Olympia Cinemas
2770 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
2770 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10025
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 39 comments
Please update, Golden made it a triplex on December 19, 1980 and a Quad on June 26, 1981. Cinplex Odeon reduced it to a twin on December 6, 1987. Theatre closed December 19, 2002 under Clearview Cinemas
The Olympia and (three blocks north) the Nemo were my neighborhood theaters in the 1940’s and 50’s. The Olympia was smaller and (back in the 50’s) slightly more elegant and ‘atmospheric’ than the Nemo. Fond memories. I left New York in 1961 when they were still operating as mainstream, though second-run, theaters.
Hello-
the only film i can remember seeing here was “Everyone’s All American” starring Dennis Quad. so i guess had to be prior to 2003.
also when exactly did it become a 1st run venue?
I only remember it as a 1st run venue.
Thanks for these great ads, Mark!
01 de julio 1964 anuncio de “El Diario La Prensa” se ha cargado en la sección de fotos de este teatro.
Here is an ad for the 1964 re-opening as a Spanish language house.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x7pbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WFINAAAAIBAJ&pg=3565%2C72604
Yes, Cineplex Odeon also reduced screens at the 23rd Street West. It was a move away from arthouse and towards mainstream by CO in Manhattan.
A rare theater to have been multiplexed and then to have had the number of screens REDUCED from four to two!
http://nytelecom.vo.llnwd.net/o15/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/438.pdf picture on last page… btw Olympia Theater was original name
Growing up across the street from the Olympia I was privy to its many reincarnations. I recall in the mid 60’s it became the venue for the Spanish speaking community by showing Latin American films. In the 70’s it became controversial (at the time) for showing films like “The Devil in Miss Jones”. I remember the media blitz that descended on our normally unassuming neighborhood when it first showed. The Olympia had a very small background role in the movie “Harry and Tonto” starring Art Carney. It wasn’t Mr. Carney’s last movie to be shot on locale. If I recall correctly, it was the first movie house to break the $10 admission barrier. Now in its place stands a high rise luxury apartment building. Just like so many other icons of our youth, gone, but never forgotten.
The Olympia Quad.
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Here is an excerpt from an 8/10/23 article in the NYT:
1 DEAD, 1 WOUNDED IN THEATRE HOLD-UP; Unidentified Man Slain, Manager of Broadway Film House Shot
J. Alton Bradbury, 45 years old, proprietor of the Olympia Theatre on Broadway, between 106th and 107th Streets, was wounded seriously and an unidentified man was shot to death at 10:15 o'clock last night when two hold-up men attempted a raid upon Bradbury’s office in the theatre building, where he had counted the night’s receipts.
Opened in 1914
Tripled in December 1980
Quaded in June 1981
Twinned in November 1987
Closed in December 2002
Demolished in 2003
The 1987 re-opening party had a western theme since the theatre was on the West Side and the Canadians thought that would be clever.
Here is a list of movies that were shown at the Olympia in 2002 before it closed.
1/18/02- Black Hawk Down
2/15/02- Hart’s War
2/15/02- John Q
3/1/02- We Were Soldiers
3/8/02- The Time Machine
3/15/02- Ice Age
3/22/02- E.T.:The Extra-Terrestrial- The 20th Anniversary
4/19/02- The Scorpion King
5/3/02- Hollywood Ending
5/16/02- Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones
6/14/02- The Bourne Identity
7/3/02- Men In Black II
7/12/02- Road to Perdition
8/2/02- Signs
8/9/02- XXX
8/23/02- The Good Girl
9/20/02- The Banger Sisters
9/27/02- Sweet Home Alabama
10/4/02- Red Dragon
10/18/02- The Ring
10/25/02- Ghost Ship
11/15/02- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
11/27/02- Solaris
The Olympia closed on December 12, 2002
R.I.P. Olympia 1914-2002
For us Columbia students, the Olympia was our neighborhood house, and, as a second- and third-run house, it was a wonderful place to catch up on missed films. (In my day — mid-70s — the student newspaper, The Spectator ran a column, “At The Olympia” discussing the films playing in our backyard.)
My first time at the Olympia — during my second or third week at Columbia — was to see The Devil In Miss Jones. My roommate was so freaked out by it that he left half way through the picture.
1975 in it’s dollar days
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1971 a Keaton festival
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Back in 1970 I lived at 311 w. 103rd street. The Olympia became my neighborhood theatre and I spent many nights catching films there. I believe I still have a small ad poster for a series they ran called “Rock &Rebels” showing The Wild One , and several other films about troubled youth. Great memories – sorry to hear they knocked it down. Robbie
This theatre is mentioned in the biography of writer Truman Capote (Capote) by Gerald Clarke. Clarke discusses the period of Truman’s childhood when the boy lived on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. He tells of one of Truman’s teachers at Trinity School:
“The teacher would sometimes walk him home, Truman said, stopping on the way at a movie theater, the Olympia, on upper Broadway. They would sit in the privacy of the back row, and while the teacher fondled him, Truman would masturbate the teacher. What effect that tawdry little scene had on a boy like Truman is impossible to say, but it was, at the very least, a sorry initiation into the mysteries of sex.”
I remember Cineplex using that catch phrase “the return of the elegent theatre” as they re-opened each of their renovated locations.
I wonder how many other theatrs went from a quad back to a twin?
When Cineplex took over they un-quadded it back to a twin.
The Olympia became a quad, I think, sometime around 1981, and remained so through the end of the Golden management era, in the spring of ‘87.
When was the Olympia 4 theatres? I only remember it as a twin and I last went there in the late 90’s.
Something in my soul reached out to find out what happened to the Olympia. After reading all the comments I can truly say that I am saddened that such a wonderful place was demolished. I understand the reasoning behind the action but it still hurts that a one of a kind (at least for me) theater was destroyed. I went there as a kid (my dad’s second job) and I even started working there when I was 15. I went from concessionist, cashier, matron to finally Asst. Manager. Now granted the pay was horrible but I still believe that working at the Olympia was truly an honor. I can still remember it when it was just one theatre and my favorite seat (first row of the balcony – center). I also remember the various other changes Olympia endured (2 theaters and then 4). With all the changes, the only thing that remained the same was the wallpaper. A black and white wallpaper depicting the stars of time far far away (chaplin, laurel & hardy, bogie, etc). I had wonderful times there and also remember the actors that honored me with autographs/pix when they came to see a movie (richard pryor, dudley moore, m. hemingway). Luckily, I have found another theatre that just like the Olympia holds some old world charm and character and just like Olympia, the price is right. $6 before 6pm. So, if you’re ever feeling a bit nostalgic, just take the 6 train to Parkchester and walk a few blocks past Ellie’s Diner to American Theatre. They too have wonderful wallpaper with the marx bros, ginger & fred. Besides that you can still see and sense the old world charm that so many new multiplexs lack. Anyway, that’s my two cents worth. To all of my Olympia customers I say, Thanks for making my years there happy ones. I don’t remember the name of my number one fan but I still remember your order “medium popcorn and large diet coke”. : )