Hey Life. And hello Peter. Good to be back. Actually, I never went anywhere, but just had limited time to get online due to demands at work and the demands of welcoming a newborn into the fold at home! Things are settling down, so I’m sorta back in action.
Anyway… I didn’t take the actions of the young man in front of the Trylon personally. I just found it amusing. I haven’t had a chance to try and re-upload the 3 other photos I took that morning – and they reveal in even more detail how horrifying this makeover of the Trylon’s beautiful and historic art deco entrance really is.
I happened to be driving by the former Trylon this soggy morning and snapped the following low res – and rather sad -image of what has become of the old theater facade since the current owners completed their renovations:
I snapped a couple of other close up images, but my photobucket acct isn’t letting me complete their uploads at the moment. I’ll get back here once I’ve been able to fix that problem.
Funny… while I stopped to grab the photos (which took me all of 3 or 4 minutes) a young man wearing a yamulka and carrying a back-pack snapped a photo of my license plate and another of me standing in the street as I was finishing up. I gave him a nice wave “hello.” He never said a word to me. Just shook his head as if in disgust and walked away. I wonder what was going through his mind…. that I was plotting some sort of nefarious scheme against the center?
I should have read the article Lost Memory linked to above… A passage reads as follows:
<<Originally constructed in 1918 as a vaudeville theater, the 4,000-seat Strand was later converted into a movie palace, then, in the 1950s, a bowling alley, which was followed by a conversion to three floors of manufacturing space. Construction on its latest incarnation is scheduled to begin in 2009 and be completed in 2010.>>
Three floors of manufacturing space. And I’m sure the bowling alley conversion wasn’t so kind to the original interior elements either.
Back on October 23, 2007, I posted some photos I had taken of the old Strand just a few days earlier. One shot of what I believe to be the former auditorium side wall, reveals a number of windows that would seem to indicate the interior may have been converted to office space of some sort.
Of course, I’m hoping that I’m wrong with that assumption.
As sad as the desecration of the Rivoli’s auditorium was, I really wish she was still standing there at 49th and B'way – even if just as she was under UA’s shabby management in the 1980’s. Even with its once gorgeous interior stripped and clad in heavy dark drapes, it was still a great theatre in which one could enjoy a movie on a huge screen.
The author of that Times Ledger article contacted me for permission to use one of my photos of the Polk that I had originally posted above in December of 2005. I wonder if the photo made the print edition of the paper.
Here’s a link to the Polk Theatre album I have in my photobucket account. I think the original links I posted above may no longer be functional. There are a few photos in the album that I have to credit to others. The images from 2005 are the only ones I snapped personally.
I posted some images of the Liberty’s back wall and some shots of the 42nd Street facade back in May 5, 2006. This was before the huge Ripley’s marquee was installed and I could get in with my zoom lens to some of the facade elements that were recreated/restored for the “New 42nd Street” only to be obscured by billboards and signage.
I know you guys have sorted things out and I don’t want to re-hash, but I think a qualifying term like “however one feels about his/her politics” is the sort of phrase one tends to use whenever the discussion is focused on a celebrity whose political activism (on either side of the aisle) is of a particularly high profile. Examples for those on the left might include Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, each of whom are extraordinarily talented actors – however one might feel about their… oh, well, you know what I mean!
In one of the hallways of Hempstead Town Hall, there is a map of Lynbrook dating from 1906. This map identifies the location of a “Lyceum Hall” on Union Avenue just south of the triangular intersection it forms with Atlantic Avenue. It is indicated as the 2nd building from that intersection on the east side of Union. The map also indicates the footprint of the building as a long rectangular shape running straight back from Union with it’s rear wall facing towards Atlantic Ave. It would have been adjacent to old Lynbrook High School (that building still stands and is used by the school district as administrative offices) and was located right across Union from the modern High School that now sits on the west side of the street.
I kick myself for not snapping a photo of the map with my cell phone.
I’d also like to rebut BradE41’s comments about the Empire 25 lacking character. While the auditoriums themselves may lack any charm or unique identity, the lobby features the preserved ornamentation of a genuine early 20th century neo-classical playhouse. One designed by no less than Thomas Lamb! How many strip mall multiplexes can lay claim to that sort of character?
Markie, 42nd Street was still being called “The Duece” by those who frequented the area right up until the last movie house was shuttered in the early 1990’s. There’s absolutely nothing specifically noir about that nick-name.
The scenes depiciting a buried and long-ago decimated NYC are from the immediate sequel, “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.” Ironically, one of the images of the ruins shows a derilect RCMH marquee, broken and covered in centuries of dust and debris.
Al… I’m almost positive that the backstage wall abuts 41st Street. The only access from 41st would have to be through an adjacent building – such as the foyer of the Hilton Hotel. I don’t see how they’d be able to manage any reasonable lobby space, unless some of the retail space on the 42nd street side of the auditorium were to be gutted. I believe an Applebees Restaurant occupies the space just on the other side of what would be the back wall of the house.
Thanks for that thoughtful and heartfelt post. I grew up in the “not so desirable neighborhood” of Laurelton, Queens from age 9 through my first couple of years in college and have great memories of this theatre and others in the surrounding areas – I also have great memories of living on my block of 231st Street between Franny Lew and 137th Ave. Througout my stay in Laurelton, it was I who was in the minority, being a caucasian of mixed latino descent. I, too, get a bit indignant when folks bring “race” into the equation when speaking of how this theatre and the surrounding area have become less than desireable. Even when they don’t mention race, you know what the inference is. I feel lucky to have grown up where I did, for it was a warm and cheerful neighborhood where I was never made to feel unwanted or an outsider. Indeed, it was a very tightly knit community where parents organized block parties each and every year that EVERYONE actively participated in and thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the schoolyard of PS 156, “race” was never thrown in my face… Sure there were fights and scrapes, but nothing that hadn’t been happening in countless communities all across this City for ages. We were all just neighbors, pals, classmates, whatever. My fondest memories of family and childhood go back to that wonderful tree-lined neighborhood.
Too bad there’s no Sunday showings, as that was the one day this weekend I’d have been able to get to the Ziegfeld. I’m kinda bummed. I’m going to have to see if I can get out of work early one day during the week to make it to an 8pm show. So, what’s going on Sunday and Wednesday at the theatre that the schedule had to be disrupted?
Not to mention that the sticky old theatres in Times Square had a hell of a lot of character. This dump represents the absolute nadir of movie theatre design and construction. The kind of generic concrete bunker shopping center multiplexes that were cheaply spackled together in the late ‘70’s and early '80’s all over the country.
Only the first two weeks are up on the official website. Musical week with WEST SIDE STORY, SOUND OF MUSIC and GREASE followed by Speilberg week with JAWS, BACK TO THE FUTURE and ET. Well, I guess it’s a sort-of Speilberg week since BTTF is not really his directorial work.
I hope they add to this. Didn’t Craig mention a possible digital classic Bond week and a new 40th anniversary 35mm PLANET OF THE APES print?
Hey DeCoteau… The photos are all still there. Apparently, the photobucket folks have reorganized the way links to their servers should be established, so I’ll have to start re-linking my photos here on CT – particularly from older posts.
Here’s a Circus Cinema/Big Top image from around 1984.
Here’s a link to the whole album. They changed the way one navigates through the site, so it isn’t quite as easy on the eyes as it used to be. When you open it, you have to navigate using the blue links on the left. My albums are categorized by location (ie NYC borough name) and then by theatre.
Thanks, Howard, for posting the “theater vs. theatre” passage from CT’s guides. Hopefully that settles this tempest in a teapot. As for the management of the Paradise mispelling the word… both spellings are acceptable according to the Miriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries. No need to insult the folks in charge of the Paradise for no good reason.
And thanks, Ken, for at long last providing a proper and fitting introduction for this great palace!
Cooper’s subdued laconic on screen style doesn’t strike me as one that would have effectively translated on stage. I wonder how well it went over in the upper reaches of the Paramount. If his claims of exhaustion are to be believed (and there’s no reason to doubt it), I wonder if he didn’t tucker himself out from having to project to the theatre’s back rows. I can’t make out the details on the ad… does it say how many performances were scheduled for the day?
Didn’t Patrick and Ross post a news item recently about new format guidelines for theatre (that’s my choice of spelling for the generic use of the word) descriptions, wherein they formally announced that CT would adopt the American custom of spelling the word with “er” at for US cinemas and with the appropriate “re” for cinemas in the UK? If so, I think that pretty much settles the issue as to the generic use of the word to describe the building. I would think that those guides also apply as defaults for the name of any particular cinema where the “official” spelling of the name can not be verified.
For the Paradise, we do have the official website as our guide – and therefore the “er” prevails.
Hmmmm. Converting the booth to a luxury box strikes me as a rather short-sighted move. Why not keep the booth in reserve – and take up the generous offer of free equipment – just to maintain the Paradise’s capacity to run a film or series of films should the prospects for such an event ever arise? So much for the hopes of ever catching a flick at what we can now safely describe as a FORMER movie palace?
Hey Life. And hello Peter. Good to be back. Actually, I never went anywhere, but just had limited time to get online due to demands at work and the demands of welcoming a newborn into the fold at home! Things are settling down, so I’m sorta back in action.
Anyway… I didn’t take the actions of the young man in front of the Trylon personally. I just found it amusing. I haven’t had a chance to try and re-upload the 3 other photos I took that morning – and they reveal in even more detail how horrifying this makeover of the Trylon’s beautiful and historic art deco entrance really is.
I happened to be driving by the former Trylon this soggy morning and snapped the following low res – and rather sad -image of what has become of the old theater facade since the current owners completed their renovations:
OHR NATAN
I snapped a couple of other close up images, but my photobucket acct isn’t letting me complete their uploads at the moment. I’ll get back here once I’ve been able to fix that problem.
Funny… while I stopped to grab the photos (which took me all of 3 or 4 minutes) a young man wearing a yamulka and carrying a back-pack snapped a photo of my license plate and another of me standing in the street as I was finishing up. I gave him a nice wave “hello.” He never said a word to me. Just shook his head as if in disgust and walked away. I wonder what was going through his mind…. that I was plotting some sort of nefarious scheme against the center?
I should have read the article Lost Memory linked to above… A passage reads as follows:
<<Originally constructed in 1918 as a vaudeville theater, the 4,000-seat Strand was later converted into a movie palace, then, in the 1950s, a bowling alley, which was followed by a conversion to three floors of manufacturing space. Construction on its latest incarnation is scheduled to begin in 2009 and be completed in 2010.>>
Three floors of manufacturing space. And I’m sure the bowling alley conversion wasn’t so kind to the original interior elements either.
Back on October 23, 2007, I posted some photos I had taken of the old Strand just a few days earlier. One shot of what I believe to be the former auditorium side wall, reveals a number of windows that would seem to indicate the interior may have been converted to office space of some sort.
Of course, I’m hoping that I’m wrong with that assumption.
Any word on what is happening here? Are plans still in the works for Ecko to open a store in this space?
As sad as the desecration of the Rivoli’s auditorium was, I really wish she was still standing there at 49th and B'way – even if just as she was under UA’s shabby management in the 1980’s. Even with its once gorgeous interior stripped and clad in heavy dark drapes, it was still a great theatre in which one could enjoy a movie on a huge screen.
The author of that Times Ledger article contacted me for permission to use one of my photos of the Polk that I had originally posted above in December of 2005. I wonder if the photo made the print edition of the paper.
Here’s a link to the Polk Theatre album I have in my photobucket account. I think the original links I posted above may no longer be functional. There are a few photos in the album that I have to credit to others. The images from 2005 are the only ones I snapped personally.
I posted some images of the Liberty’s back wall and some shots of the 42nd Street facade back in May 5, 2006. This was before the huge Ripley’s marquee was installed and I could get in with my zoom lens to some of the facade elements that were recreated/restored for the “New 42nd Street” only to be obscured by billboards and signage.
I know you guys have sorted things out and I don’t want to re-hash, but I think a qualifying term like “however one feels about his/her politics” is the sort of phrase one tends to use whenever the discussion is focused on a celebrity whose political activism (on either side of the aisle) is of a particularly high profile. Examples for those on the left might include Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, each of whom are extraordinarily talented actors – however one might feel about their… oh, well, you know what I mean!
In one of the hallways of Hempstead Town Hall, there is a map of Lynbrook dating from 1906. This map identifies the location of a “Lyceum Hall” on Union Avenue just south of the triangular intersection it forms with Atlantic Avenue. It is indicated as the 2nd building from that intersection on the east side of Union. The map also indicates the footprint of the building as a long rectangular shape running straight back from Union with it’s rear wall facing towards Atlantic Ave. It would have been adjacent to old Lynbrook High School (that building still stands and is used by the school district as administrative offices) and was located right across Union from the modern High School that now sits on the west side of the street.
I kick myself for not snapping a photo of the map with my cell phone.
Fair point, Bwayniteowl. Thanks for the clarification. I’ll leave it to the webmasters to decide if this listing should remain or not.
I’d also like to rebut BradE41’s comments about the Empire 25 lacking character. While the auditoriums themselves may lack any charm or unique identity, the lobby features the preserved ornamentation of a genuine early 20th century neo-classical playhouse. One designed by no less than Thomas Lamb! How many strip mall multiplexes can lay claim to that sort of character?
Markie, 42nd Street was still being called “The Duece” by those who frequented the area right up until the last movie house was shuttered in the early 1990’s. There’s absolutely nothing specifically noir about that nick-name.
The scenes depiciting a buried and long-ago decimated NYC are from the immediate sequel, “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.” Ironically, one of the images of the ruins shows a derilect RCMH marquee, broken and covered in centuries of dust and debris.
Al… I’m almost positive that the backstage wall abuts 41st Street. The only access from 41st would have to be through an adjacent building – such as the foyer of the Hilton Hotel. I don’t see how they’d be able to manage any reasonable lobby space, unless some of the retail space on the 42nd street side of the auditorium were to be gutted. I believe an Applebees Restaurant occupies the space just on the other side of what would be the back wall of the house.
Thanks for that thoughtful and heartfelt post. I grew up in the “not so desirable neighborhood” of Laurelton, Queens from age 9 through my first couple of years in college and have great memories of this theatre and others in the surrounding areas – I also have great memories of living on my block of 231st Street between Franny Lew and 137th Ave. Througout my stay in Laurelton, it was I who was in the minority, being a caucasian of mixed latino descent. I, too, get a bit indignant when folks bring “race” into the equation when speaking of how this theatre and the surrounding area have become less than desireable. Even when they don’t mention race, you know what the inference is. I feel lucky to have grown up where I did, for it was a warm and cheerful neighborhood where I was never made to feel unwanted or an outsider. Indeed, it was a very tightly knit community where parents organized block parties each and every year that EVERYONE actively participated in and thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the schoolyard of PS 156, “race” was never thrown in my face… Sure there were fights and scrapes, but nothing that hadn’t been happening in countless communities all across this City for ages. We were all just neighbors, pals, classmates, whatever. My fondest memories of family and childhood go back to that wonderful tree-lined neighborhood.
Too bad there’s no Sunday showings, as that was the one day this weekend I’d have been able to get to the Ziegfeld. I’m kinda bummed. I’m going to have to see if I can get out of work early one day during the week to make it to an 8pm show. So, what’s going on Sunday and Wednesday at the theatre that the schedule had to be disrupted?
Not to mention that the sticky old theatres in Times Square had a hell of a lot of character. This dump represents the absolute nadir of movie theatre design and construction. The kind of generic concrete bunker shopping center multiplexes that were cheaply spackled together in the late ‘70’s and early '80’s all over the country.
I second that emotion, Ralph W.
Only the first two weeks are up on the official website. Musical week with WEST SIDE STORY, SOUND OF MUSIC and GREASE followed by Speilberg week with JAWS, BACK TO THE FUTURE and ET. Well, I guess it’s a sort-of Speilberg week since BTTF is not really his directorial work.
I hope they add to this. Didn’t Craig mention a possible digital classic Bond week and a new 40th anniversary 35mm PLANET OF THE APES print?
Hey DeCoteau… The photos are all still there. Apparently, the photobucket folks have reorganized the way links to their servers should be established, so I’ll have to start re-linking my photos here on CT – particularly from older posts.
Here’s a Circus Cinema/Big Top image from around 1984.
Here’s a link to the whole album. They changed the way one navigates through the site, so it isn’t quite as easy on the eyes as it used to be. When you open it, you have to navigate using the blue links on the left. My albums are categorized by location (ie NYC borough name) and then by theatre.
Thanks, Howard, for posting the “theater vs. theatre” passage from CT’s guides. Hopefully that settles this tempest in a teapot. As for the management of the Paradise mispelling the word… both spellings are acceptable according to the Miriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries. No need to insult the folks in charge of the Paradise for no good reason.
And thanks, Ken, for at long last providing a proper and fitting introduction for this great palace!
Cooper’s subdued laconic on screen style doesn’t strike me as one that would have effectively translated on stage. I wonder how well it went over in the upper reaches of the Paramount. If his claims of exhaustion are to be believed (and there’s no reason to doubt it), I wonder if he didn’t tucker himself out from having to project to the theatre’s back rows. I can’t make out the details on the ad… does it say how many performances were scheduled for the day?
Didn’t Patrick and Ross post a news item recently about new format guidelines for theatre (that’s my choice of spelling for the generic use of the word) descriptions, wherein they formally announced that CT would adopt the American custom of spelling the word with “er” at for US cinemas and with the appropriate “re” for cinemas in the UK? If so, I think that pretty much settles the issue as to the generic use of the word to describe the building. I would think that those guides also apply as defaults for the name of any particular cinema where the “official” spelling of the name can not be verified.
For the Paradise, we do have the official website as our guide – and therefore the “er” prevails.
Hmmmm. Converting the booth to a luxury box strikes me as a rather short-sighted move. Why not keep the booth in reserve – and take up the generous offer of free equipment – just to maintain the Paradise’s capacity to run a film or series of films should the prospects for such an event ever arise? So much for the hopes of ever catching a flick at what we can now safely describe as a FORMER movie palace?