Thanks for that information, Peter, regarding IAMMMMW. I imagine the running time of 197 minutes is also incorrect? Hard to imagine 43 minutes of police radio calls would sufficiently flesh out the general release run-time of 154 minutes. Even with an overture, entr'acte and exit music, 197 minutes seems like a stretch.
Hmmm. No mention of “restored” or “archival” for either 2001 or West Side Story. Are these the same prints that ran at the Ziegfeld a few years back? Can’t remember now if those were 70mm showings. I’m intrigued by the 197 minute restored IAMMMMW print. Is this the anniversary print that ran at the Dome a few years back, with the outtakes and “corrected” trims inserted to pad the running time?
I like the diagram in that article, Tinseltoes. I remember queuing up in lines like that for holiday shows at RCMH, as a child in the ‘70’s. At that time, the line went east down 50th Street, as depicted in the Boxoffice article, but then it would zig-zag back and forth in the Plaza behind the building, like the queue for a popular Disney World attraction.
You’ll have a better shot of jacking up the numbers on one of the older photos. Like the marquee shot from the “2001” engagement. The current curved screen image has 355 hits!
More pics posted showing progress as of October 27th, 2012. I chatted with a contractor, who was on site overseeing the installation of the paving stones that comprise the side walk perimeter of the theater. While that brick work was to be completed by the end of the day, he estimated that the theater itself would not be ready for opening until sometime after the holidays. So, at best, we’re looking at winter of 2013.
He said that initial capacity for the theater will be around 650. However, he indicated that if the area can sustain the flow of traffic in and out for a performance, that number may be jacked up to around 1000. The plan is to have valet parking for theater events, unless folks care to take their chances on the streets or in one of the nearby municipal lots. He didn’t see parking being much of a problem at all. Nice guy, and a local who remembered attending the theatre as a younger man.
The entire even-numbered blockfront between West 157th and West 158th Street is now occupied by a building known as Thurgood Marshall Plaza with an address of 1970 Amsterdam Avenue. There is also a recently constructed building behind this structure running parallel, the full width of the block. Appears that the Hudson Theatre should be listed as “demolished.”
Used to be able to find some parking on the side streets north of Queens Blvd, paktype. But you had to be very lucky. I think this theater has been one that called for use of mass transit for many years, now – unless you live within walking distance.
It was a Duane Reade pharmacy for a while. I have photos from 2006 showing the Duane Reade still in full swing. I go to the Costco near there from time to time and hadn’t noticed what the state of the occupancy is.
Posted another batch of images from the end of September, showing some progress, particularly on the new structure that runs along the southern auditorium wall. I’m doubtful of a fall opening for this theater – particularly since we are now in October and I haven’t heard any announcements as to what the headlining attraction will be for that opening.
You know, re-reading your last comment, Tinseltoes, it occurs to me that you suggest that the Brandon Cinemas 2 is not located where the original Continental Theatre was. I don’t think that’s the case. Unless there was an even earlier Continental, the former Walter Reade house that is depicted in your 1981 image was indeed re-branded the UA Brandon in the 1990’s.
Perhaps confusion arises with respect to the much newer Continental 3, which was opened in nearby retail space on the opposite side of Austin Street in the 1980’s, after the first Continental was twinned.
Tinseltoes, please re-post your image of the Continental from 1981, with “Fort Apache The Bronx” on the marquee. It would be the only photo on CT showing the original neon signage that has since been replaced.
Tinseltoes, the original Continental Theatre (now Brandon Cinemas) was located across the street and down the block from the Continental 3, which was opened in former retail space as a sister to the earlier house, which had been twinned by that time. I had posted a link to your 1981 image in the comment thread of the Brandon Cinemas page. I was hoping you might re-post the photo to the right theater.
This nice image of the original Continental Theatre, circa 1981, was posted by Tinseltoes to the Continental 3 page. If the link no longer works, hopefully, that would be only because he moved it into this theater’s photo collection.
In the image, you can see the old ramp to the right of the entrance that led to a small parking lot behind the building, just up against the LIRR embankment. That area seems to have been improved with a new commercial structure, since the last time I visited this cinema many years back.
Look at the Street View image at the top of this page, Markiebee800. The old Beach Theatre is on the south side of Randall, approximately half-way between Taylor and Beach. The sign above the entrance says “Iglesias de Dios Pentacostal” and the auditorium rises behind the entrance in yellow-colored brick with reddish trim, running parallel to Randall, towards Beach. That Pharmacy & Medical Office is actually across Beach from what would have been the screen wall of the Beach Theatre.
CSWalcsak, I agree with you completely on the value of the “nearby theaters” list. It does seem to me, however, that the way the individual theaters are organized in the database is in need of an overhaul. But, this is a free site, and I’m sure coming up with a viable solution is something that requires more than a little bit of money to solve. It would be interesting to hear an update from site administration as to any scheduled or “wish list” enhancements and modifications to the web site. That sort of communication seemed to die down in the months following the major overhaul of the site a couple of years back.
I know this block no longer exists, but the street view places the theater’s location right on the Manhattan Bridge lower roadway! If it could be managed, I’m sure a more suitable view would be from the point where Court Street becomes Cadman Plaza West, facing east across the park, just north of Borough Hall. Based on the pic posted above by johndereszewski, that would be a decent approximation.
The original Loew’s State became nothing but rubble and dust in 1987. The newly built, subterranean State, to which you refer, has its own page right here. That latter theater opened nearly 10 years after the original’s demolition – and bore absolutely no resemblance to its earlier, more famous incarnation.
Just wondering… wouldn’t the nature of the 65mm negative render the aspect ratio 2.20:1, unless the film was matted in-camera? Perhaps PT Anderson cropped the image to 1.85:1 for 35mm and digital presentations and the 70mm prints will be true to their native aspect ratio? Just guessing. My grasp of the technological aspects involved here is not very solid.
SeaBassTian… audience participation is precisely what brought me back to the theaters of Times Square time and again – that and the cheap admissions. Of course, I was a teen at the time. I’ve grown much more conservative in my expectations for movie-going etiquette as the years have passed.
Ken, I did a bit of research on this particular block, since I was so convinced that the furniture store on Beach Avenue was the former theater structure, not the church on St. Lawrence. NYC Department of Building online records would seem to support my suspicions. The entire block of storefronts on Westchester Ave, plus the furniture store on Beach Ave are part of a contiguous lot, improved with a single two-story structure in 1926. The church structure dates to 1925 and is not attached to any of the storefronts on Westchester Avenue.
Unfortunately, there are no viewable certificates of occupancy for the church building (address is 1266 St Lawrence Avenue), and the oldest certificate of occupancy viewable for the Rosedale Theater’s address is an alteration permit for some of the storefronts, dated 1944. However, there is a C of O for the address 1791 Westchester Avenue, dated January 29, 1965 (my exact date of birth, as it happens), showing conversion to “Warehouse for household goods and furniture, loading berth, and store” on ground level, and “Offices and toilets, incidental to first floor” on the mezzanine level.
The name of the furniture store is “New Direct Buy Furniture” at 1785 Beach Avenue. When viewed from the corner of Beach and Westchester Avenues, not only does the elevation of the structure appear theater-like, but there is a structure on the roof of the storefronts that looks like it might have held signage, angled to catch the eye of commuters on the elevated IRT platform of the St. Lawrence Avenue train station.
Thanks for that information, Peter, regarding IAMMMMW. I imagine the running time of 197 minutes is also incorrect? Hard to imagine 43 minutes of police radio calls would sufficiently flesh out the general release run-time of 154 minutes. Even with an overture, entr'acte and exit music, 197 minutes seems like a stretch.
Hmmm. No mention of “restored” or “archival” for either 2001 or West Side Story. Are these the same prints that ran at the Ziegfeld a few years back? Can’t remember now if those were 70mm showings. I’m intrigued by the 197 minute restored IAMMMMW print. Is this the anniversary print that ran at the Dome a few years back, with the outtakes and “corrected” trims inserted to pad the running time?
I like the diagram in that article, Tinseltoes. I remember queuing up in lines like that for holiday shows at RCMH, as a child in the ‘70’s. At that time, the line went east down 50th Street, as depicted in the Boxoffice article, but then it would zig-zag back and forth in the Plaza behind the building, like the queue for a popular Disney World attraction.
Wow, Al… That’s a pretty remarkable ad for this movie!
You’ll have a better shot of jacking up the numbers on one of the older photos. Like the marquee shot from the “2001” engagement. The current curved screen image has 355 hits!
More pics posted showing progress as of October 27th, 2012. I chatted with a contractor, who was on site overseeing the installation of the paving stones that comprise the side walk perimeter of the theater. While that brick work was to be completed by the end of the day, he estimated that the theater itself would not be ready for opening until sometime after the holidays. So, at best, we’re looking at winter of 2013.
He said that initial capacity for the theater will be around 650. However, he indicated that if the area can sustain the flow of traffic in and out for a performance, that number may be jacked up to around 1000. The plan is to have valet parking for theater events, unless folks care to take their chances on the streets or in one of the nearby municipal lots. He didn’t see parking being much of a problem at all. Nice guy, and a local who remembered attending the theatre as a younger man.
The entire even-numbered blockfront between West 157th and West 158th Street is now occupied by a building known as Thurgood Marshall Plaza with an address of 1970 Amsterdam Avenue. There is also a recently constructed building behind this structure running parallel, the full width of the block. Appears that the Hudson Theatre should be listed as “demolished.”
Used to be able to find some parking on the side streets north of Queens Blvd, paktype. But you had to be very lucky. I think this theater has been one that called for use of mass transit for many years, now – unless you live within walking distance.
It was a Duane Reade pharmacy for a while. I have photos from 2006 showing the Duane Reade still in full swing. I go to the Costco near there from time to time and hadn’t noticed what the state of the occupancy is.
Posted another batch of images from the end of September, showing some progress, particularly on the new structure that runs along the southern auditorium wall. I’m doubtful of a fall opening for this theater – particularly since we are now in October and I haven’t heard any announcements as to what the headlining attraction will be for that opening.
Al, I was about to post many of the same sentiments, but you not only beat me to it, you elucidated them more clearly than I ever could have.
Thanks for this, Tinseltoes.
You know, re-reading your last comment, Tinseltoes, it occurs to me that you suggest that the Brandon Cinemas 2 is not located where the original Continental Theatre was. I don’t think that’s the case. Unless there was an even earlier Continental, the former Walter Reade house that is depicted in your 1981 image was indeed re-branded the UA Brandon in the 1990’s.
Perhaps confusion arises with respect to the much newer Continental 3, which was opened in nearby retail space on the opposite side of Austin Street in the 1980’s, after the first Continental was twinned.
Tinseltoes, please re-post your image of the Continental from 1981, with “Fort Apache The Bronx” on the marquee. It would be the only photo on CT showing the original neon signage that has since been replaced.
Tinseltoes, the original Continental Theatre (now Brandon Cinemas) was located across the street and down the block from the Continental 3, which was opened in former retail space as a sister to the earlier house, which had been twinned by that time. I had posted a link to your 1981 image in the comment thread of the Brandon Cinemas page. I was hoping you might re-post the photo to the right theater.
This nice image of the original Continental Theatre, circa 1981, was posted by Tinseltoes to the Continental 3 page. If the link no longer works, hopefully, that would be only because he moved it into this theater’s photo collection.
In the image, you can see the old ramp to the right of the entrance that led to a small parking lot behind the building, just up against the LIRR embankment. That area seems to have been improved with a new commercial structure, since the last time I visited this cinema many years back.
Look at the Street View image at the top of this page, Markiebee800. The old Beach Theatre is on the south side of Randall, approximately half-way between Taylor and Beach. The sign above the entrance says “Iglesias de Dios Pentacostal” and the auditorium rises behind the entrance in yellow-colored brick with reddish trim, running parallel to Randall, towards Beach. That Pharmacy & Medical Office is actually across Beach from what would have been the screen wall of the Beach Theatre.
CSWalcsak, I agree with you completely on the value of the “nearby theaters” list. It does seem to me, however, that the way the individual theaters are organized in the database is in need of an overhaul. But, this is a free site, and I’m sure coming up with a viable solution is something that requires more than a little bit of money to solve. It would be interesting to hear an update from site administration as to any scheduled or “wish list” enhancements and modifications to the web site. That sort of communication seemed to die down in the months following the major overhaul of the site a couple of years back.
Don’t forget about the former Loew’s 175th Street and Radio City Music Hall. Not that I disagree with your sentiments, paullewis!
I know this block no longer exists, but the street view places the theater’s location right on the Manhattan Bridge lower roadway! If it could be managed, I’m sure a more suitable view would be from the point where Court Street becomes Cadman Plaza West, facing east across the park, just north of Borough Hall. Based on the pic posted above by johndereszewski, that would be a decent approximation.
The original Loew’s State became nothing but rubble and dust in 1987. The newly built, subterranean State, to which you refer, has its own page right here. That latter theater opened nearly 10 years after the original’s demolition – and bore absolutely no resemblance to its earlier, more famous incarnation.
Just wondering… wouldn’t the nature of the 65mm negative render the aspect ratio 2.20:1, unless the film was matted in-camera? Perhaps PT Anderson cropped the image to 1.85:1 for 35mm and digital presentations and the 70mm prints will be true to their native aspect ratio? Just guessing. My grasp of the technological aspects involved here is not very solid.
There’s a more elaborate history for the Elliot Hall of Music here, identifying the aforementioned RCMH designer as J. Andre Fouilhoux.
SeaBassTian… audience participation is precisely what brought me back to the theaters of Times Square time and again – that and the cheap admissions. Of course, I was a teen at the time. I’ve grown much more conservative in my expectations for movie-going etiquette as the years have passed.
Ken, I did a bit of research on this particular block, since I was so convinced that the furniture store on Beach Avenue was the former theater structure, not the church on St. Lawrence. NYC Department of Building online records would seem to support my suspicions. The entire block of storefronts on Westchester Ave, plus the furniture store on Beach Ave are part of a contiguous lot, improved with a single two-story structure in 1926. The church structure dates to 1925 and is not attached to any of the storefronts on Westchester Avenue.
Unfortunately, there are no viewable certificates of occupancy for the church building (address is 1266 St Lawrence Avenue), and the oldest certificate of occupancy viewable for the Rosedale Theater’s address is an alteration permit for some of the storefronts, dated 1944. However, there is a C of O for the address 1791 Westchester Avenue, dated January 29, 1965 (my exact date of birth, as it happens), showing conversion to “Warehouse for household goods and furniture, loading berth, and store” on ground level, and “Offices and toilets, incidental to first floor” on the mezzanine level.
The name of the furniture store is “New Direct Buy Furniture” at 1785 Beach Avenue. When viewed from the corner of Beach and Westchester Avenues, not only does the elevation of the structure appear theater-like, but there is a structure on the roof of the storefronts that looks like it might have held signage, angled to catch the eye of commuters on the elevated IRT platform of the St. Lawrence Avenue train station.