heres a couple of shots taken last week of the former carib, sadly the wonderful frontage and marquee has gone, but the auditorium block still stands, the front is boarded up.
heres a couple of shots taken last week, still looking in great shape although it wasnt clear from looking into the lobby what it is being used for (offices or tv studio?)
it has an RK symbol on it as does the former normandie theatre opposite – suppose this means they are owned by the same company
**just down the road at about 69th street and collins avenue there is a large fifties building with a sign on it saying Collins Avenue Theatre – was this a movie house?
The Empire will retain its name and money is being invested in the cinema to improve the sound baffling in the main auditorium. The rebuilding of the nightclub will hopefully also include the long talked about refurbishment and restoration of the front of the building which is in quite poor condition when you look closely.
Brokeback Mountain played at 483 theatres this week and had the highest screen average of the big movies $11,856 per screen, any theatre that turns away this sort of business, is making a moral decision (political blackmail).
In the Uk this weekend, the film played to exceptionally strong screen averages even in regional theatres in small working class towns.
I dont believe in censorship, if the board of censors decide that a movie is suitable for adults to see and the market is there for the film, then the audience should be considered intelligent enough to be able to make the choice to see a movie or not, and not have this decision made for them by bigots.
Its yet another example of the political far right and religious groups unreasonable use of their power in terrorising the business community.
There was a terrific documentary on the BBC last night on how most of the hatred and intolerance in the world today comes from fanatical religious belief.
Its debatable whether or not it counts as a real “theatre” or not. Many of the 42nd st grindhouses ran underground movies in the 70’s, blacksploitation, sexsploitation, horror, russ meyer etc. This applied to some of the small theatres carved into the ground floors of buildings on 42nd st, that had not previously been movie theatres, like the Roxy and Cine 42. I dont know if the Harem played movies other than XXX porn, anyone know?
The Harem was four shopfronts along from the current entrance to BB Kings (which is where the back entrance to the Hotel Carter stood).
The Harem is now where the entrance doors to the Loews Ewalk currently stand.
If you want to know about 42nd st during the era of the Harem (70’s, 80’s) is told in full sleazy detail in the book Sleazoid express by Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford.
The Harem was created from retail space, it was not a theatre beforehand.
when i started college in manchester in 1985 im sure that i remember this cinema being a derelict porn theatre, painted grubby pink and possibly called the pussycat, can anyone confirm this, id like to think it was true…lol
Hi Ken,
I didnt realise that is was at the bottom of the High rd near the Maida Vale Picturehouse, in the picture in malcolm webbs book Greater London’s Suburban Cinemas, there appears to be a railway bridge to the left of the cinema, so I thought it was at the top end of the High Rd near the Jubilee line Kilburn Station. In Malcolms book there is also a Classic cinema (former Envoy) that is listed as 405 Kilburn High Rd, but the current numbering stops around 390 of which I can find no trace, do you know where it was?
its a huge screen in a wide auditorium, the seating capacity was roughly halved to install extra large armchair reclining velvet seats and its got the most legroom of any cinema in the UK, so its still a great space to watch a film
heres an exterior shot from the mid 90’s when ot was a bingo hall, its a crying shame that this amazing building sits empty, it still has an amazing streamlined deco interior View link
here is a photo of the former Popular taken around 1995 after it had closed as Gossips, you can see some of spanish style extension at the side. By this point there was nothing left of the interior decoration, I went once to Gossips to see Limahl (dont ask) perform. It was rather grotty and shabby and closed soon after. http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/50064765/
is this the former flamingo? afew doors down from the carib
now a club called the state
View link
heres a couple of shots taken last week of the former carib, sadly the wonderful frontage and marquee has gone, but the auditorium block still stands, the front is boarded up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/130992585/
View link
is this the former roxy?, just up from the cameo, now called the madonna strip club, very dull by day, somewhat more fun by night (great neon)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/131553904/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/131553902/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/130985238/
heres a shot i took last week of the sheridan, could not tell if it was closed or in use, there was no signage or information on the door
View link
heres another similar shot i took last week, the building looks rather sad and lonely
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/131002428/
heres a couple of shots taken last week, still looking in great shape although it wasnt clear from looking into the lobby what it is being used for (offices or tv studio?)
View link
View link
heres a couple of photos i took of the former surf theatre last week
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/131002431/
View link
it has an RK symbol on it as does the former normandie theatre opposite – suppose this means they are owned by the same company
**just down the road at about 69th street and collins avenue there is a large fifties building with a sign on it saying Collins Avenue Theatre – was this a movie house?
Here is a photo of the cinema (scanned so not high quality) taken around 1999/2000 when it was the Gosai
View link
The Empire will retain its name and money is being invested in the cinema to improve the sound baffling in the main auditorium. The rebuilding of the nightclub will hopefully also include the long talked about refurbishment and restoration of the front of the building which is in quite poor condition when you look closely.
heres a recent exterior shot taken dec 2005
View link
heres a recent image of the exterior
View link
heres a link to a 1970’s view of the cinema
View link
Heres another view, showing how little the building has changed, taken around 1991 when I was a manager at the nearby UCI multiplex
View link
Brokeback Mountain played at 483 theatres this week and had the highest screen average of the big movies $11,856 per screen, any theatre that turns away this sort of business, is making a moral decision (political blackmail).
In the Uk this weekend, the film played to exceptionally strong screen averages even in regional theatres in small working class towns.
I dont believe in censorship, if the board of censors decide that a movie is suitable for adults to see and the market is there for the film, then the audience should be considered intelligent enough to be able to make the choice to see a movie or not, and not have this decision made for them by bigots.
Its yet another example of the political far right and religious groups unreasonable use of their power in terrorising the business community.
There was a terrific documentary on the BBC last night on how most of the hatred and intolerance in the world today comes from fanatical religious belief.
There was an all nude burlesque house called The Harmony, but it was in lower manhattan, near church street, it closed in 1999 amd is now a nightclub
which one?
Its debatable whether or not it counts as a real “theatre” or not. Many of the 42nd st grindhouses ran underground movies in the 70’s, blacksploitation, sexsploitation, horror, russ meyer etc. This applied to some of the small theatres carved into the ground floors of buildings on 42nd st, that had not previously been movie theatres, like the Roxy and Cine 42. I dont know if the Harem played movies other than XXX porn, anyone know?
The Harem was four shopfronts along from the current entrance to BB Kings (which is where the back entrance to the Hotel Carter stood).
The Harem is now where the entrance doors to the Loews Ewalk currently stand.
If you want to know about 42nd st during the era of the Harem (70’s, 80’s) is told in full sleazy detail in the book Sleazoid express by Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford.
The Harem was created from retail space, it was not a theatre beforehand.
apparently this is the highest grossing bollywood cinema in the UK
when i started college in manchester in 1985 im sure that i remember this cinema being a derelict porn theatre, painted grubby pink and possibly called the pussycat, can anyone confirm this, id like to think it was true…lol
Hi Ken,
I didnt realise that is was at the bottom of the High rd near the Maida Vale Picturehouse, in the picture in malcolm webbs book Greater London’s Suburban Cinemas, there appears to be a railway bridge to the left of the cinema, so I thought it was at the top end of the High Rd near the Jubilee line Kilburn Station. In Malcolms book there is also a Classic cinema (former Envoy) that is listed as 405 Kilburn High Rd, but the current numbering stops around 390 of which I can find no trace, do you know where it was?
approx 40ft wide for cinemascope
its a huge screen in a wide auditorium, the seating capacity was roughly halved to install extra large armchair reclining velvet seats and its got the most legroom of any cinema in the UK, so its still a great space to watch a film
heres an exterior shot from the mid 90’s when ot was a bingo hall, its a crying shame that this amazing building sits empty, it still has an amazing streamlined deco interior
View link
here is a photo of the former Popular taken around 1995 after it had closed as Gossips, you can see some of spanish style extension at the side. By this point there was nothing left of the interior decoration, I went once to Gossips to see Limahl (dont ask) perform. It was rather grotty and shabby and closed soon after.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/50064765/