Well, the Liberty Theatre will finally be put back into use, though not as a theater. It will become a restaurant. It was announced in this morning’s NY Post as per below. I am hopeful that the interior has, in fact been restored. If anyone gets in please report back. I will do so if I have the opportunity. Thanks!
NY Post Article below:
In the midst of the holiday bustle, Famous Dave’s BBQ has opened a second location — in Times Square at 234 W. 42nd St.
The new 600-seat restaurant takes up the entire 25,000-square-foot landmarked former Liberty Box Theater, which is part of Forest City’s 42nd St. Entertainment Center retail project.
Famous Dave’s can accommodate up to 1,500 people for parties, when not everyone is seated.
This is the first tenant for the theater since it became part of the redevelopment of Times Square, and it can be found near Madame Tussauds and the eateries Dave & Busters and Applebee’s.
Negotiations for the space, with a blended asking rent of $200 a square foot started in 2007 when Famous Dave’s had already opened a spread on West 47th Street. The pact was finally struck in 2009, but it took all this time to open due to the painstaking historic installation and various required permissions.
“It was the longest deal you could ever imagine, because it was a net-lease with both Forest City and the 42nd Street Redevelopment Corp., which is run by the state,” said Andrew A. Pittel of his eponymous company, which represented the Benmoha Restaurant Group in the deal. “Every ‘i’ had to be looked at and every ‘t’ had to be crossed, and they had to hire certain architects and engineers because it was under the jurisdiction of Landmarks.”
There must be lots of undiscovered theaters in this oldest city in the Americas. The Olimpia surely was not the only one. There must be at least one old palace lying around. Who’s going to find it? :–)
Dragonfly, please add those theaters to the Ponce inventory. I was just thinking that I found it impossible to believe that a city as prosperous and cultured as Ponce could have been home to only e theaters currently posted above. I don’t count the Emperador as this was a newish duplex. Please post all of the information you have as well as that photo of the Victoria. Thanks! Luis
I found a photo in the book Asbury Park’s Glory Days that shows that the Savoy did not ever have a marquee but it DID have a tall blade over the entrance that spelled out Savoy. At a minimum, a marquee or a blade needs to be installed to give this theater, which is otherwise hidden from the street, some presence.
Sad to see that there is so little info about this huge theater. Even in the book, Asbury Park’s Glory Days there are scant details. How did a 3000 seat theater in a major resort town in the 1920’s receive so little press when it burned to the ground?
Just passed this theater the other day and noticed that the corner pharmacy adjacent tot eh Kew Gardens Theatre has been closed. It seems big enough to make screen number 8! Would that work? Is it possible? I need to make the time to see a movie at this theater in 2012.
This is my first visit to Asbury since I posted in early October that the theater had been sold to Sackman and that a restoration was planned. Mattison is one block off of the main drag of Cookman and is much quieter but a restored theater will help change that. The Office building which envelopes the theater is fairly large and handsome. However, the first thing to go should be the storefront mosque and the adjacent Bail Bonds office. This is not the image you want to represent. The Marque, which was removed in the 80’s, should be restored to define the entrance of this theater. Peering through the “lobby” entrance it appears that some work has started, but the lobby appears to be very disappointing. It is really small and doesn’t appear to have ANY character at all. There is a small staircase off that lobby that I assume would go up to the balcony. The new owners say that they expect to have a 1,000 seat theater but the capacity at the time of closing was in the 800’s. A prior plan to renovate envisioned a comfortable theater of 600. No offense, but New Jersey is not one of the slim states and larger seats will be required. I also have to assume that nothing is left of the original ornamentation as none ever been referenced in any article that I’ve seen so the “state of the art” performing arts space will likely just be a “modern” space with little reference to the past.
Agreed Ed, from what I’ve read about the Beacon, it is truly spectacular. But I still came away disappointed from the Selwyn nonetheless. That said, there is no doubt that the Selwyn was never in the same league as its more celebrated brethren. I’m still very happy that the theater was saved.
I have to say that I have to agree. The New Amsterdam is a stunning achievement where this theater renovation was disappointing (imo). Granted, the New Amsterdam was one of the most beautiful theaters ever built so perhaps it is unfair to compare the two, but I guess I just did. :–)
I can’t believe that no one posted about the live “Dreamgirls” engagement that occurred at the Apollo back in late 2009! (Myself included) It was incredible to be in the Orchestra seats watching this phenomenal show that actually has, as its opening scene, an amateur night performance set in the world famous Apollo! Though this production didn’t hold a candle to the original Broadway version with Jennifer Holliday, it was very enjoyable nonetheless made that much more special because it WAS the Apollo A wonderful presentation for one of New York’s most historic theaters.
According to Harlem Bespoke, this theater has been empty for at least a year and has been for sale for that least 6 months. The price has just been reduced from $11.5MM to $8.75MM. It adds that the interior is supposedly substantially intact! Yet another hidden palace in New York and supposedly the oldest of the surviving Thomas Lamb designs. http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/2009/11/remember-washington-theatre.html
I wonder if this theater will be included as part of the structures that will be saved. My gut is that it is not. This section of the island is soon slated for reconfiguration into a stunning new park that will, in effect, create a Central Park for downtown. I would hope, however, that this theater could be saved somehow and still show movies.
I visited the downtown theatre district over the Labor Day weekend and was incredibly disappointed by what I saw. While it appears that many of the downtown office buildings have been converted to residential, the street life has little evidence of gentrification. Large stretches of Spring Street smelled of urine. The retail is cheap though there is a sprinkling of trendy restaurants. The old theaters (while many have been restored on the inside) looked virtually abandoned from the outside; even the famed Los Angeles. I am happy that these theaters are still around and that at least they are able to have some income to keep them going, but it appears it will be a long time before this area has a true renaissance. Are these theaters landmarked? Los Angeles has a terrible reputation in protecting its landmarks (only Houston is likely worse). Does anyone know if they are protected?
I know what you mean figaro14. I took a tour of the Loew’s Kings in Brooklyn and, though it was dripping with 30+ years of abandonment, it was phenomenally beautiful and impressive; even in decay. No photo did it justice. Hopefully, the Uptown will meet with the same success as the Kings. Please look at that page to see the thrilling $75MM restoration that this palace is currently undergoing. The Kings and the Uptown (IMO) were the two most spectacular of the abandoned palaces in this country. The Uptown now stands alone. Hopefully, the city of Chicago, which prides itself so much on architecture, will not lose this special beauty.
It is my understanding the there are two big reasons why The Ziegfeld (and The Paris for that matter) are still with us today. One, the Ziegfeld Theatre is under a very long term lease, presumably at significantly below market rates enabling this theater to still be profitable in a multiscreen environment. The second, the owner of the land is a billionaire (same as with the Paris Theater) who recognizes the importance of these two theaters. The Paris would have been lost years ago without the support of its wealthy owner (I believe Sheldon Solow) What I don’t understand is why there has been no real effort to get The Ziegfeld landmarked. It is over 40 years old (the miniumum age required) and was the last of the movie palaces to be built and a fabulous example of the “modern palace” and the last of its kind. In addition, an incredible amount of movie premiere history has occurred at this theater which should also qualify it for this honor. Does anyone else know of any movement to Landmark the Ziegfeld?
Just got some new info. It appears that this theater is refitting rather than a restoration. There will be little to nothing inside evoking its past life as a movie palace though, there appears to have been precious little (if anything) to save. At least the exterior will heaken back to the day and there will be a theater inside though the seating will be just 250; a far cry from the original 2,950 in the intro. This space will not be any competition to the Kings Theatre.
The following article appeared in Curbed.com today:
This morning some ladies and gents held a groundbreaking at the old Strand Theater, the stalled and un-stalled BAM Cultural District project turning it into something we assume will be super-modern and media-heavy called BRIC House. As mentioned yesterday, LEESER Architecture is heading the design portion of the makeover, and they’ve released some shiny new renderings to show what it will look like once those columns are wrapped in text and artists are blowing glass left and right. LEESER won the $20 million bid from NYCEDC back in 2008; the center is now scheduled to open in 2014.
Well, the Liberty Theatre will finally be put back into use, though not as a theater. It will become a restaurant. It was announced in this morning’s NY Post as per below. I am hopeful that the interior has, in fact been restored. If anyone gets in please report back. I will do so if I have the opportunity. Thanks!
NY Post Article below:
In the midst of the holiday bustle, Famous Dave’s BBQ has opened a second location — in Times Square at 234 W. 42nd St. The new 600-seat restaurant takes up the entire 25,000-square-foot landmarked former Liberty Box Theater, which is part of Forest City’s 42nd St. Entertainment Center retail project. Famous Dave’s can accommodate up to 1,500 people for parties, when not everyone is seated. This is the first tenant for the theater since it became part of the redevelopment of Times Square, and it can be found near Madame Tussauds and the eateries Dave & Busters and Applebee’s.
Negotiations for the space, with a blended asking rent of $200 a square foot started in 2007 when Famous Dave’s had already opened a spread on West 47th Street. The pact was finally struck in 2009, but it took all this time to open due to the painstaking historic installation and various required permissions. “It was the longest deal you could ever imagine, because it was a net-lease with both Forest City and the 42nd Street Redevelopment Corp., which is run by the state,” said Andrew A. Pittel of his eponymous company, which represented the Benmoha Restaurant Group in the deal. “Every ‘i’ had to be looked at and every ‘t’ had to be crossed, and they had to hire certain architects and engineers because it was under the jurisdiction of Landmarks.”
There must be lots of undiscovered theaters in this oldest city in the Americas. The Olimpia surely was not the only one. There must be at least one old palace lying around. Who’s going to find it? :–)
Dragonfly, please add those theaters to the Ponce inventory. I was just thinking that I found it impossible to believe that a city as prosperous and cultured as Ponce could have been home to only e theaters currently posted above. I don’t count the Emperador as this was a newish duplex. Please post all of the information you have as well as that photo of the Victoria. Thanks! Luis
can anyone comment on the condition of the interior? I’m thrilled about the recent restoration but what does the interior actually look like?
AG….since you know so much about this theater, can you comment on its orignanal style and current condition?
Renewing link
Renewing link
I found a photo in the book Asbury Park’s Glory Days that shows that the Savoy did not ever have a marquee but it DID have a tall blade over the entrance that spelled out Savoy. At a minimum, a marquee or a blade needs to be installed to give this theater, which is otherwise hidden from the street, some presence.
The Lyric is most definitely demolished.
The status of this theater should be changed to demolished.
Sad to see that there is so little info about this huge theater. Even in the book, Asbury Park’s Glory Days there are scant details. How did a 3000 seat theater in a major resort town in the 1920’s receive so little press when it burned to the ground?
This theater is moving across the street and will have two screens at the new location. Target date is 2012.
Just passed this theater the other day and noticed that the corner pharmacy adjacent tot eh Kew Gardens Theatre has been closed. It seems big enough to make screen number 8! Would that work? Is it possible? I need to make the time to see a movie at this theater in 2012.
This is my first visit to Asbury since I posted in early October that the theater had been sold to Sackman and that a restoration was planned. Mattison is one block off of the main drag of Cookman and is much quieter but a restored theater will help change that. The Office building which envelopes the theater is fairly large and handsome. However, the first thing to go should be the storefront mosque and the adjacent Bail Bonds office. This is not the image you want to represent. The Marque, which was removed in the 80’s, should be restored to define the entrance of this theater. Peering through the “lobby” entrance it appears that some work has started, but the lobby appears to be very disappointing. It is really small and doesn’t appear to have ANY character at all. There is a small staircase off that lobby that I assume would go up to the balcony. The new owners say that they expect to have a 1,000 seat theater but the capacity at the time of closing was in the 800’s. A prior plan to renovate envisioned a comfortable theater of 600. No offense, but New Jersey is not one of the slim states and larger seats will be required. I also have to assume that nothing is left of the original ornamentation as none ever been referenced in any article that I’ve seen so the “state of the art” performing arts space will likely just be a “modern” space with little reference to the past.
Agreed Ed, from what I’ve read about the Beacon, it is truly spectacular. But I still came away disappointed from the Selwyn nonetheless. That said, there is no doubt that the Selwyn was never in the same league as its more celebrated brethren. I’m still very happy that the theater was saved.
I have to say that I have to agree. The New Amsterdam is a stunning achievement where this theater renovation was disappointing (imo). Granted, the New Amsterdam was one of the most beautiful theaters ever built so perhaps it is unfair to compare the two, but I guess I just did. :–)
I can’t believe that no one posted about the live “Dreamgirls” engagement that occurred at the Apollo back in late 2009! (Myself included) It was incredible to be in the Orchestra seats watching this phenomenal show that actually has, as its opening scene, an amateur night performance set in the world famous Apollo! Though this production didn’t hold a candle to the original Broadway version with Jennifer Holliday, it was very enjoyable nonetheless made that much more special because it WAS the Apollo A wonderful presentation for one of New York’s most historic theaters.
According to Harlem Bespoke, this theater has been empty for at least a year and has been for sale for that least 6 months. The price has just been reduced from $11.5MM to $8.75MM. It adds that the interior is supposedly substantially intact! Yet another hidden palace in New York and supposedly the oldest of the surviving Thomas Lamb designs. http://harlembespoke.blogspot.com/2009/11/remember-washington-theatre.html
I wonder if this theater will be included as part of the structures that will be saved. My gut is that it is not. This section of the island is soon slated for reconfiguration into a stunning new park that will, in effect, create a Central Park for downtown. I would hope, however, that this theater could be saved somehow and still show movies.
I visited the downtown theatre district over the Labor Day weekend and was incredibly disappointed by what I saw. While it appears that many of the downtown office buildings have been converted to residential, the street life has little evidence of gentrification. Large stretches of Spring Street smelled of urine. The retail is cheap though there is a sprinkling of trendy restaurants. The old theaters (while many have been restored on the inside) looked virtually abandoned from the outside; even the famed Los Angeles. I am happy that these theaters are still around and that at least they are able to have some income to keep them going, but it appears it will be a long time before this area has a true renaissance. Are these theaters landmarked? Los Angeles has a terrible reputation in protecting its landmarks (only Houston is likely worse). Does anyone know if they are protected?
I am attending a dress rehearsal for the Christmas Spectacular late this afternoon! Always excited to visit this palace of palaces!
I know what you mean figaro14. I took a tour of the Loew’s Kings in Brooklyn and, though it was dripping with 30+ years of abandonment, it was phenomenally beautiful and impressive; even in decay. No photo did it justice. Hopefully, the Uptown will meet with the same success as the Kings. Please look at that page to see the thrilling $75MM restoration that this palace is currently undergoing. The Kings and the Uptown (IMO) were the two most spectacular of the abandoned palaces in this country. The Uptown now stands alone. Hopefully, the city of Chicago, which prides itself so much on architecture, will not lose this special beauty.
ZiegfeldMan….Don’t you work at the Ziegfeld? Is there support by Clearview for landmarking this spectacular theater? I know they don’t own it.
It is my understanding the there are two big reasons why The Ziegfeld (and The Paris for that matter) are still with us today. One, the Ziegfeld Theatre is under a very long term lease, presumably at significantly below market rates enabling this theater to still be profitable in a multiscreen environment. The second, the owner of the land is a billionaire (same as with the Paris Theater) who recognizes the importance of these two theaters. The Paris would have been lost years ago without the support of its wealthy owner (I believe Sheldon Solow) What I don’t understand is why there has been no real effort to get The Ziegfeld landmarked. It is over 40 years old (the miniumum age required) and was the last of the movie palaces to be built and a fabulous example of the “modern palace” and the last of its kind. In addition, an incredible amount of movie premiere history has occurred at this theater which should also qualify it for this honor. Does anyone else know of any movement to Landmark the Ziegfeld?
Just got some new info. It appears that this theater is refitting rather than a restoration. There will be little to nothing inside evoking its past life as a movie palace though, there appears to have been precious little (if anything) to save. At least the exterior will heaken back to the day and there will be a theater inside though the seating will be just 250; a far cry from the original 2,950 in the intro. This space will not be any competition to the Kings Theatre.
The following article appeared in Curbed.com today:
This morning some ladies and gents held a groundbreaking at the old Strand Theater, the stalled and un-stalled BAM Cultural District project turning it into something we assume will be super-modern and media-heavy called BRIC House. As mentioned yesterday, LEESER Architecture is heading the design portion of the makeover, and they’ve released some shiny new renderings to show what it will look like once those columns are wrapped in text and artists are blowing glass left and right. LEESER won the $20 million bid from NYCEDC back in 2008; the center is now scheduled to open in 2014.