[Image via Cinema Treasures]
The Quad Cinema, family-owned and operated since 1972, is under new ownership, Variety reported.
Gulp! The theater's new owner is real-estate developer Charles S. Cohen. So can we expect the Quad Condos here soon on East 13th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue?
No! Per Variety:
Cohen plans to transform the facility into a repertory house, featuring films from the Cohen Film Collection. It’s a library that boasts 700 works by the likes of D.W. Griffith, Buster Keaton, Jean-Luc Godard, W.C. Fields and Alfred Hitchcock, and the exhibitions will include talks and lectures pegged to the movies being shown.
In addition to film classics, the theater will also play foreign and indie titles.
And what else?
The Quad will begin a top-to-bottom renovation in 2015, Cohen said, and will be outfitted with the latest in digital projection and sound. One screen will still be able to show film prints. The name will remain unchanged.
According to Cinema Treasures, the Quad was Manhattan's first four-screen theater when it opened in 1972.
It's nice when rich people use their money to support the arts. Wish it would start a trend but know that's unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much the family got for selling the place. Why did you write 'Gulp!' and 'No!' ? The longtime owners cashed in. Give your scorn to them as much as the buyer. It takes two to tango. Were they somehow forced to sell or did they just get a great deal they couldn't refuse? Stop the one sided blame game. Blast all the non profits who have sold out to hotel developers. has business been down? Was that a factor is selling? These developers are paying people a ton of money for all these properties.
ReplyDeleteRachel- hate to break this to you but most if not all of the arts/cultural funding in NYC comes from the very wealthy. Where do you think the central park conservancy- which has rebuilt central park since its inception in 1980- gets a huge chunk of its money? the city? I don't think so. Who else is going to donate the money? rent stabilized folks? housing project residents? kinda need those rich folks around. wake up to reality.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the 'rich' donors also shift the economic scales by pricing out moderate and low income tenants bit by bit from all but the free venues...once their apartments are lost, and there are no affordable necessities in their neighborhoods, can they sleep in the parks or pick wild food to eat? Yes, the rich donate and get tax breaks too, and it's good, but the hidden cost usually falls to the poor.
ReplyDelete