IFC Center
323 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
323 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
34 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 202 comments
1966 photo added of Simon & Garfunkel on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, courtesy of Bob Greenhouse. Waverly in the background.
I saw “2001” here three years ago in the small upstairs theater. Saw it again tonight in the main theater, with the biggest screen. Size does matter when it comes to “2001”.
I hate it when I end up in Cinema 5. There is about 10 feet between the screen & the back row. Fortunately, I’ve always managed to get a seat in the back row.
Exterior pix from July 2010.
Seating is 480 total.
1: 210
2: 114
3: 61
4: 60
5: 35
I lived in the space next to the Waverly in the early nineties. It eventually became part of the current IFC cinema remodel in 1999.
Unless those extra two screens were carved out of the original three, it can’t be 385 seats. When it was 3 screen, they were 220, 120 and 70=410.
Saw the remake of “Maniac” here yesterday.Not a bad theatre, and one of very few that would show this film,even in Manhattan. The film is unrated but it would certainly be NC-17 for extreme violence.The patrons and staff don’t have that uppity attitude like some other downtown art houses.Once at Film Forum a patron in front of me turned and stared daggers every time my seat squeaked. Tickets here are $13.50.
A few shots I took last November:
IFC Waverly
View from down W. 3rd
Marquee at night
On Saturday night I attended a midnight showing of “2001: A Space Odyssey” here. It was in one of the smaller upstairs auditoriums, and the screen wasn’t as big as I was hoping, but the movie was as spellbinding as ever. It was my 57th theatrical viewing of the film, but I’d never seen it at midnight. It took me back 40 years or so when I’d see ads for midnight shows of “2001” at the Ziegfeld, and how I wished I was old enough to attend such shows. Finally fulfilled that ambition …
Chuck’s link from Jan 18 shows The Waverly Cafe (to the right of the entrance, which was probably at that time only open for “special events” at that time – I think the cafe only operated for a year) and the Jul 27 link shows the empty store front. In place of the Cafe are two auditoriums: one that’s acceptable (4), the other that is downright shameful (5). 5 is currently showing Valhalla Rising – you’d be better off watching it on your iPhone 4 than in that auditorium (I saw it on a huge screen at TIFF last September, it’s meant to be seen that way).
Tinsel: The sentence says “WAS” a funky little two screen house. I was General Manager of the Waverly around 1987-1989 while it indeed was just that. I think that’s a very funny and apt description of the way it WAS. The place was usually packed while I was there. Everyone remembers LarryA the Doorman (he really loved India), BeeshamT the concessionist, and remember the girl concessionist who looked just like Geena Davis?
It wasn’t his best film and there was maybe only about 15 people at the 7:40 show. It’s also playing day and date on IFC’s on demand channel. Herzog’s other new movie, My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done had the big house.
Wow, how did Francois Ozon’s new film get dumped into a 60 seat auditorium on opening weekend?
As luck would have it, I saw two films tonight at IFC – both were in the new theaters, sandwiched under Theater 3 on the ground floor in what used to be the short lived and overpriced Waverly. (I once had crab cakes there, they were okay but there’s too many better places to eat within a few blocks).
The theaters haven’t been renumbered so 1, 4 and 5 are on the street floor, upstairs are 2 and 3. Theater 4 is okay, decent screen, about 60+ seats, tiered seating, digital and film projection. IFC sure doesn’t have Sony 4K projection, the colors were off, not sure if it was the digital file but some of the shots of the sky in Ricky were pixelated and discolored in hot spots, it was like watching a bad streaming video (maybe the were streaming it from IFC’s on demand network, kidding). I would have told the staff, but I would doubt they’d care.
Next up was Antichrist in Theater 5, a tiny all digital theater. I walked in and didn’t see a projector, thinking this was perhaps real projection I looked up, following the light. Directly above the first row was a digital projection sandwiched above with a close circuit camera to monitor presentation remotely.
The theater had about 35 seats, very comfortable but the projection again wasn’t that high quality. They probably went to Office Depot and bought there most expensive projector. The screen was a decent size although the auditorium layout was a little awkward, 3 rows of stadium seating, and two rows on the floor. The screen was small for a regular theater, but since it’s close the audience (I know, sounds like the scam IMAX is running with “perception”), but the projector showed all the pixels, while sharp and in focus, the whites seemed too bright, too artificial. Quick cuts seemed to show the pixels.
If I were you I’d avoid Theater 5, 4 is decent, the original 3 are still the best and have the most comfortable seats (the new ones have different but very comfortable seats similar to the seats Clearview installs although they are cloth and not fake leather). The IFC Center is still interesting as its a for-profit subsidiary of a major evil corporation (Cablevision) but behaves like an NFP with its special screenings, membership club, and mailing list. Still I worry that the theater exists mostly to fulfill some contractual obligation between filmmakers and IFC when they sell their films to IFC. Granted it’s playing a lot of non-IFC films, but it has been known to be a dumping ground and much as it’s provided an outlet for some great independent and documentaries to be seen. My objection is the pre-show: if I see two features during the same week, I’ll have to sit through the same pre-show: the same short (thank god they’re over Greenporno), most of the same trailers, and ads, it’s almost as bad as say, your local Regal or AMC. Customer service at IFC has also gone downhill, their staff doesn’t seem to be happy to be there, when you walk in they simply rip your ticket and tell you where to go, verses opening with something like “welcome to IFC Center”. It’s depressing how its gone downhill even as its writing a new chapter in its history with two new theaters, relying on cheap digital projection they practically are driving customers to IFC on demand and away from the theater. Maybe that’s part of their underlining strategy, but it sucks for those of us that are excited to see new films from world class filmmakers, in a facility that’s lowered its standards.
If they used the used the bar area for theatre space then my former loft apartment is now rightfully a movie theatre and all is right with the world.
Where did the WAVERLY marquee sign go? It was once in the bar.
2 additional screen for a total of 5 were opened on Friday. Were these added in what was the cafe space closed a while ago?
As the Walter Reade Waverly.
View link
Renewing link.
I am from LA and spent a week in NYC on holiday. Went to the IFC 2 nights running and saw “CHE” Parts 1 & 2 at the IFC. Wish I could have seen the it as The Waverly in all it’s glory back in the day before the twinning and it’s rebirth as the IFC. Saw Part One in the downstairs main theater. Not bad – lots of leg room and the seats are comfy, though you have to look up at the screen. Good projection and sound and all state of the art. The theater has been stripped to it’s brick walls, so not a whole lot of decor and nothing I think remains of the old theater. The whole feel of the place is sort of industrial but it works. Saw Part 2 upstairs in one of the “smaller” theaters and wish I’d seen it in the downstairs theater. Very, very small with a less then large screen. Good thing the place was not crowded as it would have sold out really fast. Maybe 10 people in the adudience for a 10 pm showing on a weekday. Very cosy but it was HOT! Might have been 35 degrees outside, but inside it must have been 90! Had to peel off all my layers and even my shoes and the heat put me right to sleep. All in all not a bad theater, but still wish I could have known it when it was still the Waverly. Oh, and it’s $12 admission for an adult. Don’t know if they do a bargain price. Good popcorn too! They sell DVD of the films they present at the snack bar. What would Bob Dylan have thought?
The Waverly was one of the first theaters I saw a movie at when I moved to NYC in 1986. I saw ‘Blue Velvet’ and there was still a balcony in the auditorium. The first film that I saw in the ridiculously small balcony ‘theater’ when it was twinned was ‘Sex Lies & Videotape’ in 1989. Some of the other films I saw there were ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’. Great theater. Even greater before they twinned it when the balcony was still there.
I lived on Carmine Street around the corner from the Waverly in the early 70’s when I was a kid. My Saturday mornings would often be spent in the balcony watching “The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad” and some Road Runner cartoons, overdosing on Milk Duds with Bunky Parker. $1.00 for a whole morning of cinema. The marquee read:“Special midnight screening- "Dawn Of The Dead”. I would PLEAD with my mom to let me go (She said no. I was nine.). I went to “Rocky Horror” there because my friend Maria was Magenta in the floor show. I was heart broken when they ripped out the balcony and turned it into a twin. I saw “Blue Velvet in the new, cramped space and thought how great it would have been with my feet up on the balcony wall.
It’s a little surprising that a threeplex, however good the location, can survive against neighborhood competition.
That was it, Al. Thank you very much. It was the first time I caught “Beat the Devil,” the 1953 flop that in the 1970s was frequently referred to as a cult favorite but which never truly caught on even at that level.
That was one of the few times I was in the Waverly, if not the only one, although I had occasion to walk past the theater scores of times over the years.
BEAT THE DEVIL