Love Theater
125 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
125 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
2 people
favorited this theater
One of a number of small Times Square area porn houses run by the Avon chain. This “mini cinema” opened in 1969 as Avon-on-Love in a former branch of American Savings Bank. It would later be joined by the Avon 42nd Street Theatre a few doors down to the west and was neighbor to the Pix Theater/Rialto East Theater just to its east. At some point in the early-1970’s, the name was changed to simply the Love Theater.
By 1982, the theater had closed and the space converted to a fast food outlet. In 2000, the Chashama New York non-profit art project converted the building to gallery/performance space. The building and all adjoining parcels along 42nd and 43rd Streets to Sixth Avenue were sold and demolished in 2006 to make way for the Bank of America tower.
Contributed by
Ed Solero
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
As a fast food place in the 1980’s, this space was occupied by a Popeye’s Chicken and later a Mexican take out joint called Fresco Tortilla (a common name among Mexican take outs in NYC – not sure if it’s a true franchise).
This is a rare image of the Love Theater marquee, circa 1977, taken from a video clip I found on YouTube. The source is an A&E documentary on Times Square.
This shot shows the action below the canopy of the Love’s marquee on 42nd Street from the very same clip.
In February of 1976, the Love hosted the “first and only NY showing” of “Tongue” – billed as the “first major black erotic film!” It starred Al Poe as a black man with a 9 inch…. tongue!
Incredibly, the film has a listing on IMDB.COM where this image of a local advertisement for the film can be found!
I just ran into “Tongue” on imdb.com (don’t ask).
I was not aware the LOVE hosted a premiere!
I LOVE IT!O.K. I will not ask.
was there a lot of crime on this section of 42 street (bet 6-7) or was most of it further west?
This 2004 shot was taken just before all the businesses on the block were closed and evicted for demolition, to clear the way for the Bank of America tower than now stands at Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets.
there was a Tad’s too like there was on 42 bet 7-8th. In the 70’s I used to use the 42nd st and 6th Avenue subway station as an alternate to the Times Sq stations to go to and from the Port Authority because i thought it would be safer, but it was almost as bad as the Times Sq stations. and oddly, i remember XXX porn stores on 6th Avenue between 42-46th streets up to about 79 or 80 before they started building