116 days til Oscar
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 9:30AM 
Though Manhattan is a wonderful place to be a movie lover -- there is ALWAYS something to see between the first run multiplexes and the rep theaters -- it's also filled with the ghosts of movie theaters past. The Paris closed down just about a month ago and the Ziegfeld died in... well, we'll always be mourning the Ziegfeld. It was Moulin Rouge! and Chicago premiered in the early Aughts, and seeing the movie musical return to prominence in two consecutive years in a massive old school movie palace was heaven. It's also the site of the first time we saw Michelle Pfeiffer in the pflesh. Needless to say it was part of our soul.
Speaking of old movie houses. On this 116th day before the 92nd Oscars we randomly found that there was once a grand movie theater on 116th street and 7th avenue (not so far from where we live) called The RKO Regent...
Before it was the RKO Regent it was the BS Moss Regent Theatre and it had vaudeville performances AND movies. So much showbiz happened there.
Apparently it's now a church which is too bad because Harlem has endless buildings of worship but almost no churches for movie worshippers. We have the Magic Johnson, a mainstream multiplex, and the teensy tiny Maysles Documentary Center that's not a regular movie theater.
Have any movie theaters you loved closed right before your eyes in your lifetime?
moviegoing
Reader Comments (5)
All of the old ones.
Here in the Twin Cities there was a magnificent mid-century modern movie house called The Cooper. It opened in 1962 (the same year the Space Needle opened in Seattle, I believe) - it was wonderfully Space Age, one of just 3 Cinerama theaters in the US, according to the internet. It was torn down in 1992, just 30 years later. Why, I don't know - tearing it down made everybody sad/mad.
The Suburban World, in the Uptown area in Minneapolis, is much more vintage: it was built in 1928. It's gorgeous. It was known for having softly twinkling lights (stars) and drifting clouds on the ceiling, lending an uniquely enchanted air to moviegoing experience it provided. It's currently empty but there are plans to make it a live music venue.
Long live the old movie palaces.
Why did The Paris close? It was a landmark.
Many a landmark has closed in SF, though it's hard to complain toooo much while we still have the Castro and newly restored New Mission to enjoy. Although not a "palace", i do still miss the Bridge Theater (Inner Richmond district). Birthplace of Peaches Christ and her midnight shows. Also small and cozy enough that they would have a trivia board. The first person to answer the daily movie trivia, won free popcorn. (this worked better of course before smartphones).
Why doesn’t Netflix (or Amazon) just buy iconic, one-screen theaters like The Paris? Think about the gala premiers, Oscar-qualifying runs, and boutique film festivals it could host there while also burnishing its public perception as a benevolent preserver of history.
Santa Barbara still has the Arlington and the Granada theaters, thank God, but many a neighborhood playhouse, dive bar, etc. have gone the way of the Ziegfeld, which is so depressing. With each passing, it really does feel like the end of an era.