Pre-Fillmore East
The theatre at 105 Second Avenue that became the Fillmore East was originally built as a Yiddish theater in 1925-26 – designed by Harrison Wiseman in the Medieval Revival style – at a time when the section of Second Avenue was known as the "Jewish Rialto" because of the numerous theatres that catered to a Yiddish-speaking audience. Called the Commodore Theater, and independently operated, it eventually was taken over by Loews Inc. and became a movie theatre, the Loews Commodore. It later became the Village Theatre. When Graham took over the theatre in 1967, it had fallen into disrepair. Despite the deceptively small marquee and façade, the theater had a capacity of almost 2,700.
Read more about this topic: Fillmore East
Famous quotes containing the word east:
“Though the words Canada East on the map stretch over many rivers and lakes and unexplored wildernesses, the actual Canada, which might be the colored portion of the map, is but a little clearing on the banks of the river, which one of those syllables would more than cover.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)