Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
1886 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10023
16 people
favorited this theater
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News About This Theater
- Oct 21, 2009 — Talbot's New Yorker Theatres and distributor
- Sep 12, 2006 — Fine Arts Cinema to close
Located at Broadway and W. 63rd Street. Opened on April 8, 1981, this below-ground facility, functional and uninspiring in appearance, became one of the finest art houses in Manhattan, showing the best in new foreign and independent films. Located on the west side of the city, almost directly across from the cultural hub of Lincoln Center, it was an indispensable mecca for the mega-legions of area cinephiles. It was expanded to six screens on October 23, 1992.
It was operated by Dan & Toby Talbot in association with France’s Gaumont chain for 36 years. Sadly Dan Talbot passed away on December 29, 2017. The Lincoln Plaza Cinemas closed January 21, 2018. It is hoped after some structural work has been done a new operator will take over the cinema. The theatres space was still vacant in June 2019.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 74 comments)
I’m not sure bigjoe59, but this building is turning 40 in April. It was one of the first modern indie multiplex cinemas in the country and later on in its life competed against the Lincoln Square cinema with its share of indie movies that often premiered there and they still do although its still closed due to the pandemic that has affected the NYC cinemas since March of last year.
The actual opening day was April 8, 1981.
It’s still vacant, bigjoe59.
Hello-
thanks to br91975 for the info. when the theater closed Millstein properties the building owner said the closure was necessary because of “structural maintenance” had to be done to the building. if said “structural maintenance” has been done why hasn’t the theater reopened? in the say 3 years before the theater’s closure whenever I went it was always well attended. plus this theater had what might have been the best concession stand in the city.
Please update, theatre open on April 8, 1981, expanded to 6 screens on October 23, 1992.
Seating capacity: 1. 249 2. 179 3. 197 4. 90 5. 190 6. 150
on all six screens? fascinating.
Yes, all 6 screens
There are plans for a new art house on the Upper West Side. A group announced a couple months ago that they closed on the purchase of the Metro thirty blocks up Broadway, several million dollars helped along with funding from NY State, and now they need perhaps three times as much money to renovate and open. https://uwscinema.org/
Thanks Joshua. I had a look at the link you mentioned. Great to see that Ira Deutchman is the president. I’ve watched excerpts of his documentary Searching for Mr Rugoff last year, and an outtake featured Tim Blake Nelson precisely advocating for the need of a new art house in the Upper West Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4piSYNRg8z8&ab_channel=IraDeutchman
Toby Talbot passed away on September 15, 2025.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/movies/toby-talbot-dead.html
For reference, this 80-minute long “Talk with Toby Talbot on Life in Art-House Cinema | The New School for Drama” from 2009 is on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyyowLs2Or0