Touchstone palaces of my youth: old Yankee Stadium, the original movie houses up 86th Street
and in distant third place various churches. Something holy happened to me in
each of these temples. Churches are still here, but don’t hold my attention
anymore. Old Yankee Stadium was buried under the horrible renovation
after the 1973 season. The RKO and Loew’s theatres on East 86th Street were chopped
up shortly after the 1960s.
Yesterday, I took a trip on the PATH train to the classic
Loew’s Jersey Theatre at Journal Square.
This beauty opened in 1929 same year my Dad was born. It has 3100 seats, same size as the
old 86th Street RKO.
Secret, don’t tell anybody: the Yorkville RKO’s Lounge downstairs under
the lobby was huge with lots of comfy furniture, a giant black table and several
paintings. Matching its size, the urinals in the men’s room were mammoth. Top of
one came up to my eight year old head. When we played hide and seek in the RKO
after watching the movie twice we’d sometimes hide in the urinals.
The urinals are not over-sized at the Loew’s
Jersey but everything else about it made me feel like an
explorer breaking through the bush and finding an ancient city. From outside the theatre you barely get a
sense of the majesty beyond the gold doors. All the luxurious decorations
inside are there to help suspend your disbelief for a few hours and transport
you to another world. Last night, I went
to the land of the “Dude.” The film was “The Big Lebowski.” I felt safe knowing
“the Dude abides.” By the way,
before the film we were entertained by an organ that rose from the orchestra
pit. This was a
blow my mind bonus since the Yorkville theatres had no live music when I was
a boy. You had to go to
Radio City
for that. Visit the Loew's Jersey if you can, it will not disappoint.
Thank you,
Eric Vetter, for turning me on to this treasure, I had a blast last night.
