Parkwest Theatre

Reference to the Parkwest theater. Most of the comments made about this little dirty theater are true. Having lived in the area for most of my childhood, while residing at 70 W.100 St., 786 Columbus Ave. and 128 W. 102 St. I, my siblings and friends spent many happy, scary, adventurous and always exciting hours in that dark, often cold or hot magical place, staring up through the cigarette and cigar smoke at that tattered, but always thrilling screen. There, we escaped the world outside with its problems of the Great Depression, World War 2, poverty, hunger and a myriad of other problems that we had no control over. In the shadows, we could be kings, heroes, soldiers, explorers and conquerors of the universe….or whatever Hollywood would have us be and all for a nickle and two pennies. Of course, the “big people” had to pay an extra dime. Yes, on dish night, you received a dish to add to the many other dishes you had already collected. Not Royale Dalton, but they were more than serviceable, especially when there wasn’t much food to put on them anyway. I can relate volumes of stories about that dirty, smelly place, but I still get a thrill when I remember running home from Holy Name School and my pals yelling to each other,“Hey guys,I’ll meet you at "the Dump”.

Manhattan Marty.