATER’S CLOSING,
THE PLAN TO TURN IT INTO A GRISTEDES,
AND URGE THEM TO LANDMARK THE INTERIOR
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!
SAVE AN HISTORIC ART DECO THEATER AND
SAVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
ALSO CONTACT:
GRISTEDES CORPORATE OFFICE: (212) 956-5770
LOCAL COMMUNITY BOARD 7: (212) 603-3080
I walked into the Metro Twin while it was playing Manchurian and another film. I considered one night recently going up to catch Open Water again, just to say I saw a movie there. The larger auditorium is so strange with the high rake of the converted balcony seats, and the ‘main’ auditorium is odd with it’s small size and those two statues on the sides of that itty bitty screen.
I took a couple of shots before I was told no. I wish I got a better one of the cool front neon. sigh Maybe it’ll do a quick reopen before the ball smashes another chunk of New York coolness away.
Translation: Clearview was pushed into selling their Metro Twin lease by the property owner; they wouldn’t have booked ‘Garden State’ for an engagement scheduled to BEGIN August 27th otherwise. If it reopens again, it’ll likely be for the short-term and it’ll probably be an independent who’ll run it, as what happened with the Art Greenwich Twin in 1999-2000 after Loews Cineplex pulled out of that property and the landlord, wanting to maximize his or her profit on the space while waiting for Equinox to settle its property conversion plans with the various neighborhood commissions, ran that space as a non-chain house for its final 16 months of operation. Far more probable in the case of the Metro is that, unless there’s strong community backlash, its time of operation has come to an end.
No, it is NOT open. I live down the block and pass by every day. I emailed Clearview last week via their web site to find out what had happened and just got this response: “Clearview Cinemas has made a business decision to sell the lease for this theatre. Clearview ceased operation of the Metro Twin as of Friday, August 27, 2004. Unfortunately, we don’t have any further information regarding the plans for this location.”
Has anybody verified if the theater is open or not? I called moviefone and it lists showtimes for the theater.
I went to the Metro on the 25th to see The Manchurian Candidate
(2004) in the lower auditorium on a tiny little screen (1.85)and noticed there were no surround speakers. The film began and I realized the sound was MONAURAL which I havent heard in a new film in years. The theater was hot as hell as there was no air conditioning. I was the only person attending the first show. As I ran out the door 10 minutes into the show a very pleasant staff member said “Don’t you like the movie?” I said “No, the theater. It was so hot in there I didn’t even ask for a refund. Tired Clearview.
I called moviefone and it shows the theater open showing Garden State and Open Water. It gave showtimes for today. Can anybody confirm thhat it is still open.
The Metro has been – or likely still is – doomed for redevelopment(see my comment above from this past April 15th), but what’s odd is its listing in today’s NY Post Movie Clock makes mention of ‘Garden State’ playing there effective today, succeeding an engagement of ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ remake. What apparently happened is what occurred in January of 2003 when the Metro suddenly closed at that time – a dispute between Clearview and the landlord over the terms and length of Clearview’s lease on the property. Whether their latest dispute, renewed or otherwise, can be resolved, I’d have to imagine, is a pure wild-card at this point.
I wonder if thgis is temporary. I went to Clearviews web page and it now shows the Metro as an independant theater.Maybe it is just a matter of the theater chain being taken over. I thought when they reopened in 2003 it was supposed to be under an independant chain anyway.
Sadly, as of tonight, the marquee now reads “Sorry We’re Closed,” although as of last weekend it was still open. The low-rise building to its north is empty and I’ve heard they’re going to be razed, so things don’t look good for the Metro. I won’t miss the uncomfortable seats, but I will miss its mere existence as the only movie theater betw. 84th St. and the Magic Johnson on 125th. If anyone knows anything about the future of the building I’d love to know. Maybe at least the facade will be preserved!
I think he may have been the one who programmed it when it was revival and art films.
Wasn’t Dan Talbot/New Yorker Films (of the Lincoln Plaza and the late Cinema Studio) running the Metro for a few years before Cineplex blew into town?
a great theater ,small ,but with charm never has been able to find its way
The first features booked into the Metro when it reopened under the management of Cineplex Odeon in the summer of 1986 were ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ and ‘A Great Wall’. It operated as a first-run house until January of 2003 when the landlord suddenly shut its doors as the result of a lease dispute with Clearview Cinemas, which had assumed control of the Metro (and several other Manhattan theatres) in the fall of 1998 when Cineplex Odeon was forced to divest itself of a handful of sites around the country in anticipation of its merger with Loews Theatres. Suddenly, in April of ‘03, the Metro – still a Clearview property – opened for business again (showing 'Chicago’ and the Chris Rock comedy ‘Head of State’ on its two screens); however, rumors still abound of its eventual closing, to be possibly replaced by yet another UWS high-rise apartment tower.
the restoration was done by Cineplex Odeon and not Clearview Cinemas. The latter acquired the twin theater when Cineplex had to sell off some of its Manhattan theaters after it merged with Loews.
the theater is now open again.