Two other notes:
– John Vanco, hired several months ago as General Manager of the new IFC Center, booked the Screening Room for several years during the late 1990s and up until 2001 or thereabouts, programming during that time many productions of his now-defunct Cowboy Pictures.
In response to your query, hardbop – the theatre you’re thinking of has a Cinema Treasures page: /theaters/8375/. RobertR, one of our fellow posters, thinks a restaurant might be the present occupant of its former space.
The Screening Room opened sometime around ‘96 and closed in the fall of 2002, never fully recovering from the effects of 9/11. The impression I have is that the Tribeca Cinemas are operating as more of a private/special event venue and will not be booked and operated as a more traditional movie theatre would be; Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal have been and/or are probably able to recoup their costs as is.
One quick, unrelated query (again, this is why a general message board on this site would be a welcome addition): does anyone know whether, during its recent sale, whether Loews Cineplex unloaded its Cineplex Odeon theatres in Canada as well? The C.O.-published movie clock in the Toronto Globe & Mail makes reference to its general entity being an Onex company, the unit which (I thought at least) unloaded Loews Cineplex lock, stock, and barrel.
The Worldwide opened in the summer of 1989, at or around the same time the nine-screen Chelsea multiplex opened its doors for business. Unlike the Chelsea, however, few people seemed to know (or care) the Worldwide existed and struggled to compete as a result for product with the theatres within the Times Square/immediate area zone at the time (the Criterion, the Astor Plaza, the combined four Embassy screens, the Ziegfeld, and the Guild 50th Street), eventually mostly becoming a move-over house and a repository for schlocky low-budget genre pics and very minor indie-type films.
In March of ‘94, Cineplex Odeon converted the Worldwide, the Manhattan Twin, and the 59th Street East Cinemas into discount theatres (with each of those three sites being rebranded as 'Encore’ houses – i.e., the Encore Worldwide, etc.). While the Manhattan and the 59th Street East eventually again became first-run venues (within a matter of months or, at the latest, by the 1996 holiday season), the Worldwide continued to serve in its then-present incarnation. Wildly successful during weekends and holidays, the Worldwide was generally a ghost town during non-rush periods, making it the perfect target for closure when Loews Cineplex' bankruptcy reorganization plan was accepted in February of 2001. (Among the Worldwide’s final films: ‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘Meet the Parents’, and ‘Vertical Limit’.)
Update on the IFC Center/Waverly:
– The new marquee is up and is very Waverly-esque in design (without the Waverly neon signage, but a cool homage nonetheless.
– The exterior scaffolding is gone and the new outside design is remarkable; it’s cool, sleek, and includes plenty of black and steel, creating (for me, at least) plenty of excitement and anticipation of how the interior is shaping up.
Sad indeed; I’m curious to know what shape the interior is in, as per sparkle’s October 20, 2004 comment about having seen seats being removed from the property. That being said, it’s a bit shocking to see just how fast the outside of the building deteriorated; wonder why (or how) that happened in such a short period of time…
One of the more stunning NYC movie theatre developments (or non-developments) in recent years is that this theatre hasn’t closed yet. (‘If a cinema opens and no one goes to it, does it make a sound?’, he asks quasi-rhetorically… )
The Quad was not the first multiplex in the United States; the two-screen multiplex theatre Stanley Durwood of Durwood Theatres (later known as AMC Theatres) built within a Kansas City, Mo. shopping center in 1963 is thought to be the first multiplex (if not one of the first multiplexes) built in this country.
The St. Marks Cinema closed for business sometime around 1985. Several businesses, including most prominently a pizza parlor, presently occupy its former space.
The Paris indeed does only the occasional revival, seemingly (with the exception of the ‘Cinema Paradiso’ director’s cut release in 2002, which was a planned release) only when there’s a gap in their programming (i.e., when a film does less-than-stellar business and there isn’t another one booked to immediately replace it).
I guess, almost needless to say, the owners of the Loew’s Oriental or Marshall’s just didn’t care much about the uniqueness of the space they were working with.
The 68th Street Playhouse wasn’t a great place to see a film, but it was the quintessential UES moviehouse; there isn’t a time when I pass by its former site when I don’t think about it.
I remember the Village East and the Loews at 3rd and 11th opening around the same time, too, hardbop – if memory serves, I think within, at the most, three months of one another.
The Times Square theatres which closed for business within 2-4 years prior to and after the Loews 42nd Street E-Walk Theatre and AMC Empire 25 arrived on the scene in November 1999 and April 2000, respectively:
Movieplex 42 – March 1996
Embassy 1 – late 1997
National Twin – early 1998
Embassy 2-3-4 (renamed Embassy 1-2-3 after the shuttering of the original Embassy 1) – December 1998
Criterion Center – April 2000
Loews Astor Plaza – August 2004
This posting by Philip Goldberg might answer some of the questions about what remains of the Loew’s Oriental…
I was in the building this weekend shopping with my wife. Although the orchestra level is completely gutted, I found an original theater staircase behind a closed door. it still has some of the original brasswork. Look at the drop ceiling and you’ll see a few missing panels, let your eyes adjust to the darkness above and you can barely make out the old ceiling of the theater. Also look at the plastered side wall. It’s also from the original theater lobby. It’s freshly painted but if you look up to where the ceiling panels are, and look above them through one of the missing panel’s holes, you see where the old dark paint from the theater begins. (To gain access to this stairway, just ask to use the bathroom, as it stands behind a locked door, and a store associate must open it for you.)
posted by philipgoldberg on Nov 5, 2002 at 2:10pm
I remember the revival house you’re referring to, hardbop. It was located in the former Collective for Living Cinema (which was something of an Anthology Film Archives-type operation) space at 41 White Street. The calendars were published in a layout similar to those the Cinema Village published when it was a rep cinema (I recall, too, that at least one of the calendars featured a logo which was a direct knock-off of the one Cinema Village used at the time) and the programming was similar to that offered by the Cinema Village and the Thalia Soho, and the theatre itself may have even adopted the Collective for Living Cinema name; the space is presently home to the Flea Theater. (Speaking of the CLC – the original collective and not the rep house – a brief history can be found here: View link)
Universal was the last studio to have an office in the Bay Village section in Boston. (A former colleague’s husband worked for them.) I think they (Universal, that is) pulled up stakes sometime in the late ‘90s.
It was Fine Line who booked the Thalia for a time, hardbop. (I had an article somewhere – think I tossed it long ago – which made mention of a booking relationship between Fine Line and the Thalia; among the films which screened there during that time were ‘Household Saints’ and ‘Naked in New York’.)
What was the general layout of the 8th Street Playhouse? Was the decor kept up-to-date, rundown, somewhere in between? The only physical remembrance I have of it as a moviehouse was when it was boarded-up after City Cinemas pulled out and before TLA Video moved into the space.
Two other notes:
– John Vanco, hired several months ago as General Manager of the new IFC Center, booked the Screening Room for several years during the late 1990s and up until 2001 or thereabouts, programming during that time many productions of his now-defunct Cowboy Pictures.
The Screening Room opened sometime around ‘96 and closed in the fall of 2002, never fully recovering from the effects of 9/11. The impression I have is that the Tribeca Cinemas are operating as more of a private/special event venue and will not be booked and operated as a more traditional movie theatre would be; Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal have been and/or are probably able to recoup their costs as is.
One quick, unrelated query (again, this is why a general message board on this site would be a welcome addition): does anyone know whether, during its recent sale, whether Loews Cineplex unloaded its Cineplex Odeon theatres in Canada as well? The C.O.-published movie clock in the Toronto Globe & Mail makes reference to its general entity being an Onex company, the unit which (I thought at least) unloaded Loews Cineplex lock, stock, and barrel.
The Worldwide opened in the summer of 1989, at or around the same time the nine-screen Chelsea multiplex opened its doors for business. Unlike the Chelsea, however, few people seemed to know (or care) the Worldwide existed and struggled to compete as a result for product with the theatres within the Times Square/immediate area zone at the time (the Criterion, the Astor Plaza, the combined four Embassy screens, the Ziegfeld, and the Guild 50th Street), eventually mostly becoming a move-over house and a repository for schlocky low-budget genre pics and very minor indie-type films.
In March of ‘94, Cineplex Odeon converted the Worldwide, the Manhattan Twin, and the 59th Street East Cinemas into discount theatres (with each of those three sites being rebranded as 'Encore’ houses – i.e., the Encore Worldwide, etc.). While the Manhattan and the 59th Street East eventually again became first-run venues (within a matter of months or, at the latest, by the 1996 holiday season), the Worldwide continued to serve in its then-present incarnation. Wildly successful during weekends and holidays, the Worldwide was generally a ghost town during non-rush periods, making it the perfect target for closure when Loews Cineplex' bankruptcy reorganization plan was accepted in February of 2001. (Among the Worldwide’s final films: ‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘Meet the Parents’, and ‘Vertical Limit’.)
Update on the IFC Center/Waverly:
– The new marquee is up and is very Waverly-esque in design (without the Waverly neon signage, but a cool homage nonetheless.
– The exterior scaffolding is gone and the new outside design is remarkable; it’s cool, sleek, and includes plenty of black and steel, creating (for me, at least) plenty of excitement and anticipation of how the interior is shaping up.
Sad indeed; I’m curious to know what shape the interior is in, as per sparkle’s October 20, 2004 comment about having seen seats being removed from the property. That being said, it’s a bit shocking to see just how fast the outside of the building deteriorated; wonder why (or how) that happened in such a short period of time…
One of the more stunning NYC movie theatre developments (or non-developments) in recent years is that this theatre hasn’t closed yet. (‘If a cinema opens and no one goes to it, does it make a sound?’, he asks quasi-rhetorically… )
The Quad was not the first multiplex in the United States; the two-screen multiplex theatre Stanley Durwood of Durwood Theatres (later known as AMC Theatres) built within a Kansas City, Mo. shopping center in 1963 is thought to be the first multiplex (if not one of the first multiplexes) built in this country.
The St. Marks Cinema closed for business sometime around 1985. Several businesses, including most prominently a pizza parlor, presently occupy its former space.
It has a page here on the site – /theaters/9502/
I realize this is a bit out of school, but do you know what became of Lupo’s previous home, Gerald?
The Paris indeed does only the occasional revival, seemingly (with the exception of the ‘Cinema Paradiso’ director’s cut release in 2002, which was a planned release) only when there’s a gap in their programming (i.e., when a film does less-than-stellar business and there isn’t another one booked to immediately replace it).
I guess, almost needless to say, the owners of the Loew’s Oriental or Marshall’s just didn’t care much about the uniqueness of the space they were working with.
The Sutton was recently torn down; here’s the entire sad story… /theaters/308/
The 68th Street Playhouse wasn’t a great place to see a film, but it was the quintessential UES moviehouse; there isn’t a time when I pass by its former site when I don’t think about it.
I remember the Village East and the Loews at 3rd and 11th opening around the same time, too, hardbop – if memory serves, I think within, at the most, three months of one another.
The Rialto Theatre/Cineplex Odeon Warner closed its doors for business not long before or during the summer of ‘91.
The Times Square theatres which closed for business within 2-4 years prior to and after the Loews 42nd Street E-Walk Theatre and AMC Empire 25 arrived on the scene in November 1999 and April 2000, respectively:
Movieplex 42 – March 1996
Embassy 1 – late 1997
National Twin – early 1998
Embassy 2-3-4 (renamed Embassy 1-2-3 after the shuttering of the original Embassy 1) – December 1998
Criterion Center – April 2000
Loews Astor Plaza – August 2004
The Angelika (after several delays and false starts) opened in the fall of ‘89, the Village East sometime between the spring and fall of '91.
This posting by Philip Goldberg might answer some of the questions about what remains of the Loew’s Oriental…
I was in the building this weekend shopping with my wife. Although the orchestra level is completely gutted, I found an original theater staircase behind a closed door. it still has some of the original brasswork. Look at the drop ceiling and you’ll see a few missing panels, let your eyes adjust to the darkness above and you can barely make out the old ceiling of the theater. Also look at the plastered side wall. It’s also from the original theater lobby. It’s freshly painted but if you look up to where the ceiling panels are, and look above them through one of the missing panel’s holes, you see where the old dark paint from the theater begins. (To gain access to this stairway, just ask to use the bathroom, as it stands behind a locked door, and a store associate must open it for you.)
posted by philipgoldberg on Nov 5, 2002 at 2:10pm
I remember the revival house you’re referring to, hardbop. It was located in the former Collective for Living Cinema (which was something of an Anthology Film Archives-type operation) space at 41 White Street. The calendars were published in a layout similar to those the Cinema Village published when it was a rep cinema (I recall, too, that at least one of the calendars featured a logo which was a direct knock-off of the one Cinema Village used at the time) and the programming was similar to that offered by the Cinema Village and the Thalia Soho, and the theatre itself may have even adopted the Collective for Living Cinema name; the space is presently home to the Flea Theater. (Speaking of the CLC – the original collective and not the rep house – a brief history can be found here: View link)
It was the Movieplex 42, hardbop – /theaters/8429/
Universal was the last studio to have an office in the Bay Village section in Boston. (A former colleague’s husband worked for them.) I think they (Universal, that is) pulled up stakes sometime in the late ‘90s.
It was Fine Line who booked the Thalia for a time, hardbop. (I had an article somewhere – think I tossed it long ago – which made mention of a booking relationship between Fine Line and the Thalia; among the films which screened there during that time were ‘Household Saints’ and ‘Naked in New York’.)
What was the general layout of the 8th Street Playhouse? Was the decor kept up-to-date, rundown, somewhere in between? The only physical remembrance I have of it as a moviehouse was when it was boarded-up after City Cinemas pulled out and before TLA Video moved into the space.