34th Street East Theatre

241 E. 34th Street,
New York, NY 10016

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Cineplex Odeon, Sterling Theaters, Inc., Walter Reade Theatres

Architects: John J. McNamara

Nearby Theaters

News About This Theater

1973 photo credit Joe Testagrose.

A former single-screen neighborhood movie theatre, located directly across the street from the former Loews 34th Street Theatre showplace.

A conversion of a power station, the 34th Street East Theatre was opened on July 16, 1963 with Richard Harris in “This Sporting Life”. It was operated by Walter Reade-Stirling Theatres. Showing mostly upscale fare during its run, it closed its doors on September 11, 1997 with the decidedly downscale “Krull the Conqueror” starring Kevin Sorbo.

The space served as a lecture hall to Yeshiva University’s Geraldine Schottenstein Cultural Center. By early-2016 they had moved out and it was being demolished.

Contributed by br91975

Recent comments (view all 64 comments)

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 13, 2021 at 1:41 am

Hello-

see you are a endless fond of knowledge. I have question not about theaters but home video that I don’t know where to ask it but I bet you can. I bought a 4K played and tv. you can tell the vast majority of the 4K discs I bought online are brand new factory sealed never opened discs. but a few I bought online are clearly opened returned discs re-shrink wrapped and sold as new. yet when I contacted the online sites they swore they were NEW copies though a blind person could tell they weren’t. do you know of an online site where if I ordered a 4K disc I would be guaranteed to get a brand new factory sealed never opened copy?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 21, 2021 at 5:45 pm

bigjoe, Ken Roe has now added the Booth here.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/64820

ridethectrain
ridethectrain on July 5, 2021 at 9:14 pm

Please update, theatre closed September 11, 1997. Updated grand opening ad

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on November 4, 2021 at 11:09 pm

Hello-

to Al A.-

as always I thank you for answering my posts with your apparently bottomless font of knowledge. this time its an interesting comment. it seems whenever I look at this site’s page for Manhattan another movie theater I never knew existed is listed. for instance the Parkwest Theater which was on W. 99 St. the all time count for Manhattan is currently 491 theaters. one winders how much more it will increase.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on November 7, 2021 at 3:23 pm

bigjoe, I have been keeping track of Manhattan screens rather than theatres or seats. I show 237 screens currently operating, down from a high of 266 in 2001. The highest theatre count year would be 1940 with 227 theatres. The all-time screen count is around 1215 since around 1915. The nickelodeon count prior to that is pretty murky. Purpose built theatres and conversions like the 34th street East, are included. Allowing for name changes and fly by night porn houses, the all-time theatre count would be closer to 600.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on November 10, 2021 at 12:13 am

Hello-

to Al A.- as always thanks for your reply. I assumed the 491 figure mentioned in my previous post was for the number of theaters not the number of auditoriums. the point I was making was its amazing the number of theaters that people alive today went to that I had no idea ever existed. for instance the Parkwest on W. 99 St. which people alive today that aren’t that old attended.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on July 17, 2022 at 11:36 pm

Hello-

to Al A.

a question your considerable font of knowledge I bet can answer. for the longest period of time the number of theaters under ALL was 492 but all of a sudden its 490. what gives?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on July 18, 2022 at 2:07 am

bigjoe, this small drop may have resulted from some duplicate entries of old Bowery theatres from the early days of cinema being combined. For example the M & S New Delancey was listed as both the M & S as well as the New Delancey.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on July 21, 2022 at 9:48 pm

Hello-

to Al A.- could you do me a favor and go to the page for the Cinema ½/3. I would appreciate your reply to my recent post. thanks.

ridethectrain
ridethectrain on July 5, 2023 at 3:56 am

Please correct, total seats 359 based on Dept of Buildings NYC website

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