I grew up on 86th and York Ave. I must have gone to the Orpheum 100 times. That was a time that there were 5 movie houses within 2 blocks of each other. Us kids used to refer to the Orpheum as the “big Lows” and the Loew’s 86, just down the block, as the “little Lows”. Just across the street was another little “third run” movie house (name is on the tip of my tongue; was it the Trans-Lux?). On the other side of Third Avenue (I can still see the “El”)was a small marqueeless place that specialized in German movies. I wonder how many of the German restaurants and shops between Second and Third still survive? On the NE corner of Lexington and 86th was the RKO which rivaled the Orpheum in size. As I recall they played the Twentieth Century Fox and WB films while the Loews played MGM. There was always a double bill, newsreel and a cartoon. Movies changed on Wednesday. Kids paid 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents in the evening. I remember a pina colada fruit drink place on the NW corner of Third and 86th, a great german hot dog joint with the best sauerkraut and german style mustard on the SE corner, a Woolworth 5&10 on the NE corner with its competitor, a WT Grant store right next door. While German establishments prevailed on 86th all you had to do was turn the corner on Third, going either north or south and it seemed like there was one Irish bar right after another. Most of the people living in the area were first or second generation German or Irish and their kids always seem to be going out with others from the other immigrant background. I live out west now and haven’t been back to the old neighborhood for almost 35 years. I bet that not too much survives and the whole area has become gentrifed and very expensive.
I went to PS 30 just a couple of blocks north of 86th and Third. Hey, I’m getting completely off track here but just wanted to close by saying that, like many, I took my childhood advantages for granted and even thought of myself as a little deprived. I miss the “big Lows”, the RKO, and the “lil Lows” along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (visited it a thousand times), the Museum of Natural History along with a dozen other museums (they were always FREE and sort of a New Yorker’s birthright), Central Park, Carl Schurz Park, John Jay pool, the Third Ave. EL and the Staten Island Ferry (both just 5 cents), the great East River bridges, Coney Island (when Steeplechase was there), Brighton Beach, and affordable theater (as little as 5 dollars). We just don’t know what we have until we are far away from it, or it is inacessible or unaffordable or just plain gone. C'est la vie.
If you are an ole' Yorkville type drop me a line at
I grew up on 86th and York Ave. I must have gone to the Orpheum 100 times. That was a time that there were 5 movie houses within 2 blocks of each other. Us kids used to refer to the Orpheum as the “big Lows” and the Loew’s 86, just down the block, as the “little Lows”. Just across the street was another little “third run” movie house (name is on the tip of my tongue; was it the Trans-Lux?). On the other side of Third Avenue (I can still see the “El”)was a small marqueeless place that specialized in German movies. I wonder how many of the German restaurants and shops between Second and Third still survive? On the NE corner of Lexington and 86th was the RKO which rivaled the Orpheum in size. As I recall they played the Twentieth Century Fox and WB films while the Loews played MGM. There was always a double bill, newsreel and a cartoon. Movies changed on Wednesday. Kids paid 25 cents for matinees and 35 cents in the evening. I remember a pina colada fruit drink place on the NW corner of Third and 86th, a great german hot dog joint with the best sauerkraut and german style mustard on the SE corner, a Woolworth 5&10 on the NE corner with its competitor, a WT Grant store right next door. While German establishments prevailed on 86th all you had to do was turn the corner on Third, going either north or south and it seemed like there was one Irish bar right after another. Most of the people living in the area were first or second generation German or Irish and their kids always seem to be going out with others from the other immigrant background. I live out west now and haven’t been back to the old neighborhood for almost 35 years. I bet that not too much survives and the whole area has become gentrifed and very expensive.
I went to PS 30 just a couple of blocks north of 86th and Third. Hey, I’m getting completely off track here but just wanted to close by saying that, like many, I took my childhood advantages for granted and even thought of myself as a little deprived. I miss the “big Lows”, the RKO, and the “lil Lows” along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (visited it a thousand times), the Museum of Natural History along with a dozen other museums (they were always FREE and sort of a New Yorker’s birthright), Central Park, Carl Schurz Park, John Jay pool, the Third Ave. EL and the Staten Island Ferry (both just 5 cents), the great East River bridges, Coney Island (when Steeplechase was there), Brighton Beach, and affordable theater (as little as 5 dollars). We just don’t know what we have until we are far away from it, or it is inacessible or unaffordable or just plain gone. C'est la vie.
If you are an ole' Yorkville type drop me a line at