And there’s a photo of the Pussycat on Seventh and 49th that also shows that Fascination arcade sign I mentioned above. No idea where the Samson is or what it was. If only we could make out some of the other storefront signs or address numbers as a reference point.
This 2004 shot was taken just before all the businesses on the block were closed and evicted for demolition, to clear the way for the Bank of America tower than now stands at Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets.
In keeping with the tradition of posting one comment per year on this page…
Here’s a 1950’s view of the Latin Quarter in full swing and here is another of the 48th Street entrance. This shot from 1948 shows an earlier marquee. Finally, here’s one last shot of the Broadway marquee and the adjacent Playland arcade that cut through from Seventh Ave to Broadway and I remember still being in that location into the 1980’s.
I recall another Playland location next to the Rialto Theatre’s Seventh Avenue entrance. And I believe there was one remaining Fascination arcade on Broadway in the upper 40’s. I never went into the Fascination location – never even knew exactly what it was until years later, but I remember the sign on Broadway and I’ve seen photos of other previous locations in the area, particularly on 42nd Street.
Anyway, I am unable to locate any images of this site operating as the Cine Lido, or any of its later incarnations. But I did find this 1930’s shot showing this building as the Times Square location of the famous Cotton Club.
Thanks, Zubi. Did a little reading on the web on the matter and I think I have a general understanding of the format and variations thereof. Used to be the IMAX company only allowed use of the phrase “IMAX experience” with 15-perf 70mm true IMAX, but starting in 2008, they’ve backed down from that policy. As I suspected, this is watered down IMAX.
Stopped in today and spoke to the elderly gentleman taking tickets inside the theater. He told me that the IMAX screen was installed in theater #2, which is one of the larger auditoriums, and that no other rooms were divided or otherwise altered. That means this should be advertised as “UA Westbury Stadium 12 with IMAX,” rather than “& IMAX” since there is no 13th screen. Nevertheless, there you have it. Not sure how you can replicate the IMAX experience in a converted room, without the steep raking of true IMAX auditoriums… and I wonder what kind of standards the people at IMAX have before they’ll allow that an installation counts as an actual IMAX theater? And is there an IMAX projector on hand with large format film? Or has the brand been watered down over the years? Since I’m basically having this conversation with myself on this page (not the first time this has happened with me on CT, mind you) I fear I may never get an answer so I may have to do some research myself!
I do remember that Ramada Inn (I thought there might have been a Holiday Inn around, but might be confusing it with the Ramada). I’m sure it survived through the sheer ignorance of out of town visitors who planned their trips to New York unwisely! May have been a fleabag, too, if it flew under Ramada’s corporate policies. I’m sure Ramada did not sanction short-stay or hourly bookings, officially or otherwise.
Something to tie your last two posts together, Tinseltoes, (and re-activate my notifications for this page) is that “To Be or Not to Be” was an Alexander Korda presentation – though it appears he did not take an actual producing role in that great Lubitch film.
I think we can also eliminate the 3rd paragraph in the intro and incorporate the line about it’s opening in 1969 as New Mini Cinema into the first paragraph. Also can update number of seats to 130 and current function as retail/restaurant.
The building is still standing. The new 1600 Broadway residential tower sits on the footprint of the demolished Studebaker Building that was on the 48th Street end of the block. The rest of the block consists of 4 other buildings, which includes 734 Seventh Ave, 740 Seventh Ave (on the corner of 49th), 202 West 49th (where the World Theater moved after the original World became the Embassy 49th) and the 3-story L-shaped building that fronts the corner of Broadway and 49th as #1604-1610 (where the Circus Cinema and Big Top Theatre was) and also fronts Seventh Ave at 732 (where the Frisco/New Mini Cinema was located). All of these buildings are still standing – and all are owned by the related companies Farmore Realty Co Inc or Sweetheart Theatres Inc, the latter of which ran numerous porn theatres in the area – see my post above dated Oct 1, 2006.
732 Seventh Avenue is currently occupied by two asian kitchens – Pearl’s and Teriyaki Boy. As per this photo from Feb 2011, Teriyaki Boy closed due to high rents. But this is definitely the same location and building that housed the Frisco. The new 1600 Broadway is immediately adjacent to the left.
Bottom line here, an AKA should be added for New Mini Cinema, which is the name under which this cinema originally opened. Also the address should be confirmed as 732 Seventh Avenue. And status should remain as closed, since the building has not been demolished. Took us 5 years and it seems only Al, Ken and myself give a damn, but there you have it!
The Winter Garden is between 50th and 51st, one block north of where the Rivoli stood. I saw Beatlemania there as well, ages ago. No doubt, Eighth Avenue was a sordid and dangerous affair – and the general desolation on Eighth made it much more intimidating than Seventh and B'way, for sure. I used to go to the Hollywood Twin when it was a revival house for a few years in the ‘80’s. Very sketchy area and I sometimes felt like I had to keep one eye over my shoulder even when I was in my seat watching a movie there.
The status of this theatre should be changed to “Demolished” as the entire odd-numbered block front of Sixth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets is now occupied by the monolithic 1185 Avenue of the Americas.
IMAX NOW OPEN for what it’s worth. I’m not sure how they can call it Stadium 12 AND IMAX… it does not appear that they did any construction to add on to the building, so if there are still 12 screens PLUS the IMAX, they must have converted an existing auditorium or 2 to IMAX and then carved up some of the others to make up the difference.
I recall my grandfather telling me that “Hellzapoppin” was, without doubt, the funniest live performance of any kind he had ever attended. I don’t know if he saw it at the Winter Garden or the 46th Street Theater. “Hellzapoppin” moved over to the Majestic for its last month or so, presumably to clear the Winter Garden for rehearsals of “Sons O'Fun.” You have to wonder how O & J found time to film the cinematic version of “Hellzapoppin,” which was released in time for Christmas of 1941.
Just to complete the circle, “Sons of Fun” eventually moved out of the Winter Garden and transferred to the 46th Street Theatre to complete its very successful 21-month run.
This photos absolutely tear my heart apart. Jeeze… is that first photo taken from under the balcony overhang looking at the bare orchestra floor? And the second shot appears to be the lobby ornamentation on the southern wall above the entry way from the street entrance foyer – is that some sort of construction shedding in front of it? The shot of the upper balcony also reveals all sorts of horrors perpetrated against the Moorish decor. God… and last time I saw a film at the Keith’s, it was in the balcony theater (a double feature of “A Boy and His Dog” and the documentary “Hells Angels Forever”) and I sat dead center in one of the first 5 rows – about where those 2 x 4’s are framed out in the last pic. Undoubtedly, a restoration project of the entire auditorium would be a pretty monumental undertaking that would require deep, deep pockets.
B'way and Seventh Avenues were always very busy with pedestrian traffic – even during the bad old days. Some blocks were worse than others in terms of crime and solicitation, 42nd Street itself probably being the most notorious – particularly the closer you got to Eighth Avenue. I wasn’t keenly aware of which streets tourists, theatergoers and casual passersby tended to avoid at night other than 42nd, but I’m sure that those sorts of crowds would have been more inclined to stay where the crowds seemed to be.
Tell you what… While 42nd Street always instilled some fear in me at night, even when I was a frequent moviegoer there (part of the thrill, after all), it wasn’t until around 1989 or so that I first felt intimidated walking down Seventh Ave in upper Times Square. I remember going to a show at the Virginia Theater on 52nd Street, one particular evening, and afterward I decided to take my wife to the heart of Times Square to show her some of my old haunts. At the time, several old buildings had been demolished, leaving entire blocks dark and behind construction shedding. Specifically I remember walking past the block where the Rivoli had once stood and that stretch was rather desolate and no longer lit by the old theater’s huge marquee. It was so foreboding walking along at that time of light – and the lights further down the Avenue seemed so far away – that I considered turning around and skipping the nostalgic tour entirely. But, we soldiered on without incident and the crowds picked up again around Duffy Square. I had never felt that creeped out walking past the prostitutes, drug dealers and porn palace barkers just 3 or 4 years earlier.
Everything was sort of very plain and out in the open along Eighth Avenue. Activity along Broadway and Seventh Avenue was a bit more clandestine – not to mention that much of the soliciting took place in the various cinemas, cabarets and run-down taxi-dance ballrooms that peppered the area. But, to be sure, it was going on in all corners of the Theater District.
Roger… did your father ever mention anything about staying away from the “Dirty Thirties?” Suffice to say, this sort of activity was in no way restricted to Times Square.
This website is offering for sale a vintage aerial map of Amityville from 1925, featuring small images of a number of local landmarks including the “Amityville Lyceum.” Not sure how that reconciles with the information above that the building burnt down in 1915. St. Martin’s R.C. church is also listed separately on the list of images on the map.
There is a timeline provided on this local insurance company website that was allegedly prepared by William T Lauder, director of the Amityville Historical Society. It is noted that the Lyceum was built (along with the Triangle Building, which still stands) in 1892.
Not sure if the location of the theatre was anywhere near the Triangle, which is bounded by Broadway, Park Ave and Ireland Place.
Hey Al… I just saw a post you made back in 2008 on the Circus Cinema page regarding a NY Times article that noted the closure of both the Circus and Pink (the alternate World we’ve been discussing) in 1996. You directed that post at me, but, since I’ve been away from the fold for so long, I’ve only just read it now. Looks like the space may have previously been a cabaret/theater space called Broadway Burlesque, that operated on the 3rd floor of the building, above the video store.
The shame about the State is that it was in really good shape. They twinned it by splitting the balcony off from the orchestra and much of the original design was still in evidence in the balcony theater. Could have easily been restored and we would have retained at least some vestige of TImes Square’s rich cinematic history. But… that’s a lamentation for another page! There’s enough misery to rue over the Keith’s.
I’m tying in some old information that good old Lost Memory provided back in Sept 2006 for a porn theater I added here called Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show. Al, you were involved in that discussion way back when. We started talking about the infamous Frisco Theater on 7th Avenue, which I had been researching to add here at the time and he posted some detailed C of O information regarding the old Studebaker building that a number of porn houses (including the Frisco on 7th and the Circus Cinema and Big Top Theater on B'way) shared. Here’s what he had to add:
<<A June 1969 c/o for 732 Seventh Ave shows a three story building. The first floor has a 130 seat theater. The second and third floors each have a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing).
A June 1972 c/o now gives the address as 732 Seventh Ave & 1604 Broadway. The first floor has a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor has a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing). The third floor is now a 200 seat theater.
An April 1984 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is a 200 seat motion picture theater. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.
An April 1988 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is still a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is now office space. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.>>
We definitely decided that the 130 seat theater at 732 Seventh was the New Mini Cinema that was quickly renamed the Frisco. The 440 seat theater has got to be the Circus Cinema with the second floor 200 seat theater being the Big Top (which advertised “one flight up” on its B'way signage. That would leave the 212 seat room on the third floor as a very likely candidate for the new World Theater I’ve been wondering about here, which later became Pink.
Lost had also commented a bit later that he found marquee permits at this address under the name “World 49th Street Theater Corp” – which is the capper for me. Now what to do with my compulsion to add this theater to the CT roster! Oh, if Warren G Harris were still here, he’d be baffled and boggled (and more than a bit irate) over my fascination with these porn pits of old Times Square. Maybe someone will tip “toe” over here and make a snide remark in his stead!
Thanks, Al. Posted a poor-quality vid-cap that shows the marquee in 1992 with the PINK lettering above it. Was that a strip club? And wasn’t that building demolished with the rest of the block or has it somehow survived the new construction around it?
How about when the owners of the magnificent and historic Rivoli Theatre on Broadway and 49th Street erected scaffolding around the facade under the guise of giving it a good cleaning only to reveal when the scaffolding came down that the facade had been stripped of much architectural detail? This was a deliberate move to circumvent LPC review of the property for protection and cleared the path for its eventual destruction mere months later.
Sorry didn’t mention the Fascination sign here, it was earlier today on the page for the Cine Lido.
And there’s a photo of the Pussycat on Seventh and 49th that also shows that Fascination arcade sign I mentioned above. No idea where the Samson is or what it was. If only we could make out some of the other storefront signs or address numbers as a reference point.
This 2004 shot was taken just before all the businesses on the block were closed and evicted for demolition, to clear the way for the Bank of America tower than now stands at Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets.
Good work, Al! Glad I posted here today.
In keeping with the tradition of posting one comment per year on this page…
Here’s a 1950’s view of the Latin Quarter in full swing and here is another of the 48th Street entrance. This shot from 1948 shows an earlier marquee. Finally, here’s one last shot of the Broadway marquee and the adjacent Playland arcade that cut through from Seventh Ave to Broadway and I remember still being in that location into the 1980’s.
I recall another Playland location next to the Rialto Theatre’s Seventh Avenue entrance. And I believe there was one remaining Fascination arcade on Broadway in the upper 40’s. I never went into the Fascination location – never even knew exactly what it was until years later, but I remember the sign on Broadway and I’ve seen photos of other previous locations in the area, particularly on 42nd Street.
Anyway, I am unable to locate any images of this site operating as the Cine Lido, or any of its later incarnations. But I did find this 1930’s shot showing this building as the Times Square location of the famous Cotton Club.
Thanks, Zubi. Did a little reading on the web on the matter and I think I have a general understanding of the format and variations thereof. Used to be the IMAX company only allowed use of the phrase “IMAX experience” with 15-perf 70mm true IMAX, but starting in 2008, they’ve backed down from that policy. As I suspected, this is watered down IMAX.
Stopped in today and spoke to the elderly gentleman taking tickets inside the theater. He told me that the IMAX screen was installed in theater #2, which is one of the larger auditoriums, and that no other rooms were divided or otherwise altered. That means this should be advertised as “UA Westbury Stadium 12 with IMAX,” rather than “& IMAX” since there is no 13th screen. Nevertheless, there you have it. Not sure how you can replicate the IMAX experience in a converted room, without the steep raking of true IMAX auditoriums… and I wonder what kind of standards the people at IMAX have before they’ll allow that an installation counts as an actual IMAX theater? And is there an IMAX projector on hand with large format film? Or has the brand been watered down over the years? Since I’m basically having this conversation with myself on this page (not the first time this has happened with me on CT, mind you) I fear I may never get an answer so I may have to do some research myself!
I do remember that Ramada Inn (I thought there might have been a Holiday Inn around, but might be confusing it with the Ramada). I’m sure it survived through the sheer ignorance of out of town visitors who planned their trips to New York unwisely! May have been a fleabag, too, if it flew under Ramada’s corporate policies. I’m sure Ramada did not sanction short-stay or hourly bookings, officially or otherwise.
Something to tie your last two posts together, Tinseltoes, (and re-activate my notifications for this page) is that “To Be or Not to Be” was an Alexander Korda presentation – though it appears he did not take an actual producing role in that great Lubitch film.
I think we can also eliminate the 3rd paragraph in the intro and incorporate the line about it’s opening in 1969 as New Mini Cinema into the first paragraph. Also can update number of seats to 130 and current function as retail/restaurant.
The building is still standing. The new 1600 Broadway residential tower sits on the footprint of the demolished Studebaker Building that was on the 48th Street end of the block. The rest of the block consists of 4 other buildings, which includes 734 Seventh Ave, 740 Seventh Ave (on the corner of 49th), 202 West 49th (where the World Theater moved after the original World became the Embassy 49th) and the 3-story L-shaped building that fronts the corner of Broadway and 49th as #1604-1610 (where the Circus Cinema and Big Top Theatre was) and also fronts Seventh Ave at 732 (where the Frisco/New Mini Cinema was located). All of these buildings are still standing – and all are owned by the related companies Farmore Realty Co Inc or Sweetheart Theatres Inc, the latter of which ran numerous porn theatres in the area – see my post above dated Oct 1, 2006.
732 Seventh Avenue is currently occupied by two asian kitchens – Pearl’s and Teriyaki Boy. As per this photo from Feb 2011, Teriyaki Boy closed due to high rents. But this is definitely the same location and building that housed the Frisco. The new 1600 Broadway is immediately adjacent to the left.
Bottom line here, an AKA should be added for New Mini Cinema, which is the name under which this cinema originally opened. Also the address should be confirmed as 732 Seventh Avenue. And status should remain as closed, since the building has not been demolished. Took us 5 years and it seems only Al, Ken and myself give a damn, but there you have it!
The Winter Garden is between 50th and 51st, one block north of where the Rivoli stood. I saw Beatlemania there as well, ages ago. No doubt, Eighth Avenue was a sordid and dangerous affair – and the general desolation on Eighth made it much more intimidating than Seventh and B'way, for sure. I used to go to the Hollywood Twin when it was a revival house for a few years in the ‘80’s. Very sketchy area and I sometimes felt like I had to keep one eye over my shoulder even when I was in my seat watching a movie there.
The status of this theatre should be changed to “Demolished” as the entire odd-numbered block front of Sixth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets is now occupied by the monolithic 1185 Avenue of the Americas.
IMAX NOW OPEN for what it’s worth. I’m not sure how they can call it Stadium 12 AND IMAX… it does not appear that they did any construction to add on to the building, so if there are still 12 screens PLUS the IMAX, they must have converted an existing auditorium or 2 to IMAX and then carved up some of the others to make up the difference.
I recall my grandfather telling me that “Hellzapoppin” was, without doubt, the funniest live performance of any kind he had ever attended. I don’t know if he saw it at the Winter Garden or the 46th Street Theater. “Hellzapoppin” moved over to the Majestic for its last month or so, presumably to clear the Winter Garden for rehearsals of “Sons O'Fun.” You have to wonder how O & J found time to film the cinematic version of “Hellzapoppin,” which was released in time for Christmas of 1941.
Just to complete the circle, “Sons of Fun” eventually moved out of the Winter Garden and transferred to the 46th Street Theatre to complete its very successful 21-month run.
This photos absolutely tear my heart apart. Jeeze… is that first photo taken from under the balcony overhang looking at the bare orchestra floor? And the second shot appears to be the lobby ornamentation on the southern wall above the entry way from the street entrance foyer – is that some sort of construction shedding in front of it? The shot of the upper balcony also reveals all sorts of horrors perpetrated against the Moorish decor. God… and last time I saw a film at the Keith’s, it was in the balcony theater (a double feature of “A Boy and His Dog” and the documentary “Hells Angels Forever”) and I sat dead center in one of the first 5 rows – about where those 2 x 4’s are framed out in the last pic. Undoubtedly, a restoration project of the entire auditorium would be a pretty monumental undertaking that would require deep, deep pockets.
Simply heartbreaking!
B'way and Seventh Avenues were always very busy with pedestrian traffic – even during the bad old days. Some blocks were worse than others in terms of crime and solicitation, 42nd Street itself probably being the most notorious – particularly the closer you got to Eighth Avenue. I wasn’t keenly aware of which streets tourists, theatergoers and casual passersby tended to avoid at night other than 42nd, but I’m sure that those sorts of crowds would have been more inclined to stay where the crowds seemed to be.
Tell you what… While 42nd Street always instilled some fear in me at night, even when I was a frequent moviegoer there (part of the thrill, after all), it wasn’t until around 1989 or so that I first felt intimidated walking down Seventh Ave in upper Times Square. I remember going to a show at the Virginia Theater on 52nd Street, one particular evening, and afterward I decided to take my wife to the heart of Times Square to show her some of my old haunts. At the time, several old buildings had been demolished, leaving entire blocks dark and behind construction shedding. Specifically I remember walking past the block where the Rivoli had once stood and that stretch was rather desolate and no longer lit by the old theater’s huge marquee. It was so foreboding walking along at that time of light – and the lights further down the Avenue seemed so far away – that I considered turning around and skipping the nostalgic tour entirely. But, we soldiered on without incident and the crowds picked up again around Duffy Square. I had never felt that creeped out walking past the prostitutes, drug dealers and porn palace barkers just 3 or 4 years earlier.
Everything was sort of very plain and out in the open along Eighth Avenue. Activity along Broadway and Seventh Avenue was a bit more clandestine – not to mention that much of the soliciting took place in the various cinemas, cabarets and run-down taxi-dance ballrooms that peppered the area. But, to be sure, it was going on in all corners of the Theater District.
Roger… did your father ever mention anything about staying away from the “Dirty Thirties?” Suffice to say, this sort of activity was in no way restricted to Times Square.
This website is offering for sale a vintage aerial map of Amityville from 1925, featuring small images of a number of local landmarks including the “Amityville Lyceum.” Not sure how that reconciles with the information above that the building burnt down in 1915. St. Martin’s R.C. church is also listed separately on the list of images on the map.
There is a timeline provided on this local insurance company website that was allegedly prepared by William T Lauder, director of the Amityville Historical Society. It is noted that the Lyceum was built (along with the Triangle Building, which still stands) in 1892.
Not sure if the location of the theatre was anywhere near the Triangle, which is bounded by Broadway, Park Ave and Ireland Place.
Hey Al… I just saw a post you made back in 2008 on the Circus Cinema page regarding a NY Times article that noted the closure of both the Circus and Pink (the alternate World we’ve been discussing) in 1996. You directed that post at me, but, since I’ve been away from the fold for so long, I’ve only just read it now. Looks like the space may have previously been a cabaret/theater space called Broadway Burlesque, that operated on the 3rd floor of the building, above the video store.
The shame about the State is that it was in really good shape. They twinned it by splitting the balcony off from the orchestra and much of the original design was still in evidence in the balcony theater. Could have easily been restored and we would have retained at least some vestige of TImes Square’s rich cinematic history. But… that’s a lamentation for another page! There’s enough misery to rue over the Keith’s.
I’m tying in some old information that good old Lost Memory provided back in Sept 2006 for a porn theater I added here called Paree Adult Cinema and Live Show. Al, you were involved in that discussion way back when. We started talking about the infamous Frisco Theater on 7th Avenue, which I had been researching to add here at the time and he posted some detailed C of O information regarding the old Studebaker building that a number of porn houses (including the Frisco on 7th and the Circus Cinema and Big Top Theater on B'way) shared. Here’s what he had to add:
<<A June 1969 c/o for 732 Seventh Ave shows a three story building. The first floor has a 130 seat theater. The second and third floors each have a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing).
A June 1972 c/o now gives the address as 732 Seventh Ave & 1604 Broadway. The first floor has a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor has a restaurant and cabaret (with dancing). The third floor is now a 200 seat theater.
An April 1984 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is a 200 seat motion picture theater. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.
An April 1988 c/o gives the address as 1604 Broadway. The first floor is still a 440 seat motion picture theater. The second floor is now office space. The third floor is a 212 seat motion picture theater.>>
We definitely decided that the 130 seat theater at 732 Seventh was the New Mini Cinema that was quickly renamed the Frisco. The 440 seat theater has got to be the Circus Cinema with the second floor 200 seat theater being the Big Top (which advertised “one flight up” on its B'way signage. That would leave the 212 seat room on the third floor as a very likely candidate for the new World Theater I’ve been wondering about here, which later became Pink.
Lost had also commented a bit later that he found marquee permits at this address under the name “World 49th Street Theater Corp” – which is the capper for me. Now what to do with my compulsion to add this theater to the CT roster! Oh, if Warren G Harris were still here, he’d be baffled and boggled (and more than a bit irate) over my fascination with these porn pits of old Times Square. Maybe someone will tip “toe” over here and make a snide remark in his stead!
Thanks, Al. Posted a poor-quality vid-cap that shows the marquee in 1992 with the PINK lettering above it. Was that a strip club? And wasn’t that building demolished with the rest of the block or has it somehow survived the new construction around it?
How about when the owners of the magnificent and historic Rivoli Theatre on Broadway and 49th Street erected scaffolding around the facade under the guise of giving it a good cleaning only to reveal when the scaffolding came down that the facade had been stripped of much architectural detail? This was a deliberate move to circumvent LPC review of the property for protection and cleared the path for its eventual destruction mere months later.