Loew's 72nd Street East
1230 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10021
1230 3rd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10021
19 people
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Showing 76 - 100 of 104 comments
Here’s an early ad for the Tower East in a Loew’s block ad:
Fantasia – Daily News – 11/25/63
No , no twin, AMC lists all the theatres by name and number of screens on everything, including, apparently, the advertising.
Is this a Twin now? The NYT ad for UNITED 93 lists the 72nd Street 1.
Yes, it was (aka Gotham Cinema).
I think the Trans-Lux East was the same way.
I haven’t been here in years, but in the 1980’s I saw several films here including the excellent and aptly titled “Tender Mercies” with Robert Duvall and one of Fellini’s last films, “Ginger and Fred” with Giulietta Massina and Marcello Mastroianni. I know that “Amadeus” played here, but I think I might have seen it at the Loew’s Astor Plaza.
In any event, the split balcony design (with sections separated by the projection booth) was also found in the Continental Theater (now UA Brandon) in Forest Hills, Queens. Now that the Continental has been twinned, I assume this peculiarity has been lost.
Current exterior photo,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardbhaas/69209549/
I saw “Legal Eagles” and “Fatal Attraction” here in the 80s, and “The Stepford Wives” (the REAL one) in the 1970s. I remember that when I went to see the Stepford Wives it was a cold, very snowy February and the building across the street (the hideous ugly brown apartment tower with the Hallmark shop “State News” in it) was just a hole in the ground surrounded by a high fence.
I’ve heard this theater does well and i can’t imagine AMC closing a theater that is doing well. There really isn’t any other theaters in that area including multiplexes.
Would AMC close a location of 5 screens if it made a profit? Even if a theater is not their prototype, I can’t see them turning away something that makes money. If they do, however, I hope other exhibitors might be able to pick up these locations and keep them going.
AMC will likely make some exceptions Loews Village 7 would stay open just because CC Village is near by.
AMC would not want City Cinemas to have that area all to them self.
AS far as the other LOEWS go, if they are making money AMC may not close a 6plex.
AMC would rather have 8 to 10 screens but a 6plex is a wait and see game.
AMC sees a twin, triplex or quad as something not worth keeping open, as profits are extremely limited with such a low screen count.
Given those screen counts AMC sees as ideal in its business model, can we also expect them to cut loose the Loews Village VII, the six-screen Loews 19th Street East and Loews 84th Street Theatres, and Loews Orpheum VII or might they make an exception given each site’s clout in their respective zones?
With the merger of AMC Theatres and Loews
New Yorkers will face more closings.
The State was already set to close this August before the merger with AMC.
The problem with AMC is they have a “goal†or a “plan” to operate ONLY multiplex cinemas.
AMC believes strongly that the day of smaller theatre less than 10 and a minimum of 8 screens is a thing of the past.
When AMC takes control look for the 72nd Street East Cinema to be one of the first to close.
AMC will likely not sell any theatres as they rather have them gutted so no one can use them, unless they want to basically rebuild them as AMC usually leaves just the shell.
AMC could sale any location they don’t want, however AMC is not big on selling locations to another company that could make that location a rival to AMC.
I saw The Accused there in 1988 and even than they didn’t use the curtains. I had to stare at a blank white screen.
That is an opening in the curtain with the fire exit doors inside. If you look close you can see the push-plates on the doors. These doors have since been painted black, as has been the ceiling.
What is that box on the left of the screen sticking out of the curtains?
This link is also posted on the Loews State (New York City) page, but there are pics of the interior and exterior of the Tower East (72nd St. East) taken when it was new in 1962.
View link
I wish they would change the name back.
Thanks to lostmemory for directing me here. This sounds like a nice place. But does anyone think it will hold on? Maybe it will because of the upscale nature of the neighborhood.
BTW, Seth, the smart sharks (Deep Blue Sea) had in it’s audience one Michael Jackson, wearing Red pants, white shirt and a bee-keepers hat complete with netting, with an entourage of 5 very young men. After spending $60 on tickets and $40 at the stand, they left after about 25 minutes…..
Now that the old Griggs seats have been replaced with larger seats from the Astor, the heading for this theatre should be updated to show 524 seats.
The Tower East tends to hold onto its movies for weeks and even months at a time. When I first moved to the neighborhood (1989). Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors” played there for months on end. Right now, “Vanity Fair” has been there since opening night—at least six weeks at this point.
For some reason, I always sit in the balcony here. They’ve shown a lot of great movies here, like “The Hours,” but they also show some more popular fare, like that movie about the smart sharks that ate Samuel L. Jackson.
Loews 175th is much older than this one.
Seats from the late Astor Plaza have now been installed here, replacing the 1981 Griggs pushback chairs.
Theatrefan:
Sony had to spin off the theatres into a completely seperate entity, and not a subsidiary of Sony, Columbia Pictures or any other operating unit of Sony, because they were merging it with Cineplex, which was a publicly held corporation. Sony retained a majority of the stock in the new Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. The name stayed on the Lincoln and Metreon theatres. When the backruptcy happened, the stock became worthless and the stockholders, Sony included, were knocked out of the picture. Since there was no longer any association with Sony, their name had to come off the Lincoln and Metreon.