Riviera Theatre
2575 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
2575 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
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The chase goes by twice. Many is the time I framed by framed on the VHS release of this picture. Thank god for DVDs. A bit of geographic cheating going on. But hills are almost obligatory in a car chase (thanks Steve McQueen)and there is a hill starting at Amsterdam Avenue.
actually, the riverside.
In the movie The Seven Ups the car chase goes by this theater.
Ed, I put some pictures on the Riverside Theater page as well.
Thanks, Movieplace, for this and that.
It’s too bad that there isn’t a way for CT to notify when there is an update (such as new photo upload) for specific theaters, in addition to notifying when a new comment is added to a subscribed thread.
I love the new picture. I grew up nearby and I remember the stores were occupied up til the end. So this must be close to the end. There was a Barton’s Candy store and a liquor store that I clearly remember in addition to “Chess City” and the “Eat Shoppe” on the corner of 96th street. Years ago I met the son of the owner of that liquor store. He is a few years older than me and told me tales of his explorations of these beautiful theaters.
Here are two small photos depicting the Riverside and Riviera theaters, featured in an ad for the builder, Libman Contracting Company, from the Year book of the Architectural League of New York, 1914.
The Riviera was builtin 1913, by the way, not 1912. The Riverside was built in 1911.
The last movie ad I could find for the Riviera was for a martial arts and exploitation double feature of “The Screaming Tiger” and “Black Mama, White Mama” in November of 1973.
I believe a glimpse of the Riviera and Riverside marquees can be seen in the 1962 version of “The Manchurian Candidate” as Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh take a taxi ride home from the police station.
Can anyone confirm it was these two theatres?
Dear Lost Memory,
how do you happen to come by this information. I am, you may have noticed, alittle obsessed with the Riverside and Riviera theaters. Is there some source that I have missed?
nycmovieplace
I don’t know, but you can email MaryAnn Chach, the curator of the Shubert Archive, and ask her. If you’re in New York City, they’re quite accessible on the 4th floor of the Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street. Try
Are there any photos of the Riviera in the Shubert Archives?
Records in the Shubert Archives indicate that William Fox owned the Riviera. From 1918 to 1923, the Shuberts had a profit-sharing booking contract with Fox whereby a Shubert subsidiary, the Sam S. Shubert Amusement Company, booked attractions into the Riviera for 50% of the net receipts. Shubert Theatrical Company leased the theatre from Fox in 1923 for $40,000 per year. They extended the lease in 1926 and terminated it in 1931. The Riviera became the Shubert Riviera in 1923.
These theaters were abandoned, and then torn down when I was 16 (1976) and I entered both theaters several times over a period of time.
I removed one of the white glazed terra cotta Columbia face keystones over the marquis on the top floor of what was “Chess city”. and I removed a mohogany newel post cabinet from the Japanese Rootop Garden.
Under the newel post which had a door and cabinet inside it, I found some old ticket stubs, a progran featuring Theda Barra and a 1910 Mercury Dime.
I also removed a small stained glass window from the Riverside’s staircase that was about 10" x 12" with just a flower in it.
I rememevr the Japanese rooftop theater was totally destroyed by vandals, the pipe organ console and a piano in the pit or stage area were smashed and wrecked.
As I remember, the organ was in a loft room on the left and I rememver taking home a few of the smaller wood pipes, the rest of the pipes I believe were still there.
From one of the posts of that loft room I removed a plaster duck head.
I have a couple of rather poor instamatic shots of both buildings, always looking to add more if anyone has any;
View link
View link
I believe that Peter Weir’s Walabout opened there (or The Riverside) because I saw it accidently when I was 9 with my little bother who was 4 or 5. I do not think the UA staff asked for proof of age at that time.
It seems this was a very popular theatre for all of the showcase runs starting in the early 60’s. When “A Countess From Hong King” opened on 6/7/67 at Universal Premiere Presentation houses the UA Riviera was one of them along with Alpine, Harris 42 St, Loews Orpheum and Loews Sheridan. In the Bronx at Loews American, Brandt’s Luxor, Riverdale Cinema and UA Valentine. The Brooklyn theatres were Centurys Avalon, Loews Kings, Loews Oriental and Randforce Ridgewood. Queens had Interboro’s Elmwood, Century’s Meadows and Loews Triboro. Staten Island had one theatre Fabian’s Island. Nassau County had six theatres B.S. Moss Central, UA Cove, Century’s Grove, Century’s Roosevelt Field, UA Squire and Fox Plaza Twin North.
These theatres were great Westside showcases for Columbia, Fox and Universal product until the early 70’s…Easy Rider ran for months in subrun at one or the other theater…do acknowledge they were separate entities and not a twin
Warren is correct. These theatres were built seperatly and served different functions. The Riverside was much larger than the Riveiera. Like Jean, the last movie I saw there was American Grafitti (16 times). I was devastated by the loss of these two theaters. I have been obsessivley Searching for pictures and I finally have slides of them. I have also seen the original floor plans for these theaters. Drawn by Thomas Lamb on linen, these works of art are at the Avery Archecture Library at Columbia University.
There is now a page on his site for the JAPANESE GARDENS theatre:
/theaters/1356/
The Riverside Theatre was located at 2561 Broadway and it seated 1710 people. The Riviera Theatre seated 1718 people.
The full story of these three theatres, all by noted architect Thomas Lamb, in 1912, is told in the issue of MARQUEE magazine of the Theatre Historical Soc., of Vol. 6, #2, Second Qtr., 1974. (www.HistoricTheatres.org) Many back issues are at the Avery library at Columbia University, as well as the Library of Congress and many others. The cover and three-page article contain five photos of the theatres. This entry should be cataloged under JAPANESE GARDENS THEATRE. The article is entitled: “The Hidden Garden Of Broadway” by the late Michael Miller.
The two theatres each had rooftop theatres as well. The Riverside had a sloping roof atop and the Riviera next door had a full-sized theatre upstairs which seated 1,700. It was styled after a Japanese Tea garden. Each box was draped with silk hangings. William Fox, who owned the theatres sold the Riverside to B.F. Keith. (Keith formed 20th Century Fox).
These Shubert Theaters became United Artist Theaters before succumbing to the wrecker’s ball.
Covering the entire block, these two theaters were built by the Shuberts before WW1.The theaters were a popular stop along Broadway’s “Subway Circuit.” Located on the roof of one was a rooftop theater and Japanese Tea Garden.
A 31 story apt. building stands in their place.