Village East
In 2008, I posted a little bit on the Village East cinema at 12th and 2nd Ave. Now the Museum of the City of New York's wonderful digital collection offers us this shot, showing the cinema when it was the Yiddish Folks Theater in 1930.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
Close-up details show a cluster of businesses and their heavy, dazzling signage--a Russian restaurant and an optometrist's office with its all-seeing eyes, those outsized glasses bringing to mind Dr. Eckleberg in Gatsby's valley of ashes. Today, in their places under the archways, there's the cinema's ticket window, a locksmith shop, and some closed doors.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
On the corner of 2nd and 12th, there was once a cigar shop. This corner is now incorporated into the cinema. I imagine all this space was taken when the theater was turned into a multiplex and they needed the room for movie screens and seats.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
The NYPL archives has a 1936 shot that shows the Hebrew letters on the marquee. (As an aside, I could not resist including this little find of a dancing Russian bear, made of neon it looks like, drinking vodka on a restaurant sign in 1936 just one block north of here, somewhere around where Shoolbred's, nee Jade Mountain, is today.)
NYPL
When Yiddish left, the theater became a movie house in the 1940s. In the 1950s, it was the important Off-Broadway art theater The Phoenix. From 1965-1969, it was the Gayety, Manhattan's only burlesque house during that time.
Also in the 1960s, the theater offices were turned into apartments--according to the Landmark Designation Report: "three notable gay residents were Jackie Curtis, a drag superstar in Andy Warhol films, photographer Peter Hujar (who lived here from 1975 to 1987), and artist David Wojnarowicz (who lived here from 1980 to 1992)."
The Gayety by Tony Marciante
It became the Village East cinema in 1991. It's one of the better places to see a movie because it's often quiet and uncrowded. If you're patient, all the stuff that plays at the Angelika will come here later and you don't have to deal with the espresso-swilling crowds. Also, it still has one of the last analog marquees in town.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
Close-up details show a cluster of businesses and their heavy, dazzling signage--a Russian restaurant and an optometrist's office with its all-seeing eyes, those outsized glasses bringing to mind Dr. Eckleberg in Gatsby's valley of ashes. Today, in their places under the archways, there's the cinema's ticket window, a locksmith shop, and some closed doors.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
On the corner of 2nd and 12th, there was once a cigar shop. This corner is now incorporated into the cinema. I imagine all this space was taken when the theater was turned into a multiplex and they needed the room for movie screens and seats.
Wurtz Brothers, 1930
The NYPL archives has a 1936 shot that shows the Hebrew letters on the marquee. (As an aside, I could not resist including this little find of a dancing Russian bear, made of neon it looks like, drinking vodka on a restaurant sign in 1936 just one block north of here, somewhere around where Shoolbred's, nee Jade Mountain, is today.)
NYPL
When Yiddish left, the theater became a movie house in the 1940s. In the 1950s, it was the important Off-Broadway art theater The Phoenix. From 1965-1969, it was the Gayety, Manhattan's only burlesque house during that time.
Also in the 1960s, the theater offices were turned into apartments--according to the Landmark Designation Report: "three notable gay residents were Jackie Curtis, a drag superstar in Andy Warhol films, photographer Peter Hujar (who lived here from 1975 to 1987), and artist David Wojnarowicz (who lived here from 1980 to 1992)."
The Gayety by Tony Marciante
It became the Village East cinema in 1991. It's one of the better places to see a movie because it's often quiet and uncrowded. If you're patient, all the stuff that plays at the Angelika will come here later and you don't have to deal with the espresso-swilling crowds. Also, it still has one of the last analog marquees in town.
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