Classic Movie Palaces

For those of you interested in the classic movie palaces.  Below is info about The Ziegfeld (a classic theater in NYC), Bow-tie Cinemas, and the link to Cinema Treasures which showcases over 30,000 classic theaters around the world.

Cinema Treasures

http://cinematreasures.org/

Ziegfeld Theatre

Here is some info about the Ziegfeld in NYC which is still around and showing first run movies and classics.  I've been there a few times and it is a great experience.  It is wonderful and opulent and feels different than the modern stadium-seating cinemas that are the norm.
Location:

141 West 54th Street, (between 7th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10019

Built just a few hundred feet from the original Ziegfeld Theatre, this ‘new’ Ziegfeld Theatre opened in December 1969 and the movie house was one of the last big palaces built in the United States.
It was built from plans by the firm of Emery Roth & Sons, with designs by Irving Gershon and interior design by John McNamara.

The theatre features 1,131 seats: 825 seats in the front section and 306 seats in the raised balcony section in the rear. The interior is decorated with sumptuous red carpeting and abundant gold trim.
The Ziegfeld Theatre is, arguably, the last movie palace still showing films in Manhattan. In June 2013 it was taken over by Bow-Tie Cinemas when they took over Clearview Cinema locations.

      

     

     
      

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater at 1341 Sixth Avenue, corner of 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and, despite public protests, was razed in 1966.
A second Ziegfeld Theatre, named in honor of the original, is located at 141 West 54th Street in Manhattan. Designed as a deluxe single screen movie theater, it opened in 1969 and remains in operation today. 

On December 17, 1969, a few hundred feet from the site of the original Ziegfeld Theatre, a new Ziegfeld Theatre opened as a single-screen movie house. Located at 141 West 54th Street, it is one of the last large-scale movie palaces built in the United States. Constructed by Emery Roth & Sons from designs by Irving Gershon and sumptuous red-carpeted interior designs by John J. McNamara, it has 1,131 seats (825 seats in the orchestral section and 306 seats in the tiered rear section). It has been used for 70 mm world premieres and big-event press screenings, such as the November 1977 opening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The theater underwent extensive renovations in the late 1990s. It was a centerpiece site during the 2008 New York Film Festival because of reconstruction work at Lincoln Center that year. During the 2000s, digital projection was installed. In 2013 the Ziegfeld is operated by Bow Tie Cinemas and remains New York's leading commercial film venue. The theater is the largest single screen cinema in New York and continues to be the site of film premieres and gala events.

Bow-Tie Cinemas

Bow-tie Cinemas is restoring movie palaces and drive-in theaters around the country. 

http://www.bowtiecinemas.com/about/  (all info/pics from the corporate website)

      Theaters are located in NY, NJ, CT, CO, MD & VA

HISTORY
The history of Bow Tie Cinemas begins over 100 years ago, in the era of the Nickelodeon, when B.S. Moss began his long and illustrious career providing popular entertainment to the public.
The business of operating street front Nickelodeons quickly gave way to Vaudeville, which was the heart of B.S. Moss Theaters until the 1930s when B.S. Moss sold his last Vaudeville theater and dedicated himself fully to building and operating motion picture theaters.

B.S. Moss’ Theaters were the springboard of many famous vaudevillians. The former Colony Theater on Broadway was home to premieres and exclusive engagements of early Walt Disney films. The cartoon that launched Mickey Mouse to the world, Steamboat Willie, had its first showing here. The Colony also premiered Disney’s Fantasia, followed by an exclusive run of that film for more than a year in “Fantasound” a revolutionary sound process for the time.

In 1936, B.S. Moss opened the Criterion Theater, known then as The Theater of Tomorrow, on Broadway in the ’bow tie’ of Times Square. The Criterion was the first motion picture theater built exclusively for the exhibition of talking motion pictures. It operated continuously for 63 years and was the home of several major New York film premiers including Sleeping Beauty, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl, Lawrence of Arabia and Alien.

Throughout the 20th Century, B.S. Moss Theaters provided entertainment to many, becoming what was then the largest independently-owned theater circuit in the New York Metropolitan Area.

Today, Bow Tie Cinemas, now a four generation family-owned company, is dedicated to returning style and elegance to the movie-going experience. In each of its 21 locations and 177 screens, Bow Tie Cinemas provides the best possible presentation and service to its patrons, continuing in the tradition of its founder.