This theater had almost nothing left of the original ornamentation left by the time it had closed. In the later couple of decades, it was stripped down pretty hard, with everything being covered in matte or shiny black paint.
The only somewhat interesting elements left were the spiral stairs leading to a round landing, the bathrooms and the upper theaters. Mind you, the theater was also cut up into multiplexes a number of times with what would appear to be slicing these upper theaters from what would have been balconies into their own screen suites. For many years it was a quad, until two more screens were added in the back of what must have been admin spaces.
Also, the final marquee was replaced after a quite significant collapse of the 60’s vintage “box” marquee, which I recall may have also have resulted in injuries, and an eventual complete rebuild (as you can see, they added struts to the final marquee, even though it was much smaller), so there were a number of changes to that…
To the question of alignment, the entrance on Broadway and marquee/box office lead into the lobby/concessions. The screen(s) were to the left, parallel to Crescent Street. A turn to the right led to stairs to the bathrooms and balcony, which was sealed off in the final years, perhaps due to safety.
Strand closed as a duplex, but that may have been a later modification, it may have originally been a single screen.
I cannot imagine this theater served XXX in its final years, that would be the Olympia (noted also as Arena) on Steinway St. I remember the Strand closing fairly precipitously, it would be divided into a Gothic Cabinet Craft furniture store, and sound stages. See the video for “Your Love” by Outfield shot inside the Strand stages in 1985. The girl exits and turns up to Broadway towards the front of the theater around minute 3:40 in the video.
This theater had almost nothing left of the original ornamentation left by the time it had closed. In the later couple of decades, it was stripped down pretty hard, with everything being covered in matte or shiny black paint.
The only somewhat interesting elements left were the spiral stairs leading to a round landing, the bathrooms and the upper theaters. Mind you, the theater was also cut up into multiplexes a number of times with what would appear to be slicing these upper theaters from what would have been balconies into their own screen suites. For many years it was a quad, until two more screens were added in the back of what must have been admin spaces.
Also, the final marquee was replaced after a quite significant collapse of the 60’s vintage “box” marquee, which I recall may have also have resulted in injuries, and an eventual complete rebuild (as you can see, they added struts to the final marquee, even though it was much smaller), so there were a number of changes to that…
A few of comments here:
To the question of alignment, the entrance on Broadway and marquee/box office lead into the lobby/concessions. The screen(s) were to the left, parallel to Crescent Street. A turn to the right led to stairs to the bathrooms and balcony, which was sealed off in the final years, perhaps due to safety.
Strand closed as a duplex, but that may have been a later modification, it may have originally been a single screen.
I cannot imagine this theater served XXX in its final years, that would be the Olympia (noted also as Arena) on Steinway St. I remember the Strand closing fairly precipitously, it would be divided into a Gothic Cabinet Craft furniture store, and sound stages. See the video for “Your Love” by Outfield shot inside the Strand stages in 1985. The girl exits and turns up to Broadway towards the front of the theater around minute 3:40 in the video.