There are also Angelika Film Centers in Houston, Dallas and Plano Texas. All are operated by Reading Entertainment [dba City Cinemas in New York] which licenses the use of the Angelika name, according to this website: http://www.angelikafilm.com/
Through previous mergers and aquisitions, Loews presently owns the names and trademarks of:
Cineplex Odeon
RKO
Century
Stanley-Warner
Cinema 5 LTD.
The Walter Reade Organization
Plitt Theatres
Essaness
Circle
USA Cinemas
Sack
Music Makers
Sterling Recreation
…and I’m sure I left out something, but thats all I can think of from modern history.
The Dort Drive-In was owned by William Oliksen, who subsequently owned the Dort Mall, built on the site of the former drive-in. A few years after the mall was built, the Dort Mall Cinema was built on the west side of the mall and operated by General Cinema Corporation. By 1976 the elderly Mr. Oliksen came and toured the property every day, although it had clearly seen better days and was largely vacant. I suspect his tours were more theraputic than actual inspection of the property.
The 86th Street is a partnership with the original owner, and he probably won’t let them destroy the place. He made his partnership deal with the original CC administration, not the circus-act running things now.
The 86th Street is a partnership with the original owner, and he probably won’t let them destroy the place. He made his partnership deal with the original CC administration, not the circus-act running things now.
The reason the Angelika does not make improvements is simple: It is owned by City Cinemas, a company whose administration for the last 11 years is not interested in film, theatres, the New York audience or New York in general, for that matter. Their interests lie elsewhere. If they could rent out the Angelika to Duane Reade for more than they get at the box office, they’d do it in a flash. Look at all their properties – the lame-brains upstairs of the Village East have turned them all into sh*t-houses.
Why be surprised? Since when have any UA theatres been operated with any common sense? And now with Regal running the show they’d ptobably rather just be rid of the old UA’s.
When I was there in 1971, the Loew’s Lauderhill (a single-screen, then) was across the street from GCC’s Lauderhill Cinema, also a single-screen. Loew’s Lauderhill was their only theatre in Broward County, as I recall, and they had several in Dade.
RobertR: I notice in the above-linked ad that there is a San Juan Theatre in Manhattan, and a Puerto Rico Theatre in the Bx. They aren’t listed on this site (at least not under those names). Do you know where they were?
According to an ad posted by RobertR for another theatre, in 1974 the little City Cinema at Co-op City was a Brandt house, and was playing a double-feature of Disney’s “Aristocats” and “Song of the South”. View link
BTW, Ron Neuman: the three theatres in Cleveland Ohio that were twinned (in your post of 7/1) were the Loew’s East, Loew’s West and the Loew’s Yorktown.
It’s interesting to see that they carried the fight here and also at the Fordham, not too far away, and in Manhattan at both the Rivoli and Cinerama, and in Queens at the Midway and the Forest Hills. Those fights were always volatile – a projectionist once told me of a theatre (I don’t recall which one) where during the 2nd round the raukus crowd knocked over the video projector, which had been set up in the middle of the auditorium, and it broke, causing a riot to break out.
After I was done snooping around the Beekman tonight, I also stopped over here at the New York Twin. It is undergoing some kind of renovation – there are new light fixtures being installed outside the entry, with all the cables hanging out of the ceiling. Only the ONE side looks as if it is the only way inside. The TWO side has the stairs and escalator boarded over, and the windows are covered with brown paper. In the ONE entry, there is a sign from Clearview saying pardon our dust, changes are being made, but the only thing mentioned specifically is the installation of new seats. The seats that were there were only about 7 years old.
I stopped by the Beek when I left work tonight – anybody want to buy a chandelier? There is a hand-written sign on the door stating ‘Chandelier for sale – art deco [i imagine it is the one there in the outer lobby] – also candy stand’ – but since all the inside lights were left on at 3:30 am, you could see inside and the stand was already gone, only the soda tubes sticking out of the floor.
At the time that the Village East up the street was undergoing conversion to a 7-plex, around 1990, Cineplex had taken a lease on the Commodore/Village/Fillmore/Saint, with the intention of gutting it out and making a plex inside of the shell. The schizophrenic Landmarks Commission would not let them do it, and they got out of the lease. As far as I know, nothing was ever done with it after that, it just sat vacant for years. I never understood how Landmarks allowed it to be demolished completely after they wouldn’t allow Cineplex to gut the interior.
The Saint was a “members only” hi-tech club, requiring a $250 fee for annual membership, and unlike Studio 54, was virtually unknown to the general public. To the members, though, and those taken there by members, it was the best dance club in the world. There were periodic live performances by The Pointer Sisters, Sylvester and other disco performers of the time. It lasted from 1980 to about 1987. From Labor Day to Memorial Day it was only open Saturday and Sunday nights, opening at about 11:00 pm (but didn’t really get rolling til about 2) and usually closed about 11:00 am, and closed completely for the summer. The end came when the membership was seriously depleted by the AIDS situation, and rather than let it go “bridge & tunnel” the owners just shut it down.
The chandelier mentioned in Keith Maddens post above, was originally in the Loew’s Capitol in New York City, and more recently in the Copley Place theatre in Boston.
In general, there is nothing wrong with midnight movies – but this is, after all, the Paris, a place known for nearly 60 years for presenting high-brow foreign films and catering to an upscale audience. If they were running Fellini’s “8 ½”, for instance, or Kurasawa’s “RAN” or even something like “Blood Simple”, I would not question the motive. But general release stuff?? They can do better than that!
New York is being ripped out of itself. In a weird sort of way I kind of wish Dinkins would get re-elected so the crime rate would sky-rocket and all these transplants from Kansas would stop trying to re-make Manhattan into suburbia with high-rise buildings and get out of here. Did you know that after about midnight on Saturday night you can’t find anyplace to eat on either Third or Lexington Avenues from 86th St. to about 45th? Years ago there were all kinds of places open late…
Shade – you left the endangered and now-degraded Cinema 1 2 3 off your list. One also has to worry about the Paris – if they have resorted to midnight shows after all these years, it may be the handwriting on the wall. BTW, the relatively new Loews State quad will be closing by the end of the year, certain non-essential equipment is being removed.
Excellent photos! For those unfamiliar with New York theatres, in the photo (marquee.jpg) davebazooka mentions in the previous post, the tall black glass building in the background houses the former Loews/Crown now Clearview New York twin theatre, which is going to be renamed ‘Beekman One Two’.
RobertR – With AMC taking over Loews, I’m afraid the Tower East may be doomed – I don’t think AMC even knows what a 1-screen theatre looks like. As a matter of fact, do they own any theatres with less than 15 screens? I even wonder about the future of 84th/Orpheum/19th/Village theatres.
As I recall, the strip mall was L-shaped – with the short leg parallel with the Belt Pkwy and the long leg parallel with Rockaway Pkwy – the theatre was in the corner of the L where the long and short legs meet.
The Loew’s Paradise Theatre will not have to worry about Loews-Cineplex Entertainment making them take down the Loew’s sign off the building. It was announced today that Loews is going to be merged with American Multi-Cinema (AMC) – and will use the AMC name – Loews Theatres, as an entity, will cease to exist. It will be a very sad day indeed when the merger closes (they say in six to nine months) and the Loews name will be relegated to the AMC trash-heap.
A slight variation on the recent Loews slogan: “After 101 years and counting, there has been NO PLACE LIKE LOEWS”.
There are also Angelika Film Centers in Houston, Dallas and Plano Texas. All are operated by Reading Entertainment [dba City Cinemas in New York] which licenses the use of the Angelika name, according to this website:
http://www.angelikafilm.com/
Through previous mergers and aquisitions, Loews presently owns the names and trademarks of:
Cineplex Odeon
RKO
Century
Stanley-Warner
Cinema 5 LTD.
The Walter Reade Organization
Plitt Theatres
Essaness
Circle
USA Cinemas
Sack
Music Makers
Sterling Recreation
…and I’m sure I left out something, but thats all I can think of from modern history.
The Dort Drive-In was owned by William Oliksen, who subsequently owned the Dort Mall, built on the site of the former drive-in. A few years after the mall was built, the Dort Mall Cinema was built on the west side of the mall and operated by General Cinema Corporation. By 1976 the elderly Mr. Oliksen came and toured the property every day, although it had clearly seen better days and was largely vacant. I suspect his tours were more theraputic than actual inspection of the property.
The 86th Street is a partnership with the original owner, and he probably won’t let them destroy the place. He made his partnership deal with the original CC administration, not the circus-act running things now.
The 86th Street is a partnership with the original owner, and he probably won’t let them destroy the place. He made his partnership deal with the original CC administration, not the circus-act running things now.
The reason the Angelika does not make improvements is simple: It is owned by City Cinemas, a company whose administration for the last 11 years is not interested in film, theatres, the New York audience or New York in general, for that matter. Their interests lie elsewhere. If they could rent out the Angelika to Duane Reade for more than they get at the box office, they’d do it in a flash. Look at all their properties – the lame-brains upstairs of the Village East have turned them all into sh*t-houses.
In those days, in addition to the Lauderhill Cinema, GCC had the Pompano Cinema, Sunrise Cinema I & II (now Galleria 4), and the Hollywood Cinema.
Why be surprised? Since when have any UA theatres been operated with any common sense? And now with Regal running the show they’d ptobably rather just be rid of the old UA’s.
When I was there in 1971, the Loew’s Lauderhill (a single-screen, then) was across the street from GCC’s Lauderhill Cinema, also a single-screen. Loew’s Lauderhill was their only theatre in Broward County, as I recall, and they had several in Dade.
RobertR: I notice in the above-linked ad that there is a San Juan Theatre in Manhattan, and a Puerto Rico Theatre in the Bx. They aren’t listed on this site (at least not under those names). Do you know where they were?
According to an ad posted by RobertR for another theatre, in 1974 the little City Cinema at Co-op City was a Brandt house, and was playing a double-feature of Disney’s “Aristocats” and “Song of the South”.
View link
BTW, Ron Neuman: the three theatres in Cleveland Ohio that were twinned (in your post of 7/1) were the Loew’s East, Loew’s West and the Loew’s Yorktown.
It’s interesting to see that they carried the fight here and also at the Fordham, not too far away, and in Manhattan at both the Rivoli and Cinerama, and in Queens at the Midway and the Forest Hills. Those fights were always volatile – a projectionist once told me of a theatre (I don’t recall which one) where during the 2nd round the raukus crowd knocked over the video projector, which had been set up in the middle of the auditorium, and it broke, causing a riot to break out.
After I was done snooping around the Beekman tonight, I also stopped over here at the New York Twin. It is undergoing some kind of renovation – there are new light fixtures being installed outside the entry, with all the cables hanging out of the ceiling. Only the ONE side looks as if it is the only way inside. The TWO side has the stairs and escalator boarded over, and the windows are covered with brown paper. In the ONE entry, there is a sign from Clearview saying pardon our dust, changes are being made, but the only thing mentioned specifically is the installation of new seats. The seats that were there were only about 7 years old.
I stopped by the Beek when I left work tonight – anybody want to buy a chandelier? There is a hand-written sign on the door stating ‘Chandelier for sale – art deco [i imagine it is the one there in the outer lobby] – also candy stand’ – but since all the inside lights were left on at 3:30 am, you could see inside and the stand was already gone, only the soda tubes sticking out of the floor.
Forget about the theatre – who cares about “King Kong”?? – a re-make of a re-make [yawn].
At the time that the Village East up the street was undergoing conversion to a 7-plex, around 1990, Cineplex had taken a lease on the Commodore/Village/Fillmore/Saint, with the intention of gutting it out and making a plex inside of the shell. The schizophrenic Landmarks Commission would not let them do it, and they got out of the lease. As far as I know, nothing was ever done with it after that, it just sat vacant for years. I never understood how Landmarks allowed it to be demolished completely after they wouldn’t allow Cineplex to gut the interior.
The Saint was a “members only” hi-tech club, requiring a $250 fee for annual membership, and unlike Studio 54, was virtually unknown to the general public. To the members, though, and those taken there by members, it was the best dance club in the world. There were periodic live performances by The Pointer Sisters, Sylvester and other disco performers of the time. It lasted from 1980 to about 1987. From Labor Day to Memorial Day it was only open Saturday and Sunday nights, opening at about 11:00 pm (but didn’t really get rolling til about 2) and usually closed about 11:00 am, and closed completely for the summer. The end came when the membership was seriously depleted by the AIDS situation, and rather than let it go “bridge & tunnel” the owners just shut it down.
Oh OK, you’re right – I didn’t have the paper in front of me, since the Copley recently closed I thought it came from there.
The chandelier mentioned in Keith Maddens post above, was originally in the Loew’s Capitol in New York City, and more recently in the Copley Place theatre in Boston.
In general, there is nothing wrong with midnight movies – but this is, after all, the Paris, a place known for nearly 60 years for presenting high-brow foreign films and catering to an upscale audience. If they were running Fellini’s “8 ½”, for instance, or Kurasawa’s “RAN” or even something like “Blood Simple”, I would not question the motive. But general release stuff?? They can do better than that!
New York is being ripped out of itself. In a weird sort of way I kind of wish Dinkins would get re-elected so the crime rate would sky-rocket and all these transplants from Kansas would stop trying to re-make Manhattan into suburbia with high-rise buildings and get out of here. Did you know that after about midnight on Saturday night you can’t find anyplace to eat on either Third or Lexington Avenues from 86th St. to about 45th? Years ago there were all kinds of places open late…
Shade – you left the endangered and now-degraded Cinema 1 2 3 off your list. One also has to worry about the Paris – if they have resorted to midnight shows after all these years, it may be the handwriting on the wall. BTW, the relatively new Loews State quad will be closing by the end of the year, certain non-essential equipment is being removed.
Excellent photos! For those unfamiliar with New York theatres, in the photo (marquee.jpg) davebazooka mentions in the previous post, the tall black glass building in the background houses the former Loews/Crown now Clearview New York twin theatre, which is going to be renamed ‘Beekman One Two’.
RobertR – With AMC taking over Loews, I’m afraid the Tower East may be doomed – I don’t think AMC even knows what a 1-screen theatre looks like. As a matter of fact, do they own any theatres with less than 15 screens? I even wonder about the future of 84th/Orpheum/19th/Village theatres.
As I recall, the strip mall was L-shaped – with the short leg parallel with the Belt Pkwy and the long leg parallel with Rockaway Pkwy – the theatre was in the corner of the L where the long and short legs meet.
The Loew’s Paradise Theatre will not have to worry about Loews-Cineplex Entertainment making them take down the Loew’s sign off the building. It was announced today that Loews is going to be merged with American Multi-Cinema (AMC) – and will use the AMC name – Loews Theatres, as an entity, will cease to exist. It will be a very sad day indeed when the merger closes (they say in six to nine months) and the Loews name will be relegated to the AMC trash-heap.
A slight variation on the recent Loews slogan: “After 101 years and counting, there has been NO PLACE LIKE LOEWS”.