Latest news with #MetroTheater
New York Times
07-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Poem for CUNY, the School ‘That Runs Its City'
Good morning. It's Monday. Today we'll find out about the national youth poet laureate's love letter to the school she attends. We'll also get details on a nonprofit group's purchase of the Metro Theater building on the Upper West Side. Image Credit... Stanley Ligon Some universities have alma maters. Harvard sings to 'Fair Harvard,' and Yale harmonizes about 'Bright College Years.' The City University of New York does not have a school song. But this week it is getting a school poem, 'Dear CUNY.' It was written by the national youth poet laureate, Stephanie Pacheco, who attends Borough of Manhattan Community College, one of CUNY's 25 schools. Dear CUNY, I don't know of any other school that runs its city like you That paints its town with its face like you Everywhere I turn, every building is a student Every train cart is a classroom. But at least the only loan I've acquired Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New York's Metro Theater Is Being Revived by Upper West Side Cinema Center
Fans of cinema rejoice! It's not often a movie palace from yesteryear is given a chance at new life, but today it was announced that New York City's Metro Theater on Broadway at 99th Street has been purchased and that the new owners intend to rebuild and reopen. Shuttered and gutted since 2005, the Metro was built between 1932 and 1933 amidst the Great Depression, when theater owners were looking to downsize from the grandeur of movie palaces to smaller houses that were easier to maintain. Though the interior of the building was demolished, the Art Deco facade was and is still considered a historical landmark and remains intact. A recently formed nonprofit organization known as Upper West Side Cinema Center has bought the building for $6.9 million, shared the group's President and Co-Founder, Ira Deutchman. These funds were gathered through a combination of grants provided by Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, as well as contributions from private foundations and nearly four hundred individual donors. More from IndieWire Will Poulter 'Accidentally Punched' Dave Bautista While Shooting 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' Bill Murray Talks Being 'Barbecued' for Behavior That Got 'Being Mortal' Shut Down 'For far too long, the beloved Metro Theater has sat empty — waiting for leaders with the courage and conviction to bring it back to life,' Governor Hochul said in a press release shared with IndieWire. 'The Upper West Side community deserves another world-class venue for cinema and art, and that's why I was proud to step in and allocate $3.5 million to make the new Metro Theater a reality. Working with my friend Assemblymember Lasher and Senator Hoylman-Sigal, we're going to give Upper West Siders a new cultural institution that stands the test of time.' Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg's Hearthland Foundation, the Klingenstein-Martell Foundation, and the Brandt Jackson Foundation also all provided major grants to make the acquisition of the building possible. In addition, once this effort was first announced, an outpouring of support came from filmmaking notables such as Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, Frances McDormand, and Griffin Dunne, who are all fighting to keep the theatrical experience alive. They and others have signed on to be advisors to UWS Cinema Center, which in addition to Deutchman, is led by a Board of Directors that includes Adeline Monzier (Vice-President), Stephen Cohen (Counsel), Beth Krieger (Community Liaison/Marketing), Sally Klingenstein Martell, David Huntington, Peter Koffler, and Tim Blake Nelson. Since the closure of the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and The Landmark at 57th Street, the Upper West Side has long been in need of a dedicated art cinema and UWS Cinema Center looks to provide just that. The non-profit now enters Phase 2 of their initiative, which involves raising funds to restore the former Metro theater into a yet-to-be-named vibrant five-screen art house featuring movie classics, foreign films, documentaries, and first-run independent films. UWS Cinema Center also intends to form an education center and a café/lounge. For more information on how you can donate or get involved, click here. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Upper West Side Theater Is Sold After Governor Allocates $3.5 Million
A landmark Art Deco movie theater that closed 20 years ago on Manhattan's Upper West Side was sold to a nonprofit after it received $3.5 million in discretionary grants from Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York. The nonprofit, the Upper West Side Cinema Center, used those funds and $500,000 in grants from the State Senate to complete its $6.9 million purchase of the Metro Theater on Friday. It plans to revitalize the building, on Broadway near West 99th Street, with a five-screen theater, a lobby lounge and a public cafe. Additional fund-raising of $15 million to $25 million is required to construct a new interior, replace the marquee and clean graffiti from the facade, the nonprofit says. 'The Upper West Side community deserves another world-class venue for cinema and art, and that's why I was proud to step in,' Hochul said in a news release. Assemblyman Micah Lasher, a Democrat who took office in January, grew up going to the Metro Theater and fondly remembers seeing 'Ali' and 'Mr. Holland's Opus' there with his family. 'Its loss for the last 20 years has been not just an eyesore, but a deeply felt scar for the neighborhood,' he said. Lasher heard in December that the Upper West Side Cinema Center was not going to meet a Jan. 10 deadline to buy the building from the estate of its previous owner. He then contacted Hochul, who had indicated an interest in neighborhood revitalization. He was in Disney World with his family on the day after Christmas when his cellphone rang. It was the governor. 'I have some Christmas news for you,' he remembers her saying. 'We're going to save a movie theater.' The Metro Theater, formerly known as the Midtown Theater, opened in 1933. It showed pornographic films in the 1970s and early 1980s before becoming known for art house and foreign films; its pink terra-cotta facade was named a landmark in 1989. The building's previous owner, Albert Bialek, closed the theater in 2005, pointing to the rise of large multiplex theaters and saying that the Metro could not compete. 'As a neighborhood theater, the building is obsolete,' he told The New York Times in 2006. Attempts to reimagine the space, including a 2015 pitch to become a Planet Fitness gym, were unsuccessful. Two plans involving the theater chain Alamo Drafthouse, introduced in 2012 and 2022, also fell through. Development options were limited thanks to the facade's landmark status and the sale of the air rights above the building. And Bialek, who died in 2023, wanted to see the theater revived in the right hands. 'He sort of held it as a very special jewel,' said Liza Cooper, the president of the community group New Friends of Metro Theater, who worked with Bialek to find a new life for the building. 'He wanted only the best for it, and yet it was sometimes a challenge to get past that protectiveness.' A lawyer for the Bialek estate, John Simoni, said in an email that the family was 'so proud and excited that Mr. Bialek's long-held dream for a theater is finally being realized.' The Upper West Side Cinema Center announced its bid in July with support from celebrity advisers including Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, John Turturro, Bob Balaban, Griffin Dunne and Mary Harron, the director of 'American Psycho.' Tim Blake Nelson, an Upper West Side resident, later joined the nonprofit's advisory board. The state's support included $500,000 in grant funding that was pushed for by State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Both the legislative and executive funding were discretionary grants from the fiscal year that just ended. Ira Deutchman, an independent film producer who leads the nonprofit with Adeline Monzier, said the government support meant it was able to receive an extension for raising the $6.9 million. Donations from foundations and individuals filled in the rest, including a major grant from Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg's Hearthland Foundation. 'Kate and Steven believe that seeing films on a big screen is a unique and meaningful experience that can build community and reinforce the power of communal engagement,' a foundation spokesman said. 'They support Ira's mission and look forward to seeing many films at the storied Metro Theater.' Now comes rebuilding the theater itself. When Metro Theater closed, the city gave Bialek permission to demolish its interior because only the exterior facade was named a landmark. The nonprofit's plan is to build two larger auditoriums, two smaller ones and a fifth room with flexible seating for screenings, meetings, classes and receptions. Looking to raise up to $25 million for the restoration, Deutchman said he was confident that owning the building would prompt support from those who were previously hesitant to give. 'I'm just going to channel the fact that we managed to raise $7 million in less than five months,' he said. 'To the extent that everybody says it's going to take five years, 10 years, whatever, I'm just not going to let it happen.'
