Loews State 4
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1540 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 177 comments
Theatre capacity of each auditorium: Theatre 1 387 Theatre 2 474 Theatre 3 510 Theatre 4 283
Please update, theatre closed January 26, 2006
The mice problem also happened in the Hoyts cinema(Hoyts Carousel Megaplex) in Cannington, Western Australia, Australia(there is articules about it in the photos setion for Carousel Megaplex).
The reason why Loews State 4 closed was because of the AMC merger. AMC at the time had the busiest theater in the country (long before bedbugs took over) with the Empire 25 across the street from Loews' much larger E Walk 13 theater. It was nearly two years after Loews Cineplex sold the Astor Plaza theater before it became the Best Buy/Playstation Theatre. Regal would soon take over the EWalk and the rest is history. I remember going into the Virgin Megastore while on a trip with the Boys and Girls Club of Clifton’s teen group and looked at all the massive CD collections. I didn’t have enough money so i just browsed the store, which was more popular than the movie theater inside the store. Sadly the store became a forever 21.
This was a weird theater. It was located in the basement of the Virgin Megastore, in an attempt (I suppose) to make the store an all-around entertainment experience. It was never obvious that there even was a theater, and I suspect most shoppers had no idea. I saw The Blair Witch Project and Stir of Echoes here, in nearly-empty screening rooms. If I remember correctly, near the end they were running Bollywood films.
Now THAT’S the Loew’s State 4! Thanks for the fix!
Photos of the original State have been removed from this theater’s page.
The ad at the top of this page is the original Loew’s State after it was refurbished in 1959. The Sony State Theatres had a simple marquee under the Virgin Megastore sign. I went there a few times. Always empty. Kinda sad.
I, too, found it interesting that there was almost never anyone in that subterranean quad despite a fair amount of traffic in the music store and the video store beneath that.
I was at the LOEWS STATE 4 in the basement once. The screen went dark hafway through the picture and NOBODY had a clue what to do. Did not see any usher and the girl in box office was busy chewing gum and gave us a refund and said very little. This was before IPADS for she would have been on that too.
Virgin had the ground floor, as well as two lower floors. The box office to the theater was on the second basement floor, and the theaters were located one level below that.
I went there for cheap movies, and the occasional free preview.
Times Square has been a shopping destination ever since a man stood on a corner and counted how many people were visiting the “old” Times Square of pornography and drug use. That’s when The Gap opened, and the “new” Times Square began.
Where there are tourists, there are consumers. New Yorkers might not shop there, but Barnum’s fools are still visiting Times Square and parting with money a century after he opened his dime museum.
Interesting that this theatre was built on the site of the original LOEWS STATE.
What were they doing with the seats, throwing them in a dumpster, or carefully loading them into a truck?
Saw them taking the movie theater seats out the back way of the Virgin Time Square as I walked back from the Toys R Us this afternoon. Had to happen sometime now that it’s completely dead. Alas, poor Loews. We hardly knew ye.
I understand Disney may be moving their Fifth Avenue store to Times Square because TOYS R US has done so well with the tourist family trade. Perhaps FOREVER 21 is hoping to cash on tourists who still think the dollar exchange rate is a bargain.
90,000 square feet for junky clothes? I’d rather see a Target store – which would be a boon to both tourists and locals – move into that space…
No problem. You gave me an answer to whats going in there. I was buying a dvd a few weeks ago there and the girl asked if I wanted one of there VIP saving type cards. I said no it will be no good in a few months, it’s not worth it. I said to her the store is closing in the spring along with Union Square. She said no it’s not, go ask one of your managers. She was not to happy after his answer.
Loew’s never knew how to run that 4-plex, every time I was there always a problem.
Just realized you answered Al’s question, William, as I was typing my response; apologies for the duplication…
Creative phrasing, Al; tip of the hat to you :–)
The ‘big toilet’ was actually next door, in the former Barcode space. As for the building which houses the former Loews State, word is that Forever 21 will be taking over the majority of the soon-to-be-former Virgin Megastore space, with Nordstrom Rack taking over the basement level and perhaps, even though this isn’t detailed in the linked article below (and I haven’t been able to verify this via other sources), the movie theatre portion of the building as well.
View link
No, that is next door and on the second floor from Virgin Mega Store in Times Square.
Could it be that this theatre is now literally a big toilet?
View link
Thanks, Howard — boy, what a time lag between Event and Publication … from Aug. 9th to late Oct. — but at least it is a start for me – THANKS !! Gayle
Gayle,see Introduction on that theater’s page
/theaters/557/
Would someone please tell me the DATE that the ORIGINAL Loew’s State Theatre, on Broadway, NYC had it’s Grand Opening? I have the Nov. 1921 issue of Motion Picture Magazine which refers to the opening as having already occurred that Fall. Am trying to gauge the time between writing the magazine articles and the publication month of them. I am guessing sometime in October, or even September, but an exact date would be terrific. ALSO, what was showing / appearing at that grand opening event? Thanks!
Actually, I retract that last statement. The theatres opened the week before with two prints of Mulholland Falls and two prints of Cemetary Man.