Loew's Commodore Theater
105 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
105 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 150 comments
After it was the Loews Commodore and before it became the Fillmore East, it was the Village Theater. Lenny Bruce appeared there in March of 1964 and then Donovan in November of ‘65. There were over 100 shows there (not all music) including John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman in late '66, Chuck Berry in April of '67, the WOR-FM Anniversary Party in June of '67 featuring The Blues Project, The Doors, Janis Ian, Chambers Brothers, Richie Havens, and Jeremy and the Satyrs; Cream and Canned Heat in September of '67; the Yardbirds and Vanilla Fudge in November, etc. The last show was Pearls Before Swine on Feb 24, 1968, just 12 days before the first Fillmore East show on March 8, 1968 with Big Brother (Janis Joplin), Tim Buckley and Albert King.
Also, I don’t think it was ever called the Village East, because that’s the name of the movie theater on 12th Street, although that didn’t open until 1991. The Commodore was on 6th street.
Current article with photos.
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2021/03/22/the-short-life-of-a-1960s-east-village-rock-venue/?fbclid=IwAR2bdPokXJGXnFlm3umr2_DpPPegIxzKlXjxd7wSd7AHIK81bsFF5YA2C6Q
Hello-
to stevenj thanks for your reply. I wondered why if it was so successful it closed after not that many years. as stated the building wasn’t torn down till yearsssssssss after the Fillmore East’s last show so I figured there had to be a lot more behind why it closed long before the building was razed.
the one show I can remember seeing at the Fillmore East was Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company. I am 98 ½% certain the Staple Singer were the opening act.
bigjoe59…..In 2016 John Glatt’s book Live at the Fillmore East and West was published. I read it about 2 years ago and still have a copy of it. The closing of both Fillmore East and West (the SF venue’s closing was announced the day after Fillmore East had its last concert) was a long time coming. I went to many concerts at the original Fillmore and then Fillmore West. Graham occasionally was called out on stage from the audience whenever he raised ticket prices (“capatalist pig” etc) while he was on stage in the middle of announcing the next act. Every time he would point out that it was the bands that wanted more money and he had no choice. (Ticket prices at the time as I recall were $2 - 3.50). At one show I attended he asked a heckler to come up on stage and debate it with him. The heckler declined -(if you ever heard that Bronx accented angry profanity laden mouth you would decline too!!) In the book he’s quoted as saying that “Woodstock syndrome would be the beginning of the end”. That is, that the bands would want a lot more money from a lot more people than could attend old theaters and ballrooms, even SF’s Winterland that had 5400 occupancy for rock shows. High overhead at all the venues plus drugs and police problems, Graham feeling abuse from the press and public and a front page story in the SF Chronicle that moved up the closing of Fillmore West signaled the end. Apparently somebody spiked some “liquid refreshment” during a Grateful Dead show at Winterland with acid that sent a lot on bad trips to the emergency room at nearby Mt Zion hospital. More bad press for Graham. Graham decided that if you can’t beat em, join em. So he started doing mega concerts at stadiums and indoor and outdoor arenas where he wouldn’t lose money and the bands could get rich. He went into acting briefly (Apocalypse Now) and staged the final show at Winterland (The Last Waltz) in 1976. In the book, the last concert held at Fillmore East sounded like one for the ages.
Hello-
I read the intro at top but it doesn’t answer a question I hoped it would so hopefully a fellow poster might have inside info. if it was so successful as the Fillmore East why did it close as such. its not like the Fillmore East closed because the building was being demolished the next week. did the landlord up the rent and Bill Graham couldn’t afford the rent hike?
Article about Bill Graham with photos.
https://www.pollstar.com/article/author-robert-greenfield-on-bill-grahams-90th-birthday-he-never-would-have-sat-in-a-board-meeting-147201?fbclid=IwAR081F6x0L-oVVlj2F3C7QZF7Dl2S-ch2yeT_SHAleiHQBQyIzGo3ftSrD8
A major exhibition honoring Bill Graham, who turned the former Commodore into a rock palace known as Fillmore East, is currently on view at the New York Historical Society. More details here
Link with multiple 1968 Elliot Landy Getty images.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photo-of-jimi-hendrix-l-r-jimi-hendrix-mitch-mitchell-noel-news-photo/86203742
December 1969 photo added, photo credit Amalie Rothschild, via New York Historical.
Since April 22, 2013 it’s an Apple Bank for Savings branch after the acquisition of 29 Emigrant Savings Bank branches.
http://evgrieve.com/2013/04/bank-branch-become-bank-branch-at.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bank_for_Savings#Acquisition_of_29_Emigrant_Bank_branches_in_2013
Breathtaking!
Here’s a clickable version of the link posted by bicyclereporter. An amazing image.
There’s also a link below that photo with three more shots from the same Doors show, starting with this image. Just click on the thumbnail pics below the photo to see the other shots in the series.
If you go inside the bank, they have a select # of pix of the theater’s interiors and exteriors, but none show the ornamentation as we’d like. There are a few Youtube videos of bands playing there, but only with shots of the columns and the proscenium.
Until today. Thanx to the Gothamist, this picture of The Doors shows a shot looking up and amazing detail! A rare shot!
http://gothamist.com/2012/03/19/flashbacks.php#photo-3
Great stories to read.I think Al Jolson must have played every theatre in the USA at one timeor real close too.
A few older posts (2006) on this site refer to the post-Loews brief incarnation of this as the Yiddish Village Theatre as a result of this 1966 photo of Timothy Leary from Ed Solero’s photobucket:
http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b110/GuanoReturns/Manhattan%20Movie%20Theaters/Loews%20Commodore%20aka%20Fillmore%20East/?action=view¤t=LoewsCommodoreLeary.jpg&sort=ascending.
I found an ad for this period hiding in plain sight in the New York Times.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25725093@N07/6574751901/lightbox/
The PBS American Masters documentary on Elia Kazan (mentioned above) was shown again tonight. There was a nice exterior view of the Commodore marquee.
Thanks Jonny B.
Correction: Barry Stein used his middle name as his last name hence; “Barry Stuart” is listed as promotor. Also, the head of security was Kim Yarborough and the dates of operation were 1974-1975. – Jonny B
I was a carpenter for the NFE Theater (New Fillmore East ) during its renovation in 1973 and later went on to work there as an usher. It was opened by a guy named Barry Stein who made his money selling large quantities of marijuana. He hired the old Fillmore security crew to run security for him (Kim was the head of security – do not recall his last name).
Later that year, I lost my apt & lived in the NFE in a 1 room apt (no kitchen) with a shower on the 2nd level to the right of the stage with my dog Rufus. We would roam the theater at night… it was incredible. One New Years Eve show (approximately 1973-74), featured Ike & Tina Turner.
The early show ran over into the late show. So, those who had tickets for the late show were left standing in the rain at midnight… it was terrible organization. Also, the promotor, Barry Stein did not have all the cash to pay Ike & Tina & wound up gving them a huge bag of coke as payment.
Finally, after Barry had taken proceeds from drug deals he was doing and using the cash to keep the NFE Theater business afloat, he skipped town and died of a drug overdose 2 years later.
I remember the final days after Barry had gone and I was still there waiting to relocate, walking through the theater and being totally amazed at its beauty. A sad ending for an incredible building that helped define a generation.
If anyone who has worked there or has questions and would like to email me:
I feel like responding to Profjoe’s comment about the Saint. While I agree that the Saint embodied all of that was wrong with the promiscuous sex of the 80’s, it doesn’t take away that it was, in fact, one of the greatest discoteques ever built and lasted a little over 10 years, a significant part of its history. I had the pleasure of attending at the very tail end of its life and dancing under the dome was such an incredible experience. While sex may have been going on in the balcony, many, if not most were there to dance and dance they did. I’ve had the pleasure to have danced in many of New York’s storied clubs (many former theaters): Studio 54, Palladium, Club USA, The Roxy, The Limelight, The Red Parrot, Xenon’s, Bond’s International Casino, and on and on. None came close to the Saint which combined a stunning deteriorating theater with top notch lighting and special effects. The cherry on the banana split? No drinks were allowed on the dance floor. There were just four access points into the dome and they were manned to make sure the floor were always clean. Loved it and really, really miss it.
The Allman Brother Band recorded their album,The Allman Brothers Live at the Filmore in this theatre,in 1971.
In a recent “American Masters” documentary on Elia Kazan by Martin Scorsese, Scorsese states that during his childhood he saw many films at Loew’s Commodore for the first time, including “On The Waterfront.” It was one of the Second Avenue theatres he often frequented.
ProfJoe, I feel the Fillmore East also did it’s part by “showing films or popular entertainment that held society together” and “giving and reinforcing a sense of community and belonging”. It was a different community and culture than in the past, but the theatre adapted with the times. I’ll bet when it changed from a Yiddish theater to a cinema, there were people that were also very unhappy, and thought the neighborhood was ruined. You celebrate the time it was the Loew’s Commodore, so as unhappy as you were with the Fillmore, please allow us to celebrate it. Myself and many of my friends consider that site hallowed ground.
Relinking.
Lighten up guys.