Went to see a film here Yesterday in Auditorium #2, the wallpaper was ripped off the wall, the 4 seats directly in front of me were covered by black garbage bags. AMC you are doing a wonderful job running your NYC flagship location straight into the ground! The only decent house is the Prime theatre, otherwise you are taking chances going to catch a flick in this place. The people of Regal Cinemas across the street do however know how to maintain a theatre properly, let’s hope the film you want to see is showing there, if you don’t mind having your bags checked.
Thanks, Al & Howard! The Cineplex Odeon Chelsea also had I believe #6 & #7 as THX Auditoriums. Now when you check the THX Website there is not one single theatre in all of Manhattan with it at all. The last two I remember seeing were Lincoln Square & Union Square.
When this complex was first opened by Cineplex Odeon in 1989 one of the auditoriums had LucasFilm THX Certification, anybody here remember or know which auditorium number it was?
When did they leave 1540 Broadway to move to 400 Plaza Drive in Secaucus N.J. was it around 87/88? I know the headquarters were moved back to Manhattan by then owner Sony Corp in 1993.
Thanks mdvoskin, Your right the UA State in the immediate area tended to play similar types of films. The one thing also to keep in mind is that these films tended to sometimes attract a rough and rowdy crowd, so I wonder if vandalism was an issue during the waning days of the Loew’s Jersey as well?
I was looking at the movies that played here as a Loews house in it’s final years of operation from about 82-86 and the endless parade of B-movie Blood, Gore, Slasher, Exploitation, Kung Fu films never seemed to end. I think every movie that such secondary studios like New World Pictures put out played here. Was film booking for this theatre handled centrally at the Loews Headquarters in Secaucus NJ or locally? If so were they intentionally trying to drive this place into the ground or was it just Hollywood’s release pattern that existed at the time?
When Media Ingest replaces the building of films on Thursday nights we lose something in the process. Properly projected motion picture film still blows away any 4K digital projection system in terms of image clarity, color saturation, image depth, sharpness. The difference is quite visible to the naked eye.
Sad the got rid of the David Rockwell designed concession stand in the AMC redo in 2013. I believe the stand was originally one of the first to feature a gigantic popcorn tub above the stand when it was redone in 1996, each popcorn kernel was as big as a basketball. Also AMC got rid of the color LED Daktronics Marquee sign advertising the films showing, instead we have the AMC logo on a yellow metal background, so much for progress.
One of the first locations to get the new AMC Luxury reclining seats approximately two years ago. Apparently the new Leather seats are not aging well, as they are exhibiting severe symptoms of cracking and drying out of the leather in the part that comes in contact with your behind. I think either cheap substandard leather was originally used in the manufacturer or they are not being maintained properly by AMC.
So strange to see the AMC name and new design features in a 90’s Star Design location. I guess they are doing this all over the Country with the former Loews or Cineplex Odeon locations, that were inherited with the 2006 merger. Wonder how much longer until Loews comes off every building and a once mighty Movie Theatre brand vanishes in to the history books for good?
Sometimes complaining to Corporate works, A few months ago some bean-counter Manager got the bright idea to remove the paper towels from the rest rooms. Now if the hand dryers that are in there currently are inadequate and do not do a very good job in dying your hands, you leave with them still wet, also they are located over the counter in between the sinks, not the most ideal place for a hand dryer to be. To dry our hand properly we would have to go to concession stand to grab napkins to use to dry our hands with. Well we kept complaining over to AMC Corporate and voila, the hand towels are back in the restroom.
Do any theatres still employ Union projectionists or has DCP made them all obsolete according to the big chain bean counters? A lot of projectionists that used to work in the theatres I used to frequent really cared about film quality presentation, it’s just not the same when you have an usher running things like was evidenced at the Kips Bay this past Friday. I think one of AMC’s predecessors then called Sony Theatres tried to get rid of union projectionists in the Mid Nineties if I remember correctly, there seemed to be picket lines in front of the theatres at the time, if I recall.
markp & Al Alvarez: To give you a comparison. The very next night I went to see the film again at the Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea a Family owned Chain. Picture and brightness were perfect and the sound was great as well. You can see the difference immediately when people care about presentation versus a gigantic cinema chain. I also forgot to mention to top it off my seat at the Kips Bay was missing an armrest. AMC does absolutely nothing to maintain the theatres they took over from Loews Cineplex, the Irwin Seats originally installed that are still there 16 years later are nothing to write home about either, time has not been kind to them. The very first thing Regal did when it assumed operations of the E-Walk was to toss them all into the dumpster. The AMC Bean Counters will probably use them until they completely fall apart in bits and pieces.
Went to see “Ricki & The Flash” here Friday evening in Auditorium #14 unfortunately there was something wrong with the digital projector as the image on the screen was extremely dim with excessive flicker & lacking a great amount of detail. They did know about the problem, because I was upstairs exchanging my ticket while someone from the previous showing was complaining to the Manager, yet they still ran the film anyway. After the film we went to complain to the Manager, who was very sorry and we were given a pass for our bad movie experience. He explained there was something wrong the the Sony Digital Projector and they would have to send someone out to fix it, he was not allowed to do it himself also they would probably move the film to an auditorium upstairs. Unfortunately for us our night out at the movies was ruined. It says a lot when your presentation at home is so much far better that going out to the modern multiplex.
Thanks Michael, I guess the only United Artists Theatres converted to the Regal name were the Union Square 14 & Battery Park 11 in Manhattan. The Battery Park began as a Regal then became a United Artists, now it’s a Regal again in a complete circle, although it lost 4 Auditoriums along the way.
For a place that’s been closed since 1967, it seems to be in pretty good shape. There are a whole bunch of movie theatres that closed much later & do not look as good. As usual great job with the photography Matt, keep up the good work.
They can also put poles on the sidewalk underneath the marquee to keep the trucks away, the Kent has them. I don’t think the 1949 marquee was dinged up as much, but it was much better constructed.
robboehm, I see exactly what you mean, so much for adaptive reuse of an existing structure. It really does look like they ran out of money as it was being constructed.
What an ugly new building, just a bland yucky new box to replace a charming beautiful old building with true character, grace & style. So much for progress. Guess it will never get the Midway treatment like it was supposed to.
The auditoriums have apparently been gutted and are awaiting rental for retail usage that has not happened yet. The marquee is still on the facade and lists the two final films that played there “Trouble With The Curve” & Won’t Back Down" the United Artists Theatres sign on the front of the Marquee was taken off when they shut this Triplex down. The lobby was intact for the longest time & Regal even left the ticketing machine inside, it’s now covered up, so I can’t get a good look inside anymore unfortunately.
Went to see a film here Yesterday in Auditorium #2, the wallpaper was ripped off the wall, the 4 seats directly in front of me were covered by black garbage bags. AMC you are doing a wonderful job running your NYC flagship location straight into the ground! The only decent house is the Prime theatre, otherwise you are taking chances going to catch a flick in this place. The people of Regal Cinemas across the street do however know how to maintain a theatre properly, let’s hope the film you want to see is showing there, if you don’t mind having your bags checked.
Thanks, Al & Howard! The Cineplex Odeon Chelsea also had I believe #6 & #7 as THX Auditoriums. Now when you check the THX Website there is not one single theatre in all of Manhattan with it at all. The last two I remember seeing were Lincoln Square & Union Square.
When this complex was first opened by Cineplex Odeon in 1989 one of the auditoriums had LucasFilm THX Certification, anybody here remember or know which auditorium number it was?
moviebuff82, what are the red and green tickets that cannot be used for Disney movies?
When did they leave 1540 Broadway to move to 400 Plaza Drive in Secaucus N.J. was it around 87/88? I know the headquarters were moved back to Manhattan by then owner Sony Corp in 1993.
Thanks mdvoskin, Your right the UA State in the immediate area tended to play similar types of films. The one thing also to keep in mind is that these films tended to sometimes attract a rough and rowdy crowd, so I wonder if vandalism was an issue during the waning days of the Loew’s Jersey as well?
I was looking at the movies that played here as a Loews house in it’s final years of operation from about 82-86 and the endless parade of B-movie Blood, Gore, Slasher, Exploitation, Kung Fu films never seemed to end. I think every movie that such secondary studios like New World Pictures put out played here. Was film booking for this theatre handled centrally at the Loews Headquarters in Secaucus NJ or locally? If so were they intentionally trying to drive this place into the ground or was it just Hollywood’s release pattern that existed at the time?
When Media Ingest replaces the building of films on Thursday nights we lose something in the process. Properly projected motion picture film still blows away any 4K digital projection system in terms of image clarity, color saturation, image depth, sharpness. The difference is quite visible to the naked eye.
Sad the got rid of the David Rockwell designed concession stand in the AMC redo in 2013. I believe the stand was originally one of the first to feature a gigantic popcorn tub above the stand when it was redone in 1996, each popcorn kernel was as big as a basketball. Also AMC got rid of the color LED Daktronics Marquee sign advertising the films showing, instead we have the AMC logo on a yellow metal background, so much for progress.
One of the first locations to get the new AMC Luxury reclining seats approximately two years ago. Apparently the new Leather seats are not aging well, as they are exhibiting severe symptoms of cracking and drying out of the leather in the part that comes in contact with your behind. I think either cheap substandard leather was originally used in the manufacturer or they are not being maintained properly by AMC.
So strange to see the AMC name and new design features in a 90’s Star Design location. I guess they are doing this all over the Country with the former Loews or Cineplex Odeon locations, that were inherited with the 2006 merger. Wonder how much longer until Loews comes off every building and a once mighty Movie Theatre brand vanishes in to the history books for good?
Sometimes complaining to Corporate works, A few months ago some bean-counter Manager got the bright idea to remove the paper towels from the rest rooms. Now if the hand dryers that are in there currently are inadequate and do not do a very good job in dying your hands, you leave with them still wet, also they are located over the counter in between the sinks, not the most ideal place for a hand dryer to be. To dry our hand properly we would have to go to concession stand to grab napkins to use to dry our hands with. Well we kept complaining over to AMC Corporate and voila, the hand towels are back in the restroom.
Do any theatres still employ Union projectionists or has DCP made them all obsolete according to the big chain bean counters? A lot of projectionists that used to work in the theatres I used to frequent really cared about film quality presentation, it’s just not the same when you have an usher running things like was evidenced at the Kips Bay this past Friday. I think one of AMC’s predecessors then called Sony Theatres tried to get rid of union projectionists in the Mid Nineties if I remember correctly, there seemed to be picket lines in front of the theatres at the time, if I recall.
markp & Al Alvarez: To give you a comparison. The very next night I went to see the film again at the Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea a Family owned Chain. Picture and brightness were perfect and the sound was great as well. You can see the difference immediately when people care about presentation versus a gigantic cinema chain. I also forgot to mention to top it off my seat at the Kips Bay was missing an armrest. AMC does absolutely nothing to maintain the theatres they took over from Loews Cineplex, the Irwin Seats originally installed that are still there 16 years later are nothing to write home about either, time has not been kind to them. The very first thing Regal did when it assumed operations of the E-Walk was to toss them all into the dumpster. The AMC Bean Counters will probably use them until they completely fall apart in bits and pieces.
Went to see “Ricki & The Flash” here Friday evening in Auditorium #14 unfortunately there was something wrong with the digital projector as the image on the screen was extremely dim with excessive flicker & lacking a great amount of detail. They did know about the problem, because I was upstairs exchanging my ticket while someone from the previous showing was complaining to the Manager, yet they still ran the film anyway. After the film we went to complain to the Manager, who was very sorry and we were given a pass for our bad movie experience. He explained there was something wrong the the Sony Digital Projector and they would have to send someone out to fix it, he was not allowed to do it himself also they would probably move the film to an auditorium upstairs. Unfortunately for us our night out at the movies was ruined. It says a lot when your presentation at home is so much far better that going out to the modern multiplex.
Thanks Michael, I guess the only United Artists Theatres converted to the Regal name were the Union Square 14 & Battery Park 11 in Manhattan. The Battery Park began as a Regal then became a United Artists, now it’s a Regal again in a complete circle, although it lost 4 Auditoriums along the way.
For a place that’s been closed since 1967, it seems to be in pretty good shape. There are a whole bunch of movie theatres that closed much later & do not look as good. As usual great job with the photography Matt, keep up the good work.
I understand, nothing was saved from the old Shore theatre for the new one, Thank You robboehm.
The new marquee is exactly to the edge of the sidewalk, so these truck drivers are not driving as carefully as they should.
They can also put poles on the sidewalk underneath the marquee to keep the trucks away, the Kent has them. I don’t think the 1949 marquee was dinged up as much, but it was much better constructed.
robboehm, I see exactly what you mean, so much for adaptive reuse of an existing structure. It really does look like they ran out of money as it was being constructed.
What an ugly new building, just a bland yucky new box to replace a charming beautiful old building with true character, grace & style. So much for progress. Guess it will never get the Midway treatment like it was supposed to.
The auditoriums have apparently been gutted and are awaiting rental for retail usage that has not happened yet. The marquee is still on the facade and lists the two final films that played there “Trouble With The Curve” & Won’t Back Down" the United Artists Theatres sign on the front of the Marquee was taken off when they shut this Triplex down. The lobby was intact for the longest time & Regal even left the ticketing machine inside, it’s now covered up, so I can’t get a good look inside anymore unfortunately.
Apparently a truck hit the marquee again, the Kings name on the front of it is no longer lit, hope they fix it soon.
When they install the new reclining seats it does reduce seating capacity of each auditorium, so they must have to make up the difference somehow.