United Palace of Cultural Arts
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
4140 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10033
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 268 comments
Tinseltoes, Then it must have been the RKO Coliseum. I remember Broadway was blocked by the snow, it was February 1st, we took a taxi coming out of the theater, but the driver stopped in front of the Presbyterian Medical Center and told us to get off, he couldn’t go on.
How depressing! I think I saw “Giant” with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor there in an early February, there was a heavy snowfall.
I remember Loew’s 175th from 1951 and it was still a theater in 1957. The “Big Three” railroad-car style diner was across 175th Street, there was a photo studio across Broadway. My cousin worked as an usher there while in high school.
Thanks for the Link Tinseltoes.
Yes, Tinseltoes, the Tony"s will be at the Beacon. While I am extremely disappointed that the country will not be exposed to this gem of a theater there is no better other theater to host the Tony’s than the Beacon as Alto so eloquently pointed out. The theater is actually on Broadway and was recently renovated. It will still reflect very well on New York, but it would have been very nice to have really gone outside the box for a change.
Yes Al, you are correct that Radio City was not specifically built as a movie palace but a movie palace it most definitely is. That is how it was used for a majority of its life and how it is remembered by most.
I still think that the Tony committee made a brilliant move in scheduling the Tony ceremony at Loew’s 175th Street Theatre. It will focus attention on one of the nation’s most magnificent movie palaces while at the same time letting people everywhere know that not everything happens in midtown Manhattan. There is a wealth of architectural splendor throughout the boroughs and this will highlight it.
Radio City was never built as a movie palace. The Roxy (Center) was the failed movie palace. Radio City was built as a Music Hall and settled for movies when music shows failed.
I’m not surprised about this move, considering…in January 2010, the Allman Brothers Band, which held a 40-year relationship with the Beacon Theatre, was forced to move its legendary annual NYC concerts from that venue to the United Palace (breaking a 20-year, 190-show string) because – you guessed it – Beacon management booked a Cirque du Soleil production on an extended run!
It’s great that a Loew’s “Wonder Theatre” gets such an honor bestowed upon it, and that Broadway is actually celebrated ON Broadway…but 175th Street? Is it impossible today in NYC to find a theatre that’s both on Broadway AND boasts comparable capacity, quality, aesthetics or amenities, either in or closer to Midtown Manhattan?
What about the Upper West Side? The recently restored 2894-seat Beacon Theatre is magnificent! Want even more “spread-out” space for red carpet, crowds, traffic and parking? Go a few blocks down to the newly renovated Lincoln Center and its 3800-seat Metropolitan Opera House – it may not represent the authentic “classic” theatrical setting that we desire, but it’s classy, prestigious and celeb-friendly (for those of you with short memories, the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony was held there in September of 1999 and 2001).
I’m not at all worried about any Tony “threats” to the theater. Let’s remind ourselves that the Tony’s have been housed in one of the world’s greatest movie palaces for many years: Radio City!
In addition, many acts have played the United Palace whose fans I feared had the potential to damage the theater much more than the performers. But my fears were not warranted. The United Palace has maintained the theater beautifully and I have no reason to think that it will change anytime soon.
new york posts MICHAEL RIEDEL on broadway ny post july 9th read
show gets tony new digs
What great news!!
We are so lucky that this church had saved this theater years back, and now while still functioning as a church, it also has been used more and more as a real theater again too.
This is amazing news!
What a fitting tribute to such a spectacular setting. If only we could convince the church owners to upgrade the theater name. United Palace is such a clunker!
It was just announced that the Loews 175th Street theatre will be the home of next year’s TONY awards!!!!! How fabulous is that? It seems that Cirque de Soleil has Radio City booked for next June. A new home needed to be found and so they moved on up to Washington Heights! This will be a great showcase for one of the country’s most beautiful theaters.
Thanks Bway.
According to ticketmaster, there’s a couple of concert events scheduled at The United Palace Theater, including Elvis Costello:
View link
Now the Rev. Ike has died is everything still going at this church/moviehouse?
Does the theater/church still have film projection capabilities?
In March 1969, the 175th Street stopped showing movies after a run of “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
Very true Bway.
Theaters listed on CT are listed by their current name if they are still used as a Theater. The United Palace is now the name of this Theater….175th St is a former name, even if the more famous name. It’s to keep consistent within the site. There are many theaters listed by a less known name, because that is the current name of the theater.
Theaters that closed use the last name used for the theater.
Look at it this way…..it’s better that this theater is gloriously restored and intact and called the “United Palace” than the alternative….that it’s called the “175th St Theater”, and it’s a pile of rubble or in shambles like let’s say the Loews Pitkin…
I was biking by there today and they were putting up banners and a show was there at the moment. I asked the ticket lady if I could walk inside and she said yes, but two men said I couldn’t go further. Turns out they have public tours on weekdays from 9-5 if you go to the side stage door. I did look inside the lobby and I must say, I’m really not a fan of Mayan Revival. It’s too dark and ugly for me and it bleeds into everything else.
You are right thats a LOT OF A K A,s.Thanks.
By the way I am a former LOEWS employee from Nashville,Tennessee,I when on C.T. to look up other LOEWS and got hooked on looking up others,theatres that is.
Here’s my favorite:
/theaters/290/
You can’t do any New York research without stumbling on the Village East with some other name.
Yes I know,I was not complaining,I am on C.T. most everday,love it.Just some people like to battle it out over a little thing known as A.K.A.Many of these theatres have had serveral names as I am sure that you know.