Ramrod Theatre
210 W. 49th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
210 W. 49th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
2 people
favorited this theater
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Hello-
I just watched the new Netflix film of The Boys in the Band which uses the cast from the 2018 Tony winning revival. the character of Cowboy in the 2018 revival and the Netflix film is played by Charlie Carver. this reminded me of Robert La Tourneaux who played Cowboy in the original long running Off-Bway production and the 1970 film version. in 1978? He did a live strip show here. he was great but it was sad he was so typecast by the character of Cowboy that his career stalled.
Hello-
to Comfortably Cool- with all the gay clubs and cruising spots still left in Manhattan I doubt the fear of contracting x,y or z is a major contributing factor to Manhattan losing its gay theaters. I bet the home video market was a much bigger factor in the loss of theaters.
And fear of catching some sexually transmitted disease!
Hello-
its may not be too surprising but I believe all the gay theaters in San Francisco have closed as well. i bet it has as much to do with the effect of the home video market as real estate value.
In NYC there are two traditional movie theaters showing porn, the Cinema Kings Highway in Brooklyn and the Fair in East Elmhurst, Queens. Of course there are dozens of adult video stores that present movies in various formats and seating plans…
If you get out your magnifying glass you can barely see the small Ramrod signage on the photo which I’ve uploaded.
Is there any adult movie theatres left in New York(open or closed), city or state?
Ron. Here are some of the Boston porns that you did not mention. Pussycat(Stuart st.) Pussycat West End(E.M. loews West End). Trans-Lux, Mayflower(Modern), the Center, the Pilgrim(sometimes), the Publix(Sometimes) South Station 1&2and the aRT 1&2 ACROSS FROM THE sAXON. There were many others that were here today and gone next week.
I used to strip at the Ramrod in the late 70’s 78-80)….I went by Vince, the Baby of the Ramrod, as I looked younger than my 19 years at the time. They were some wild shows, especially the “Love Teams” at the end of the strip shows, which were basically 2 guys performing oral on stage. Great Times!
Also showed films as the 49th Street Burlesk in 1974-75 before becoming the Ramrod.
Season’s Greetings from the Ramrod: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SudLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SowDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1893%2C9796341
Was this the theatre featured (quite clearly in one exterior shot) in 1980’s ‘Cruising’? Or was the ‘Ramrod’ shown an alternative venue?I guess it would certainly fit in with the subject matter.
I guess so long as it showed “film”, it qualifies although yes, this is certainly stretching it as a cinema “treasure”!
Interesting observations!
I think “Cinema Treasures” is certainly a relative term. A theater where you saw your first film might be a treasure, of course. Imagine that the theater had been demolished for thirty years, and then you come on here and see photos that bring back those childhood memories. In my opinion confining the discourse to the palaces, many of which were demolished before we were born, would satisfy the intent of the original creators but would also be a little dull if the same fifty or a hundred theaters were discussed ad nauseum.
RobertR, Ken Roe and AlAlvarez have all submitted such theaters on this site and, despite the complaints of some on this site, I hope they continue to do so until every little theater in the Times Square area and beyond is listed here! Where else can one go to find out ANY information on those dens of perverse pleasure and iniquity? They may not have been my cup of tea, but one man’s rubbish is another’s treasure. And, if you ask me, the art of movie-exhibition showmanship died with these often squalid little retail-conversion porn pits and the grinds on 42nd Street. New York hasn’t been the same since being scrubbed clean of them in the 1990’s.
Wow… I’m surprised to see this theater listed here! I suppose that when all is said and done, I come down on the side of the argument that says CT should be an all-inclusive database for theaters of all kinds… If the word “Treasures” in the site'a name ever intended to distinguish those wonderfully ornate palaces from the 1920’s, it quickly lost that connotation when every strip mall twin and sheetrocked multiplex wound up finding a listing here! And while we’re at it, bring on the storefront porn houses too! So, who’s going to add the Pussycat 2 (which I think was located downstairs from the Ramrod on 49th), the Night Shift, the Harem on 42nd Street, the Roxy Twins also on 42nd (both of them), Show Follies on 7th Ave, Show World on 8th Ave? The Doll? The Avon 7? Or, are they already listed? I don’t know much about those places, but I have a number of movie ads from the Post and News in the early ‘80’s I could post on many of those would-be CT pages!
saps, thanks. I would have hated to see the New Amsterdam sujected to that….
I’ve never been to one of these places, but it sounds like the movies are an afterthought — nobody’s attending it to actually watch the film. If the establishment never showed anything else during its history, I’m dubious about whether it belongs here.
Boston had two or three porno-only houses that I could have listed, but I didn’t, for this reason.
No porn at the New Amsterdam. Thank God!
Quote KenRoe:
It is a building that had cinema seats, projectors, film, a screen, and customers who entered…. departing satisfied. To me, thats a cinema.
Heh. Well considering this cinematreasure masterpiece, the customers who entered, departed satisfied in more ways than one.
I agree with “manwithnoname”, I hope they burned the seats afterwards.
In all seriousness, yes, I do feel these “priceless” cinematreasures belong here just as much as much as the true theaters. After all, considering what happened in Times Square in the 70’s, many of the true gem theaters had to go through this fate for a while too (well maybe not gay porn, but regular porn just the same). I think even the New Amsterdam Theater had porn for a while, and now it’s beaautiflly restored and has Disney shows in it….how much more opposite can you get than that!
I know the Tiki (Los Angeles) and the Front Door (Long Beach) – what’s the third one? It’s always a kick to look through Los Angeles Times issues from the 1970s to see all those theatres listed, and a great, fun challenge to drive by the old addresses and see what happened to them!
Go for it! There’s an equal amount of adult theatres in Southern California that came and went so quickly that no one’s chronicled them anywhere. If we don’t remember them – who shall?
Agree with KenRoe 100% as well. There are multiplexes, converted retail spaces and even more outlandish cinema spaces on this here board. Excluding porn theatres would undercut the credibility of CinemaTreasures itself.
It is a building that had cinema seats, projectors, film, a screen, and customers who entered…. departing satisfied. To me, thats a cinema.
I mean…Is a screen set up in a field with a projection booth and concession stand in the middle, but no walls, ceiling or seating…. a cinema? A drive-in cinema type is included on Cinema Treasures, so why not a porn cinema
Did it ever show Hollywood movies, or was it created strictly for Porn?