34th Street East Theatre
241 E. 34th Street,
New York,
NY
10016
241 E. 34th Street,
New York,
NY
10016
7 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cineplex Odeon, Sterling Theaters, Inc., Walter Reade Theatres
Architects: John J. McNamara
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jun 18, 2010 — "Jaws"... Happy 35th!
- May 14, 2010 — Please Post Today, May 14 --- "Jaws," Happy 35th
A former single-screen neighborhood movie theatre, located directly across the street from the former Loews 34th Street Theatre showplace.
A conversion of a power station, the 34th Street East Theatre was opened on July 16, 1963 with Richard Harris in “This Sporting Life”. It was operated by Walter Reade-Stirling Theatres. Showing mostly upscale fare during its run, it closed its doors on September 11, 1997 with the decidedly downscale “Krull the Conqueror” starring Kevin Sorbo.
The space served as a lecture hall to Yeshiva University’s Geraldine Schottenstein Cultural Center. By early-2016 they had moved out and it was being demolished.
Contributed by
br91975
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Recent comments (view all 66 comments)
Please update, theatre closed September 11, 1997. Updated grand opening ad
Hello-
to Al A.-
as always I thank you for answering my posts with your apparently bottomless font of knowledge. this time its an interesting comment. it seems whenever I look at this site’s page for Manhattan another movie theater I never knew existed is listed. for instance the Parkwest Theater which was on W. 99 St. the all time count for Manhattan is currently 491 theaters. one winders how much more it will increase.
bigjoe, I have been keeping track of Manhattan screens rather than theatres or seats. I show 237 screens currently operating, down from a high of 266 in 2001. The highest theatre count year would be 1940 with 227 theatres. The all-time screen count is around 1215 since around 1915. The nickelodeon count prior to that is pretty murky. Purpose built theatres and conversions like the 34th street East, are included. Allowing for name changes and fly by night porn houses, the all-time theatre count would be closer to 600.
Hello-
to Al A.- as always thanks for your reply. I assumed the 491 figure mentioned in my previous post was for the number of theaters not the number of auditoriums. the point I was making was its amazing the number of theaters that people alive today went to that I had no idea ever existed. for instance the Parkwest on W. 99 St. which people alive today that aren’t that old attended.
Hello-
to Al A.
a question your considerable font of knowledge I bet can answer. for the longest period of time the number of theaters under ALL was 492 but all of a sudden its 490. what gives?
bigjoe, this small drop may have resulted from some duplicate entries of old Bowery theatres from the early days of cinema being combined. For example the M & S New Delancey was listed as both the M & S as well as the New Delancey.
Hello-
to Al A.- could you do me a favor and go to the page for the Cinema ½/3. I would appreciate your reply to my recent post. thanks.
Please correct, total seats 359 based on Dept of Buildings NYC website
There’s some confusion in this thread about this theater, mostly mixing it up with the Murray Hill Theater.
The building wasn’t just a power station—it was IRT substation #6, built around 1900 for the Manhattan Elevated Railway—the Third and Second Ave. Els. With the Second Ave. line dismantled in 1942, and Third Ave. line dismantled in 1955, IRT sold the building to Walter Read, who operated the theater, but also had offices upstairs.
Walter Reade