This was an Oscar Hammerstein project opened in 1901. According to the NYT opening announcement;
“The facades of the the structure will be of Wyoming blue stone and fancy brick with terra cotta ornaments of elaborate design. The auditorium will have three balconies, and there will also be a roof garden. Over the stage will be placed tablets bearing the names of famous playwrights and musical composers.”
January 19, 1915 – The spectatators at Miner’s Theatre, 312 Eighth Avenue, were startled during the exhibition of a wild west film …by the three pistol shots…
February 22, 1923 – Old Miner’s Theatre eighth avenue property sold…
April 26, 1925 – The Chelsea, a Movie House, once Miner’s Eighth Avenue, is badly damaged.
This was the second Miner’s Theatre at this location. The first one having burned down in 1902. This is the 1903 theatre, soon to be in the heart of the sleazy tenderloin.
It appears that the Palace may have been a couple of blocks away from the Palace Annex which was once known as the St. Nick prior to 1916.
Here are some blurbs form the NYT:
May 18, 1914 – Wolfsohn and August have leased…for the Esalmo Amusement company for a term of six years, two stores and the St. Nick Theatre, northeast corner of 174th street and St. Nicholas Avenue
September 9, 1916 – J.K. Moor has leased for a term of years the motion picture theatre at the north east corner of 174th street and St. Nicholas Avenue to the National City Amusements Enterprises who operate the theatre at the southeast corner of 176th street and St. Nicholas Avenue. It will be known as the Palace Annex.
November 21, 1921 – The police think boy burglars were responsible for the robbery of four stores in St. Nicholas Avenue between 174th street …(including) The Palace Annex Motion Picture Theatre where they obtained several hundred pennies.
Hammerstein never sold this theatre to his friend Marcus Loew.
Hammerstein’s theatre was foreclosed in 1915. In January 1916 it was leased to a sponsor who changed the policy to movies and renamed it the Biltmore with hopes of becoming the east side version of the Broadway Strand. It was a short-lived experiment.
After much deliberation the bank auctioned it off in March, 1918. The buyer, Manhattan Life Insurance, promptly resold it a month later. The theatre changed hands again several times until Marcus Loew took it over in late 1923 and put movies back in, four years after Hammerstein’s death.
This is still listed in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook although the New York Times reports that the property was sold in 1945 and intended for other use.
This building was showing movies as the Queens Theatre from 1919 to 1925.
The Arcadia from 1926 to 1951.
The Baronet from 1952 to 1996.
The Coronet-1 from 1997 to 2000.
The upstairs theatre was:
The Coronet from 1962 to 1996.
The Coronet-2 from 1997 to 2000.
“‘Naughty-Naught’ will open at the Old Knickerbocker Music Hall (Formerly the Clifton Theatre) on second avenue and fifty-fourth street.”
As “the Knick”, it seems to have been mixture of movies, theatre and cabaret from 1946 to around 1951 when it became abandoned. In 1958 when they looked into re-opening it as a club they found a colony of homeless women living there without heat or water.
I think they decided a while back to leave the historic theatres with their original names. Anyway, this closed as a Cineplex Odeon so that name meant nothing even then.
…but they are advertising show times for seven screens.
This closed as a movie theatre in mid-May 1967 and the last films were indeed “The Viscount” and “The Cool Ones”.
This was an Oscar Hammerstein project opened in 1901. According to the NYT opening announcement;
“The facades of the the structure will be of Wyoming blue stone and fancy brick with terra cotta ornaments of elaborate design. The auditorium will have three balconies, and there will also be a roof garden. Over the stage will be placed tablets bearing the names of famous playwrights and musical composers.”
It was still showing movies in 1923.
Shows up in a 1919 Paramount Week ad.
Demolition is announced in August 1957 though it is unclear whether it was still operating at the time.
In 1956 it was sold by the Playhouse Operating Company.
New York Times
January 19, 1915 – The spectatators at Miner’s Theatre, 312 Eighth Avenue, were startled during the exhibition of a wild west film …by the three pistol shots…
February 22, 1923 – Old Miner’s Theatre eighth avenue property sold…
April 26, 1925 – The Chelsea, a Movie House, once Miner’s Eighth Avenue, is badly damaged.
This was the second Miner’s Theatre at this location. The first one having burned down in 1902. This is the 1903 theatre, soon to be in the heart of the sleazy tenderloin.
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Hi Michael.
The Miracle opened as a twin on June 23, 1978.
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It appears that the Palace may have been a couple of blocks away from the Palace Annex which was once known as the St. Nick prior to 1916.
Here are some blurbs form the NYT:
May 18, 1914 – Wolfsohn and August have leased…for the Esalmo Amusement company for a term of six years, two stores and the St. Nick Theatre, northeast corner of 174th street and St. Nicholas Avenue
September 9, 1916 – J.K. Moor has leased for a term of years the motion picture theatre at the north east corner of 174th street and St. Nicholas Avenue to the National City Amusements Enterprises who operate the theatre at the southeast corner of 176th street and St. Nicholas Avenue. It will be known as the Palace Annex.
November 21, 1921 – The police think boy burglars were responsible for the robbery of four stores in St. Nicholas Avenue between 174th street …(including) The Palace Annex Motion Picture Theatre where they obtained several hundred pennies.
The theatres of Washington Heights.
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Already open in 1923 according to a Paramount Week ad. Still open in 1953 according the Film Daily Yearbook.
Did any of you get to meet Sumner back when he was a mere mortal?
This theatre was already listed in a Paramount Week ad in 1918.
A December 1951 article on the New York Times says it was already a CBS studio so that may be the year it stopped showing films.
The Colonial showed movies occasionally before the RKO take-over in September 1931.
Hammerstein never sold this theatre to his friend Marcus Loew.
Hammerstein’s theatre was foreclosed in 1915. In January 1916 it was leased to a sponsor who changed the policy to movies and renamed it the Biltmore with hopes of becoming the east side version of the Broadway Strand. It was a short-lived experiment.
After much deliberation the bank auctioned it off in March, 1918. The buyer, Manhattan Life Insurance, promptly resold it a month later. The theatre changed hands again several times until Marcus Loew took it over in late 1923 and put movies back in, four years after Hammerstein’s death.
This is still listed in the 1947 Film Daily Yearbook although the New York Times reports that the property was sold in 1945 and intended for other use.
This building was showing movies as the Queens Theatre from 1919 to 1925.
The Arcadia from 1926 to 1951.
The Baronet from 1952 to 1996.
The Coronet-1 from 1997 to 2000.
The upstairs theatre was:
The Coronet from 1962 to 1996.
The Coronet-2 from 1997 to 2000.
From the NY Times, 1946
“‘Naughty-Naught’ will open at the Old Knickerbocker Music Hall (Formerly the Clifton Theatre) on second avenue and fifty-fourth street.”
As “the Knick”, it seems to have been mixture of movies, theatre and cabaret from 1946 to around 1951 when it became abandoned. In 1958 when they looked into re-opening it as a club they found a colony of homeless women living there without heat or water.
The Capitol had “Navy Blue and Gold”.
If “Daughter of Shanghai” was at the Criterion then it was Christmas 1937 and “The Awful Truth” was at the State with Rudy vallee.
The Bollywood period here ran from late 1995 to early 1996.
The address for this theatre covered from 139 to 145 so Bijou Dream should be added as an aka name.
Opening week ad.
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Isn’t the Cameo still doing rock events? What is the Cinema Casino these days?
I think they decided a while back to leave the historic theatres with their original names. Anyway, this closed as a Cineplex Odeon so that name meant nothing even then.