Comments from SinatraHandball

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SinatraHandball
SinatraHandball commented about Loew's Delancey Theatre on Mar 26, 2011 at 9:29 pm

Bittersweet nostalgia. Growing up on the Lower East Side meant the Loew’s Delancey was the movie theater of choice during my teenage years during the 60’s. Although the Loew’s Canal theater was in close proximity, this theater was situated on a “main street” as it meant good food as well as convenient shopping (in addition to street fare on Orchard, Essex, Clinton.)

I remember watching James Bond double features, Von Ryan’s Express, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Duel at Diablo, A Guide for the Married Man, The Battle of The Bulge, to name a few (good movies.)

Strange, I remember movie going weekend afternoons with my adolescent friends, eating the food there, laughing, carrying on, but not being admonished by adults for doing so. I think kids made up all most of the audience during the day. As an aging adult, these days I couldn’t tolerate such a distraction.

Every time I past by and see the outer building it’s like looking at a ghostly hulk of a sunken ship. Quite heart breaking as this area still doesn’t have a decent movie complex in addition to empty undeveloped lots across the street.

For the past several years I’ve been getting ecstatic experiences of times past whenever I’ve gone to the restored Loew’s Jersey Theater (unashamed plug) in Jersey City, viewing classic films. The symmetry and decor inside is reminiscent of immense showcases like Delancey and the defunct 14 st. Academy of Music. The venue is a gigantic bonus to simply watching an old great film, say, as shown at Film Forum. The sound, the screen, all should be experienced by those with and without remembrances of what New York City used to have.