I believe the decorations are intact, but the original seats have been replaced. Loews Cineplex merged with AMC Entertainment in January 2006, they kept the AMC name for the combined company & they were bought by a Chinese Company named Wanda Group a few years ago. Also as they renovate the former Loews theatres they are replacing signage with the AMC nameplate, like on 84th Street.
Orlando! Thank your for the amazing description of the original neon! Did the Kings originally use milk glass letter to spell out the titles of the films that were playing? I see that the Jersey originally had a French Curve marquee similar to the Kings, but nowhere near as ornate. Both were replaced in 1949, that the Jersey still has. I wish someone saved the neon letter from the former Kings marquee, although the Loew’s name was off of it at the end.
That’s also why when the big Palaces that still show movies, we should make an effort to go and experience what it’s like to see a wonderful movie in a real Movie Palace. Most people in our society today think the plain Jane nondescript box they see movies in at their local multiplex is how people have always experienced movies, boy are they wrong!
Also don’t forget about the change the in exhibition landscape, the end of exclusive roadshow runs for these big theatres and the beginning the the showcase neighborhood engagements – where the same motion picture opened everywhere simultaneously, also must have hit these big houses very hard. They must have had a lot of empty seats unfortunately, and still had to pay to heat, cool these auditoriums no matter how may patrons were watching films/
Yes, and if the ones that survived had not become “Houses Of Worship” or “Performing Arts Centers” they would be unfortunately no longer be with us as well.
The photo on the plaque is taken from a distance, & had a vertical sign the said Loew’s and then Avalon on the bottom of it at an angle. I believe the marquee is the same one as the plaque.
paullewis- you make a valid point, the list for never should have been allowed demolition should also include the State, Rivoli, 72nd Street, & Triboro. But in a way having the Plaque outside the multiplex auditorium can perhaps get a curiosity seeker who never knew the Capitol ever existed want to find our more about it & perhaps in a way that helps it live on in our collective consciousness.
Yes, right before the Almi & then Rugoff/Cinema 5 combination I believe. The photo on the plaque in the Lincoln Square is a Loew’s Hump Style Marquee, similar to the one the Oriental had originally. I have never seen that photo anywhere else unfortunately. The THSA probably has it in their Loew’s Collection.
Thanks Orlando! I hope they fix the neon. BTW she also worked as an usher at one of the Broadway houses, she always refers to that part of her life in her interviews about seeing shows on broadway.
Bill, I hope so as well, can’t wait to see what it will look like once they get it up and running. It was always a treat to see movie projected in 70mm back in the past.
Too bad, it was a nice flea market, there aren’t too many like that one left anymore. National Amusements also seems to be really getting rid of a lot of their older multiplex & showcase cinema locations.
You are right it is odd, but I guess the one Wonder Theatre that did not have a auditorium named after it (the 175th Street) would not have sounded too out of place as among such names as Palace, Capitol, Majestic, State, Paradise, Olympia, Majestic, Kings etc.
markp, unfortunately not, but I believe they sell the video on the tv stations website. Perhaps someone has that clip and can post it for us on youtube. The only tour show I recorded was when the played the Wurlitzer organ at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre.
Is there anything else in here beside the Burger place? This theatre was gutted to the bare walls when it was converted into a sixplex by United Theatres in 1980.
Does anybody have any photo’s of this theatre in it’s current condition? I hope a lot of Lamb’s details survived in the transitions from the Famous Players Five-plex to Club Med World to it’s current use as retail & gym.
In the 1999 WNET-TV channel 13 Special A Walk Up Broadway with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis, the visit the 175th Street, go into the original projection room & fire up the old projection equipment & of course everything still worked, exactly like it did way back in 1969, when it was a Loew’s House. They don’t make stuff like they used to anymore.
Thanks Matt, Loew’s seemed to do the same thing in the Jersey, stripping out all equipment before they left. The 175th Street however was left intact when Rev. Ike took it over in 1969. I wonder if the original screen is still in the Valencia.
The IMAX Concession Lobby in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is designed in an Art Deco Style in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #9 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #3 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #5 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #7 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #10 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
I believe the decorations are intact, but the original seats have been replaced. Loews Cineplex merged with AMC Entertainment in January 2006, they kept the AMC name for the combined company & they were bought by a Chinese Company named Wanda Group a few years ago. Also as they renovate the former Loews theatres they are replacing signage with the AMC nameplate, like on 84th Street.
Orlando! Thank your for the amazing description of the original neon! Did the Kings originally use milk glass letter to spell out the titles of the films that were playing? I see that the Jersey originally had a French Curve marquee similar to the Kings, but nowhere near as ornate. Both were replaced in 1949, that the Jersey still has. I wish someone saved the neon letter from the former Kings marquee, although the Loew’s name was off of it at the end.
That’s also why when the big Palaces that still show movies, we should make an effort to go and experience what it’s like to see a wonderful movie in a real Movie Palace. Most people in our society today think the plain Jane nondescript box they see movies in at their local multiplex is how people have always experienced movies, boy are they wrong!
Also don’t forget about the change the in exhibition landscape, the end of exclusive roadshow runs for these big theatres and the beginning the the showcase neighborhood engagements – where the same motion picture opened everywhere simultaneously, also must have hit these big houses very hard. They must have had a lot of empty seats unfortunately, and still had to pay to heat, cool these auditoriums no matter how may patrons were watching films/
Yes, and if the ones that survived had not become “Houses Of Worship” or “Performing Arts Centers” they would be unfortunately no longer be with us as well.
The photo on the plaque is taken from a distance, & had a vertical sign the said Loew’s and then Avalon on the bottom of it at an angle. I believe the marquee is the same one as the plaque.
paullewis- you make a valid point, the list for never should have been allowed demolition should also include the State, Rivoli, 72nd Street, & Triboro. But in a way having the Plaque outside the multiplex auditorium can perhaps get a curiosity seeker who never knew the Capitol ever existed want to find our more about it & perhaps in a way that helps it live on in our collective consciousness.
Yes, right before the Almi & then Rugoff/Cinema 5 combination I believe. The photo on the plaque in the Lincoln Square is a Loew’s Hump Style Marquee, similar to the one the Oriental had originally. I have never seen that photo anywhere else unfortunately. The THSA probably has it in their Loew’s Collection.
Thanks Orlando! I hope they fix the neon. BTW she also worked as an usher at one of the Broadway houses, she always refers to that part of her life in her interviews about seeing shows on broadway.
Bill, I hope so as well, can’t wait to see what it will look like once they get it up and running. It was always a treat to see movie projected in 70mm back in the past.
Too bad, it was a nice flea market, there aren’t too many like that one left anymore. National Amusements also seems to be really getting rid of a lot of their older multiplex & showcase cinema locations.
You are right it is odd, but I guess the one Wonder Theatre that did not have a auditorium named after it (the 175th Street) would not have sounded too out of place as among such names as Palace, Capitol, Majestic, State, Paradise, Olympia, Majestic, Kings etc.
Yes, they have incorrect information for the year it was demolished, it was 1968 not 1967.
What will happen to the Flea Market that used the parking lot of this theatre on the weekends?
markp, unfortunately not, but I believe they sell the video on the tv stations website. Perhaps someone has that clip and can post it for us on youtube. The only tour show I recorded was when the played the Wurlitzer organ at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre.
Is there anything else in here beside the Burger place? This theatre was gutted to the bare walls when it was converted into a sixplex by United Theatres in 1980.
Does anybody have any photo’s of this theatre in it’s current condition? I hope a lot of Lamb’s details survived in the transitions from the Famous Players Five-plex to Club Med World to it’s current use as retail & gym.
In the 1999 WNET-TV channel 13 Special A Walk Up Broadway with David Hartman and Historian Barry Lewis, the visit the 175th Street, go into the original projection room & fire up the old projection equipment & of course everything still worked, exactly like it did way back in 1969, when it was a Loew’s House. They don’t make stuff like they used to anymore.
Thanks Matt, Loew’s seemed to do the same thing in the Jersey, stripping out all equipment before they left. The 175th Street however was left intact when Rev. Ike took it over in 1969. I wonder if the original screen is still in the Valencia.
The IMAX Concession Lobby in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is designed in an Art Deco Style in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #9 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #3 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #5 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #7 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.
Auditorium #10 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.