Loew’s Canal Street Theater opened in Lower East Side in 1927 at the height of the Golden Age of Cinema. The theater on Canal Street was designed by Thomas W. Lamb and held 2,300 seats, making it the second largest movie house in the city at the time of its opening.
As the population in the Lower East Side continued to grow, more and more movie houses began springing up in the neighborhood. By the early 20th century, the area held the densest concentration of movie houses in the nation.
Lower East Side native Marcus Loew came from a poor background, selling lemons and newspapers on the street. After working in various factories, he eventually became a furrier, where he met Adolph Zukor. Zukor, also a furrier, owned a slew of penny arcades–rooms full of hand-cranked games that cost just a penny to play–and Loew decided to buy into the business. He soon began opening arcades around the country. While opening a new arcade in Cincinnati, he was told of a competitor who was making more money with movie houses than Loew was making with his arcades. While in Cincinnati, Loew struck a deal with the Vitagraph Company, a Brooklyn-based movie studio, and set up a makeshift movie screening. At a nickel per ticket, Loew made $250 in one night alone.
When he returned to New York, Loew began converting his penny arcade spaces into movie houses, and started Loew’s Theater Chain in 1904. In order to increase the quality of movies at his theaters, he bought Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions in 1924 and merged them all to form MGM Studios, one of the most important film studios in the country.
After Loew’s death in 1927, the Loews Corporation continued opening movie houses around the country. Shortly after the Canal Street Theater opened in 1927, the company sold it to Greater M&S Circuit, but it eventually fell back into the Corporation’s hands after Greater M&S Circuit went bankrupt in 1929. In the 1950s, the theater began its decline and soon closed.
In the 1960s, the building’s lobby became retail space and its elaborate auditorium was converted into a warehouse. In 2010, there was talk of using the landmarked building as a performing arts center, but the plans fell through. The building owners also proposed to convert the space into a condo complex, but the NYC Department of Building denied the plan. Today, the theater’s lobby stands empty. The auditorium, however, still functions as a warehouse.
The Loew’s Corporation is now part of AMC Theaters.
| 1904 | Marcus Loew creates Loew's Theater Chain |
| 1924 | MGM Studios is formed |
| 1927 | Marcus Loew dies |
| 1927 | Canal Street Theater is built |
| 2006 | Loew's Corporation merges with AMC Theaters |
| 2010 | 54 Canal Street is landmarked |
| internal | gDoc TBC |
| internal | Loew’s Canal Street Theatre |
| internal | Hidden Gem on Canal Street |
| internal | Inside The Abandoned Old Loew's Theatre On Canal Street |
| link | NYC and the Birth of the Movies Bowery Boys Podcast |