I love seeing the old telephone exchange names in these ads. The “HA” in the Trylon’s phone number stood for HAvemeyer – which, interestingly enough, was the same appelation used in the exchange for my childhood home in Elmhurst. The Trylon was HAvemeyer 3, however, and we were HAvemeyer 6.
Andy… If you shot the photo, do you not have a recollection as to where the theater was? Surely a town or city – perhaps even a State would help narrow down the specific theater.
I recall hearing about that incident back when it was news. I remember finding it very ironic and quite disturbing. It had always been my experience at the Lyric and other Duece grinders during the ‘80’s, that audience participation was an anticipated part of the entire “entertainment package.” By April of '88, I was already growing impatient with the change in programming on 42nd Street (many of the theaters were trying to book more mainstream product for the top of the bill) and was disconcerted by the unpleasant odors that had started to overwhelm some of the old grind houses. This story was just another – and perhaps final – reason why I stopped turning to Times Square for my cinematic adventures.
That’s right – although in my day the Globe Theater entrance had been long before relocated around the corner as the Lunt-Fontanne. The Automat building is still recognizable – albeit shorn of any original facade elements – and I believe houses a discount emporium of some sort. I wonder if any of the original H&H interior elements remain – such as the elaborate columns and ceiling work. I doubt it, but I’ll have to poke my head in there one of these days.
Oh well. I used to love attending the summer rock and roll film festivals here. Man, they really cranked the sound up at those – and usually obtained awesome prints. I remember a screening of the “Grateful Dead Movie” here that blew my socks off. I thought Phil Lesh’s bass notes would lift me right out of my seat. Many memorable screenings of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” are also fondly remembered – I recall they used to screen Tim Curry’s music “video” for his minor hit “I Do the Rock” before “Rocky Horror” in the early ‘80’s.
Most memorable feature of the theater itself had to be those neon zig-zags on the side walls near the screen recess. They’d be lit up until showtime. Was there a small stage in front of the screen – perhaps a foot (or less) up from the auditorium floor? Sometimed the memory plays tricks!
Good luck finding parking ANYWHERE in the city! Lots will be expensive, but I’m sure – if you must drive – that you can easily locate a nearby pay lot by doing a google search for “kinney parking”, “icon parking” or “parking lots NYC.”
Wow! That solves a mystery that has plagued me for some 20 years (or however long since I purchased the Medved book). Well, OK, maybe it hasn’t plagued me… or even crossed my mind in the last decade or so. But for a number of months, trying to figure out which entry in that book was a hoax certainly vexed me!
There was a theater just a door or two down from the Horn & Hardart off B'way & 47th… I believe it was the Forum 47th aka Movieland – also demolished and replaced by a high rise building (the W Hotel).
There’s nothing moot about sharing good stories about a long lost theater, Laura of 8th St…. Welcome and thanks for the unique perspective! Do you remember the name of the pizzeria that was across the street and down at cellar level a few steps below 8th Street?
Hey Warren…. When I visited the restaurant I photographed on the site of the old Deluxe back in September, 2005, the interior was layed out in an L formation, much as I suspect the theater might have been. Perhaps a “flag” shape is more accurate, with a narrow corridor leading back from the street and then opening up on the left into a larger and deeper space. I believe this was most of the interior (if not all) of the old Deluxe. I could be mistaken. While the address ceratinly matches that of the old theater, the facade of the building is utterly non-descript and betrays no signs of a former theater – other than the layout I just described.
Next time you’re in that area, try taking a look at the building from the LIRR platform – which might afford a closer look, if not as high an overview as the IRT platform does. Due to the steep grade of the streets running behind the old theater, what is a two story structure on Roosevelt Avenue is actually quite low-lying on the back end. The LIRR platform is practically at street-level behind the theater block. My train passes through Woodside Station every day on the way to and from work.
I have no memory of a Tapia Theater, Lost and Al. Of course, my Manhattan movie-going back in the day was typically confined to the Times Square area, one or two houses in the Village and the midtown theaters in the upper 50’s. I didn’t get that far uptown too much. The Metro on B'way and 99th was about as far north as I ever went to see a movie.
Are they projecting film or video for their Bollywood presentations? Anyone know? I believe the Mayfair (now Bombay) in Fresh Meadows is strictly video projection.
Hmmm… those “indecent, obscene, salacious and shocking” marquee advertisements are precisely what kept me coming back to the Duece throughout my teens and into my early twenties! And the lax age-proofing policies of those theaters was also quite appealing.
That facade still exists along 165th, Warren, largely as it appears in the rendering – albeit without the marquee. I’m also sure some of the window fenestration has been altered, but I believe the decorative parapet work is still intact. I noticed it just the other day as I was traveling on the LIRR. I’ll have to take another look next time I pass on the train.
Wow, this page has been busy… Warren would be displeased with all the non-Ridgewood Theater content! Nice detective work on that Photo Drama Theater. That photo definitely shows what would have been at that time the future site of the 42nd Street Harris Theater. You can make out under the words “Photo Drama Theater” the sentence that begins “Now being constructed on this site”. The Harris had a very long marble clad foyer that led from the 42nd street entrance to the auditorium which sat on 41st Street, behind and to the east of the Candler Bldg, not within it.
Lost… did you post the image over in the Harris page?
Bklyn Jim… Is that Carl LaFong? Capital “L”, small “a”, capital “F”, small “o”, small “n”, small “g”?
Hollywood90038… you also could have posted this under the page for the Forum Theater where “Any Gun Can Play” is showing. I think it’s listed under the name Movieland, which is what it was known as under the BS Moss chain in the 80’s.
HDTV267… I believe the entire auditorium and foyer are (at least the walls and ceilings) currently house the Times Square Visitor’s Center.
Here’s a 2002 shot I snapped of the interior, and here’s a vintage view of the original auditorium. The mural to the left of the neon “Information” sign in the newer photo is painted within the original screen proscenium.
This photo of the entrance foyer was taken in 1993. A lobby display for “Robocop 3” and “The Firm” can be made out through the lobby doors with a poster for “Cool Runnings” closest on the right in a foyer display case.
Hondo59… I know what you mean about trying to photograph the outside of the theater. I was doing just that back in 2005 when a manager came out and warned me to cease and desist. Just to punctuate his comments, a burly “security” guy poked his head out of the front door to offer a menacing scowl. I wound up going back some months later and snapping additional photos through the security gates BEFORE the theater opened – otherwise I’d have never gotten a shot of that “Klansman” poster.
I’ve posted these photos individually before, but [url=http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters/Fair%20Theater%20Jackson%20Heights/]here’s a link to my photo album for the Fair[url] in case anyone wants to revisit.
I remember seeing “Jedi” opening weekend at the Loew’s Astor Plaza… It was the culmination of a long 3 year wait to finally have all those loose ends from “Empire” tied up. How would Han Solo be rescued? What about Vader’s admission to Luke that he was his father? And Yoda’s cryptic line “There is another” to Obi Wan? I was also eager to see more of the Emperor and to see Jabba the Hut realized for the first time (remember this was before the Special Editions of the original trilogy restored Jabba’s scene with Han to the first film).
I remember getting into the film right away – just as I had with “Empire” a few years earlier – and loving John Williams’ brilliant thematic scoring. The foreboding choral passages that accompanied the Emperor’s scenes particularly got me into the mood of the film. And that chase through the Endor forest struck me as even more thrilling than the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid field did in the first movie. The POV cinematography was most impressive on the Astor Plaza’s huge screen and the sounds of the forest rushing past the audience in 6-track Dolby really had us completely immersed in the action.
I can recall finding the Ewoks a bit cloying and feeling around the middle of the movie that this was just not as good as “Empire” had been, but the final battle between Luke and Vader was as compelling as anything in “Empire” and made me forget about the minor criticisms I had been formulating earlier during the movie. The point where the beaten and fatigued Vader summons his last bit of strength to turn on the Emperor and save Luke was as satisfying a moment as I have ever experienced in a motion picture. There was an immediate and electrifying roar of approval from the packed house as Vader sent the Emperor to his doom.
In retrospect, “Empire” is still my favorite of the original trilogy – which is to say, of the entire series. But it sure was difficult walking out of that theater in 1980 knowing that the answers to all those lingering questions would be some three years away. I think comparing the two films as movie going experiences, I was much more satisfied at the end of “Jedi” – warts and all – then I was after “Empire.” I might add, that I think the changes Lucas made to “Jedi” for the special editions have improved the movie greatly. I mean, is there anyone on the planet who preferred that horrible children’s TV show theme song that the Ewoks sang at the end of the original version to the more appropriately primal rhythms overdubbed in the special edition?!?
The marquee depicted in that 1973 image posted by Warren was the one closest to the corner of Seventh Avenue. This was the auxilliary entrance to the street level Rialto auditorium. I never went to the Rialto, but I understand that using this entrance, patrons entered the theater near the screen. The entrance to the basement level Rialto II was a few doors to the east – just out of frame to the left in the ‘73 image.
I’m positive of that because the Rialto II operated on a grind in the late ‘80’s while Cineplex Odeon re-opened the B'way entrance to the main theater as the Warner, playing first run. During that time, the auxilliary marquee depicted in the shot was used to call attention to the “10 Exciting Theaters” the Duece had to offer. Check out the image I posted above on February 10th, 2007, for illustration.
I’ve taken in my share of movies at the Cinemart, but , truth be told about the theater, the auditoriums are small and not very comfortable and the screen sizes lacking. It’s a drap little 5-screener that doesn’t book fare that is unique or different enough (like the Kew Gardens) to attract a crowd seeking an alternative to the standard studio fodder flooding the big screens at the newer stadium-style plexes.
Frankly, I visit this neighborhood now – usually with the kiddies in tow – more for Eddie’s ice cream than anything else.
Thanks for following up on that old thread, Chris P. I stand corrected. And to the folks who ran Aquarius, please accept my humble apologies for having besmirched your good name(s)! Ha ha!
Will Rogers Follies ran at the Palace from May of 1991 through September ‘93, if that helps date the top photo. I can’t recall when the building on the site of the old Castro showroom building went up – it is shown still under construction in your photo.
I love seeing the old telephone exchange names in these ads. The “HA” in the Trylon’s phone number stood for HAvemeyer – which, interestingly enough, was the same appelation used in the exchange for my childhood home in Elmhurst. The Trylon was HAvemeyer 3, however, and we were HAvemeyer 6.
Andy… If you shot the photo, do you not have a recollection as to where the theater was? Surely a town or city – perhaps even a State would help narrow down the specific theater.
I recall hearing about that incident back when it was news. I remember finding it very ironic and quite disturbing. It had always been my experience at the Lyric and other Duece grinders during the ‘80’s, that audience participation was an anticipated part of the entire “entertainment package.” By April of '88, I was already growing impatient with the change in programming on 42nd Street (many of the theaters were trying to book more mainstream product for the top of the bill) and was disconcerted by the unpleasant odors that had started to overwhelm some of the old grind houses. This story was just another – and perhaps final – reason why I stopped turning to Times Square for my cinematic adventures.
That’s right – although in my day the Globe Theater entrance had been long before relocated around the corner as the Lunt-Fontanne. The Automat building is still recognizable – albeit shorn of any original facade elements – and I believe houses a discount emporium of some sort. I wonder if any of the original H&H interior elements remain – such as the elaborate columns and ceiling work. I doubt it, but I’ll have to poke my head in there one of these days.
Oh well. I used to love attending the summer rock and roll film festivals here. Man, they really cranked the sound up at those – and usually obtained awesome prints. I remember a screening of the “Grateful Dead Movie” here that blew my socks off. I thought Phil Lesh’s bass notes would lift me right out of my seat. Many memorable screenings of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” are also fondly remembered – I recall they used to screen Tim Curry’s music “video” for his minor hit “I Do the Rock” before “Rocky Horror” in the early ‘80’s.
Most memorable feature of the theater itself had to be those neon zig-zags on the side walls near the screen recess. They’d be lit up until showtime. Was there a small stage in front of the screen – perhaps a foot (or less) up from the auditorium floor? Sometimed the memory plays tricks!
Good luck finding parking ANYWHERE in the city! Lots will be expensive, but I’m sure – if you must drive – that you can easily locate a nearby pay lot by doing a google search for “kinney parking”, “icon parking” or “parking lots NYC.”
Wow! That solves a mystery that has plagued me for some 20 years (or however long since I purchased the Medved book). Well, OK, maybe it hasn’t plagued me… or even crossed my mind in the last decade or so. But for a number of months, trying to figure out which entry in that book was a hoax certainly vexed me!
There was a theater just a door or two down from the Horn & Hardart off B'way & 47th… I believe it was the Forum 47th aka Movieland – also demolished and replaced by a high rise building (the W Hotel).
There’s nothing moot about sharing good stories about a long lost theater, Laura of 8th St…. Welcome and thanks for the unique perspective! Do you remember the name of the pizzeria that was across the street and down at cellar level a few steps below 8th Street?
Hey Warren…. When I visited the restaurant I photographed on the site of the old Deluxe back in September, 2005, the interior was layed out in an L formation, much as I suspect the theater might have been. Perhaps a “flag” shape is more accurate, with a narrow corridor leading back from the street and then opening up on the left into a larger and deeper space. I believe this was most of the interior (if not all) of the old Deluxe. I could be mistaken. While the address ceratinly matches that of the old theater, the facade of the building is utterly non-descript and betrays no signs of a former theater – other than the layout I just described.
Next time you’re in that area, try taking a look at the building from the LIRR platform – which might afford a closer look, if not as high an overview as the IRT platform does. Due to the steep grade of the streets running behind the old theater, what is a two story structure on Roosevelt Avenue is actually quite low-lying on the back end. The LIRR platform is practically at street-level behind the theater block. My train passes through Woodside Station every day on the way to and from work.
I have no memory of a Tapia Theater, Lost and Al. Of course, my Manhattan movie-going back in the day was typically confined to the Times Square area, one or two houses in the Village and the midtown theaters in the upper 50’s. I didn’t get that far uptown too much. The Metro on B'way and 99th was about as far north as I ever went to see a movie.
Are they projecting film or video for their Bollywood presentations? Anyone know? I believe the Mayfair (now Bombay) in Fresh Meadows is strictly video projection.
Hmmm… those “indecent, obscene, salacious and shocking” marquee advertisements are precisely what kept me coming back to the Duece throughout my teens and into my early twenties! And the lax age-proofing policies of those theaters was also quite appealing.
That facade still exists along 165th, Warren, largely as it appears in the rendering – albeit without the marquee. I’m also sure some of the window fenestration has been altered, but I believe the decorative parapet work is still intact. I noticed it just the other day as I was traveling on the LIRR. I’ll have to take another look next time I pass on the train.
Wow, this page has been busy… Warren would be displeased with all the non-Ridgewood Theater content! Nice detective work on that Photo Drama Theater. That photo definitely shows what would have been at that time the future site of the 42nd Street Harris Theater. You can make out under the words “Photo Drama Theater” the sentence that begins “Now being constructed on this site”. The Harris had a very long marble clad foyer that led from the 42nd street entrance to the auditorium which sat on 41st Street, behind and to the east of the Candler Bldg, not within it.
Lost… did you post the image over in the Harris page?
Bklyn Jim… Is that Carl LaFong? Capital “L”, small “a”, capital “F”, small “o”, small “n”, small “g”?
Hollywood90038… you also could have posted this under the page for the Forum Theater where “Any Gun Can Play” is showing. I think it’s listed under the name Movieland, which is what it was known as under the BS Moss chain in the 80’s.
HDTV267… I believe the entire auditorium and foyer are (at least the walls and ceilings) currently house the Times Square Visitor’s Center.
Here’s a 2002 shot I snapped of the interior, and here’s a vintage view of the original auditorium. The mural to the left of the neon “Information” sign in the newer photo is painted within the original screen proscenium.
This photo of the entrance foyer was taken in 1993. A lobby display for “Robocop 3” and “The Firm” can be made out through the lobby doors with a poster for “Cool Runnings” closest on the right in a foyer display case.
Yikes! Sorry.
This link should work better. Amazing what havoc a missing back-slash can wreak!
Hondo59… I know what you mean about trying to photograph the outside of the theater. I was doing just that back in 2005 when a manager came out and warned me to cease and desist. Just to punctuate his comments, a burly “security” guy poked his head out of the front door to offer a menacing scowl. I wound up going back some months later and snapping additional photos through the security gates BEFORE the theater opened – otherwise I’d have never gotten a shot of that “Klansman” poster.
I’ve posted these photos individually before, but [url=http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Queens%20Movie%20Theaters/Fair%20Theater%20Jackson%20Heights/]here’s a link to my photo album for the Fair[url] in case anyone wants to revisit.
I remember seeing “Jedi” opening weekend at the Loew’s Astor Plaza… It was the culmination of a long 3 year wait to finally have all those loose ends from “Empire” tied up. How would Han Solo be rescued? What about Vader’s admission to Luke that he was his father? And Yoda’s cryptic line “There is another” to Obi Wan? I was also eager to see more of the Emperor and to see Jabba the Hut realized for the first time (remember this was before the Special Editions of the original trilogy restored Jabba’s scene with Han to the first film).
I remember getting into the film right away – just as I had with “Empire” a few years earlier – and loving John Williams’ brilliant thematic scoring. The foreboding choral passages that accompanied the Emperor’s scenes particularly got me into the mood of the film. And that chase through the Endor forest struck me as even more thrilling than the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid field did in the first movie. The POV cinematography was most impressive on the Astor Plaza’s huge screen and the sounds of the forest rushing past the audience in 6-track Dolby really had us completely immersed in the action.
I can recall finding the Ewoks a bit cloying and feeling around the middle of the movie that this was just not as good as “Empire” had been, but the final battle between Luke and Vader was as compelling as anything in “Empire” and made me forget about the minor criticisms I had been formulating earlier during the movie. The point where the beaten and fatigued Vader summons his last bit of strength to turn on the Emperor and save Luke was as satisfying a moment as I have ever experienced in a motion picture. There was an immediate and electrifying roar of approval from the packed house as Vader sent the Emperor to his doom.
In retrospect, “Empire” is still my favorite of the original trilogy – which is to say, of the entire series. But it sure was difficult walking out of that theater in 1980 knowing that the answers to all those lingering questions would be some three years away. I think comparing the two films as movie going experiences, I was much more satisfied at the end of “Jedi” – warts and all – then I was after “Empire.” I might add, that I think the changes Lucas made to “Jedi” for the special editions have improved the movie greatly. I mean, is there anyone on the planet who preferred that horrible children’s TV show theme song that the Ewoks sang at the end of the original version to the more appropriately primal rhythms overdubbed in the special edition?!?
The marquee depicted in that 1973 image posted by Warren was the one closest to the corner of Seventh Avenue. This was the auxilliary entrance to the street level Rialto auditorium. I never went to the Rialto, but I understand that using this entrance, patrons entered the theater near the screen. The entrance to the basement level Rialto II was a few doors to the east – just out of frame to the left in the ‘73 image.
I’m positive of that because the Rialto II operated on a grind in the late ‘80’s while Cineplex Odeon re-opened the B'way entrance to the main theater as the Warner, playing first run. During that time, the auxilliary marquee depicted in the shot was used to call attention to the “10 Exciting Theaters” the Duece had to offer. Check out the image I posted above on February 10th, 2007, for illustration.
I’ve taken in my share of movies at the Cinemart, but , truth be told about the theater, the auditoriums are small and not very comfortable and the screen sizes lacking. It’s a drap little 5-screener that doesn’t book fare that is unique or different enough (like the Kew Gardens) to attract a crowd seeking an alternative to the standard studio fodder flooding the big screens at the newer stadium-style plexes.
Frankly, I visit this neighborhood now – usually with the kiddies in tow – more for Eddie’s ice cream than anything else.
Thanks for following up on that old thread, Chris P. I stand corrected. And to the folks who ran Aquarius, please accept my humble apologies for having besmirched your good name(s)! Ha ha!
Will Rogers Follies ran at the Palace from May of 1991 through September ‘93, if that helps date the top photo. I can’t recall when the building on the site of the old Castro showroom building went up – it is shown still under construction in your photo.
Thanks for clearing that up, Warren. I figured it might have been a lodge if not a theater.