Loew's Canal Theatre

31 Canal Street,
New York, NY 10002

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Showing 1 - 25 of 148 comments

HomecrestGuy
HomecrestGuy on March 4, 2019 at 5:27 pm

Two new old Tax Photo pictures of the Canal, added to the Gallery.

Comfortably Cool
Comfortably Cool on December 12, 2018 at 11:29 am

The future of Loew’s Canal is briefly discussed by owner Thomas Sung in New York Magazine’s issue of December 10-23, 2018. A two-part clipping has been uploaded, starting here

MarkA
MarkA on May 6, 2017 at 5:07 pm

Matt, you are welcome. Work continues every week on restoring the organ. However, a larger on is being rebuilt … with four keyboards.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on May 5, 2017 at 8:43 am

Mark – That’s amazing that the organ console was sealed under cement for so many years. Thanks!

MarkA
MarkA on May 4, 2017 at 8:51 pm

Matt … you book is a “must buy.” The Canal Theatre opened with a Wurlitzer organ. My theatre organ group, myself included, is restoring it. This is a link sbout the organ. Some of information, particularly about the second theatre were the organ was housed is outdated. http://theatreorgans.com/freestate/where_did_this_organ_come_from.htm.

Willburg145
Willburg145 on March 29, 2017 at 6:50 pm

I found this on the Landmarks commission website.

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=2012032000346001

Willburg145
Willburg145 on March 29, 2017 at 6:40 pm

I’m sure we can say goodbye to this theatre. The land is very valuable. Another damn apartment will replace it.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on March 24, 2017 at 9:44 am

The Canal is one of the 24 theaters in my new book, “After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater,” which is available on Amazon or your local bookstore

theatrefan
theatrefan on October 5, 2015 at 11:23 am

Yes the place is crumbling away, here is some info from the NYC Department Of Buildings Site:

1) FIRE STARTED TO HEAT PIPES CAUSED PARTIAL COLLAPSE OF INT WA LLS, NO APPROVED PLANS ON SITE. STOP ALL WORK, ENTIRE SITE 2)TIE BACK ON METAL LATH & PLASTER WALL ROTTED CAUSING WALL TO BECOME UNSTABLE W/ THE POTENTIAL OF COLLAPSE.

Unless the owner does something soon, the inside will rot and fall away to nothing, like what happened to the Loew’s Pitkin.

NYCer
NYCer on October 5, 2015 at 10:37 am

Walked by yesterday and saw a green box with an X inside it spray painted on the Canal Street sign. As I understand it, this is done by the Fire Dept. after an inspection to indicate a hazardous vacant building. The appearance of the box indicates the level of hazard. Plain box = entry permitted. Box with one diagonal line = proceed with extreme caution and make no heroics to save structure. Box w/ X = do not enter due to unsafe conditions which may have been caused by previous fire on building partial collapse. There are some numbers next to the box to identify the fire company that inspected. Didn’t see any markings like RO for roof out or FO for floor out. Seems like the owner is just letting the building rot.

theatrefan
theatrefan on February 12, 2015 at 11:54 am

Auditorium #10 in the Sony/Loews Theatres Lincoln Square complex on New York’s Upper West Side is named in honor of this former Loew’s Motion Picture Palace.

theatrefan
theatrefan on February 6, 2015 at 6:08 pm

Matt, Your photography of this palace is absoloutly amazing. I can’t wait to see your book on the Kings when it comes out. I used to go into the lobby when it was an electronics store, but they had so much stuff it was kind of hard to make a lot of the terra cotta details out, never got as far as the auditorium though.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on January 30, 2015 at 9:18 am

It’s the correct address. It’s just the address of the auditorium.

Josh Karpf
Josh Karpf on January 30, 2015 at 7:43 am

Workers are going in and out of the building this week. The two permits on the door say “interior clean up,” though they bear the address of another location: http://i.imgur.com/x8RzBKi.jpg

Bway
Bway on December 30, 2014 at 3:36 pm

Great photos! It seems to be in a little worse shape than Loews 46th St, but even so, looks repairable. A lot of the plaster seems to have been lost on the right side, as well as part of the Proscenium due to water I assume. But it’s remarkably clean….the floors of the balcony and inner lobby appear to have been swept clean! It looks restorable.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on December 30, 2014 at 9:58 am

I recently posted about the Loew’s Canal at After the Final Curtain

davidfrancis
davidfrancis on June 27, 2014 at 10:30 am

new foto tour of the interior:

http://gothamist.com/2014/06/27/photos_breaking_in_to_the_old_loews.php#photo-1

Flynn
Flynn on August 15, 2012 at 2:52 am

I’ve been looking for something else, but find other things by accident instead. This website has a few nice images of the theatre with some historical information. I’m just passing through to share.

http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/search/label/chinatown

NYCer
NYCer on April 26, 2012 at 7:29 pm

Mr. Sung recently unveiled his new condo development in a former public school building nearby that he bought 30 years ago. Units start at $500K and he’s hired a real estate broker to market it to Orthodox Jewish families.

If it took 30 years for him to finish this project, who knows how long the theater will take! Theater will probably crumble first.

Two recent articles on the condos (LoDown) and how Mr. Sung’s acquired the school building (WSJ):

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2012/03/a-conversation-with-madison-jackson-brokerdeveloper-michael-bolla.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203889904577199531679271756.html

BoweryBoogie
BoweryBoogie on April 26, 2012 at 2:38 pm

Who has some clear shots of the interior as of this spring?

PDDET
PDDET on January 13, 2012 at 7:50 pm

It’s simple. Just copy and past the link into the browser window. Highlight the whole link, Ctrl C, Click in the browser window Ctrl V, enter. There you go. You’re welcome

jimvid
jimvid on January 13, 2012 at 8:09 am

Thanks for posting…fingers crossed.

NativeForestHiller
NativeForestHiller on January 11, 2012 at 2:57 pm

Thank you for sharing this article. Let’s hope that performing arts center plans gain momentum, and no remaining interior detail is sacrificed, but rather restored and revitalized.

NYCer
NYCer on January 11, 2012 at 9:12 am

Article in the LoDown yesterday – prompted by the buzz on Cinema Treasures http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2012/01/update-loews-canal-street-theatres-future.html