Rocks off: The Fillmore East memorial plaque is MIA on 2nd Avenue

Photos by Steven 

The plaque commemorating the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street is MIA. 

It looks to have been ripped from the storefront here at the former Apple Bank, which closed and merged with the outpost on Fourth Avenue in March.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) and Two Boots placed the memorial here in the fall of 2014 to honor the venue that helped launch some of the biggest names in music from 1968 to 1971.

Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, said they were aware of the missing plaque and were looking into it. 

The sibling to Bill Graham's Fillmore in San Francisco brought performers such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968. 

For the last show (an invitation-only performance) on June 27, 1971, there were reportedly three billed acts — headliners The Allman Brothers Band plus The J. Geils Band and Albert King ... and special surprise guests Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys and Country Joe McDonald.

Archival photo courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild

For those who rocked: Legendary East Village venue Fillmore East closed on this date in 1971

Archival photo courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild 

On this date (June 27!) in 1971, the Fillmore East closed its doors after a legendary three-year run at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street. 

The sibling to Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968. 

For the last show (an invitation-only performance), there were reportedly three billed acts — headliners The Allman Brothers Band plus The J. Geils Band and Albert King ... and special surprise guests Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mountain, The Beach Boys and Country Joe McDonald. 

The concert was simulcast live by WPLJ and WNEW ... with running commentary from DJs Dave Herman, Vin Scelsa, Scott Muni and others. You can check out the audio here (courtesy of Dave on 7th!).

   

Today, part of the address is an Apple Bank. There is a Fillmore East plaque out front that arrived in 2014 courtesy of The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) and Two Boots.

You can read about the history of the building and the 2,700-seat venue right here. And find a listing of every band who played the Fillmore East here.

Rock on: The memorial plaque is back outside the former Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

The commemorative plaque is back in place outside the former home of the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street ...

In the late winter, the plaque was sent out for repairs.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) along with Two Boots placed the memorial here in the fall of 2014 to honor the venue that helped launch some of the biggest names in music from 1968 to 1971.

The sibling to Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968.

No. 105 opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew's Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s, it was the nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995 and then Apple Bank in 2013.

You can read about the history of the building and the 2,700-seat venue right here. And find a listing of every band who played the Fillmore East here.

Archival photo courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild

Why the Fillmore East commemorative plaque is missing on 2nd Avenue

Photo by Derek Berg

Several observant EVG readers noted that the commemorative plaque outside the onetime home of the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. near Sixth Street is MIA.

A tipster thought it looked as if the plaque had been ripped off the wall here of current tenant Apple Bank.

However, Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, confirmed that the plaque had been damaged and is out for repairs.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) along with Two Boots placed the memorial here in the fall of 2014 to honor the venue that helped launch some of the biggest names in music from 1968 to 1971.

So while the plaque is at the shop, it's a good time to revisit some Fillmore East history ... in case you don't recall seeing the Grateful Dead, Love and the Allman Brothers on a bill here for $3. (When did shows get so expensive? I remember when they were $1!)

The sibling to Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968.

No. 105 opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew's Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s, it was the nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995 and then Apple Bank in 2013.

You can read about the history of the building and the 2,700-seat venue right here. And find a listing of every band who played the Fillmore East here.

Archival photos courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild.

Rock on: Remembering Bill Graham's Fillmore East

The New-York Historical Society debuted a multimedia exhibit this past Friday on Bill Graham (1931–1991), the influential concert promoter.

"Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution," on display through Aug. 23, features a large section on the Fillmore East, which had a three-year run starting in 1968 at 105 Second Ave. at Sixth Street.

The sibling to Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968.





105 Second Ave. opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew’s Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s it was the nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995 and then Apple Bank in 2013...



The Times has a preview of the exhibit at this link. Frank Mastropolo, the author of the forthcoming book "Fillmore East: How One Venue Changed Rock Music Forever," has a preview piece here.

The New-York Historical Society is at 170 Central Park West at 77th Street.

Museum hours:

Tuesday - Thursday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Friday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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With the opening today of “Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” at the New-York Historical Society, we decided to check for Fillmore East ads in the archives. ¶ Who knew that Pink Floyd was “the reigning number one space group in the known world!!!” ¶ Read the full story in “An Impresario Gets the Star Treatment” on the Voice homepage. #billgrahamrocks #thedoors #janisjoplin #psychedelicrock #joshualightshow #fillmoreeast #pinkfloyd #tinytim #classicrock #nyhistory

A post shared by Village Voice (@villagevoice) on Feb 14, 2020 at 6:25am PST

Love and shrooms for Gregg Allman outside the former Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

Gregg Allman, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, died Saturday at age 69.

Someone left this homemade tribute to him outside the former site of the Fillmore East, the music venue on Second Avenue at Sixth Street where Allman and company were regulars...



There are also some mushrooms. As Rolling Stone once noted of the band: "They ingested such vast quantities of psychedelic mushrooms that the mushroom became a band logo: Each member got one tattooed on his upper calf."

Remembering the Allman Brothers on 2nd Avenue

Gregg Allman, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, died today at age 69.

Allman and the band have a connection to the East Village... They were one of promoter Bill Graham's favorite bands, and he had them play the last three nights when the Fillmore East at 105 Second Ave. closed in June 1971.



The space today is a bank branch... though there is a commemorative plaque out front. You can read more about the Allman Brothers and the Fillmore East at Bob Egan's PopSpots site ... and Off the Grid. Rolling Stone has an oral history of the shows as well as the "The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East" album here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

Rock of ages: Commemorating the Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

On 6th Street, Hudson East fetches $60 million

Hudson East, the 86-unit rental building at 223-237 E. Sixth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, has changed hands for $60 million, The Real Deal reports.

Abro Management, who purchased the building erected in 1996 from the Hudson Companies, plans "a long-term hold," per the article.

Units here range from $2,950 to $6,300. (Twenty percent of the units are also set aside for lower-income residents.)

And there is a lot of East Village history at the site, which dates to the 1920s.

We'll head to this article from the Times in 1997 for more:

Over time, the building was the Loew's Commodore movie palace, a Yiddish theater and a concert hall. In 1968, Bill Graham, the rock music impresario, turned the theater into the Fillmore East, which became a mecca for music fans. Among the acts that played at the Fillmore East before it closed in 1971 were B. B. King, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and the Allman Brothers.

During the 1980's, the building was refurbished as the Saint, which for eight years drew crowds of several thousand gay dancers a night. And earlier this decade, there were plans to turn the empty structure into a six-screen movie theater. But that project went into bankruptcy.

The Hudson Companies bought the property for $1.6 million in 1995.

Said Hudson principal Alan R. Bill in 1997: "We believed the East Village was turning around," resulting in a demand for more rentals.

The four-floor building that houses the Apple Bank on Second Avenue is all that remains of the former theater complex.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Loew's Commodore Theatre

Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

Live at the Fillmore East, a commemorative plaque

Last Wednesday the former home of the Fillmore East, which helped launch some of the biggest names in music at Second Avenue and East Sixth Street from 1968-1971, received a commemorative plaque marking its place in history… and we just realized that we never posted the photo of the plaque. So…



And here is the whole ceremony, if you care to watch…



You can read more about the Fillmore East at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who, along with Two Boots, made the plaque possible.

And find a listing of every band who played the Fillmore East here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

Rock of ages: Commemorating the Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

Rock of ages: Commemorating the Fillmore East on 2nd Avenue

Via the EVG inbox...

Please join the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Two Boots and Apple Bank to unveil a historic plaque marking the site of the Fillmore East, the beloved concert hall that filled the corner of Second Avenue and East Sixth Street with music from 1968-1971. The event will include appearances by guitarist Lenny Kaye and Joshua White, founder of the Joshua Light Show, which splashed the concert hall with psychedelic color.

Despite its brief life, the Fillmore East is remembered with tremendous affection by both the artists who played there and the concertgoers who enjoyed it, as a place of warmth, spirit, innovation and the finest popular music. The great impresario Bill Graham opened the hall as a sibling to his Fillmore West in San Francisco, and brought in performers including The Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, The Byrds, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck, the Staple Singers, and many more.

The building was a destination for entertainment both before and after the Fillmore East. It opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew’s Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s it was the trendsetting gay nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995, and Apple Bank in 2013. While the façade retains much of its original Medieval Revival style, the rear of the building, which housed the auditorium, was demolished and replaced by the Fillmore apartment building in 1997.

The plaque unveiling is tonight at 5. Find more details here.







All photos courtesy of Amalie R. Rothschild

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

The Doors return to 2nd Avenue

[Photo by William Klayer]

The scene on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street this morning ... workers were moving them into the building receiving the gut renovation next door...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Speaking of the Doors (blame Derek Berg for that headline!) ... the band played the Fillmore East one block to the south on March 22-23, 1968 ...



See more photos from the shows at Off the Grid...

Bank branch becomes bank branch at former site of the Fillmore East

And over on Second Avenue near East Sixth, EVG contributor peter radley notes that the Emigrant Savings Bank will become an Apple Bank starting today...

And the address had a long history as various theaters and clubs... most notably the Fillmore East...



... and here's a photo of Timothy Leary circa 1966 from its days as an off-Broadway venue:


The Emigrant Savings Bank started going up in this space in 1997...

Previously.

Jeremiah wrote about the Fillmore East here ...

The Loew's Commodore Theatre

While doing a Google search the other day, an article from a Virginia newspaper popped up... the writer, Fred Pfisterer, a retired editor for the paper, was reminiscing about seeing "Psycho" in New York City ... (The photo below is from the DeMille Theater on 47th Street and Seventh Avenue. Read that theater's history here.)



Pfisterer saw Hitchcock's classic at the Village Theater. As he recalls, "The theater manager advertised that a real nurse would be on hand for all showings in case any member of the audience became so frightened that they passed out or had a heart attack. The gimmick worked because it drew sold-out crowds to the theater for months."

What caught my attention from Pfisterer's article: "The theater, on Second Avenue between East 6th an 7th streets in the East Village, became the Fillmore East in 1968when entertainment promoter Bill Graham acquired it..."

Anyway, plenty has been written on the Fillmore East and promoter Bill Graham through the years ... (Jeremiah wrote about Ratner's and the Fillmore here ... Forgotten New York has photos of Jim Powers' FE mosaics here.)




And there has been plenty written about what became of the space in the 1980s -- the legendary Saint. (Check out the site dedicated to the Saint right here.)

But I wanted to know more about when the space was a movie theater. According to the always-reliable Cinema Treasures:

Originally opened in 1926 as the independently operated Commodore Theatre, this movie house/Yiddish theater was taken over by Loew's Inc. and later became known as the Village Theater. It can credit Lenny Bruce as appearing on its stage.

In March 1968 it became the Fillmore East concert venue. ....

In the fall of 1980, it was converted into what was to become New York City's best and most celebrated gay disco The Saint, which became famous world-wide. This continued until May 2, 1988 when the doors closed following a non-stop 48 hours party. The building was used spasmodically for a couple of years for live events, then stood empty for a few years until the auditorium was demolished in around 1995.

Today the narrow facade remains and the lobby is now remodeled as an Emigrant Savings Bank. Apartments/condos called Hudson East were constructed on the site of the auditorium.

According to a Cinema Treasures commenter, when it opened in 1926, the Commodore was the largest of the 10 movie theatres in operation on Second Avenue between Houston and Ninth Street. Also, the last films to show there appear to have been "A Ticklish Affair" and "Hootenanny Hoot" on Oct. 8, 1963.

Here's a photo of Timothy Leary circa 1966 from its days as an off-Broadway venue:



The Emigrant Savings Bank started going up in this space in 1997.... (As a Cinema Treasures commenter said, the entire land plot on which the auditorium once stood is now occupied by a six-story apartment building with the address of 225 E. Sixth St. and currently known as Hudson East.)



There are several photographic collages of the Commodore in the Emigrant lobby ...





As the Times reported in 1997:

A few groups rallied unsuccessfully to save the building for conversion to a recording studio or other performance use. Now, only the theater's Second Avenue entrance has been retained as part of a four-story commercial building that the Hudson Companies sold to Emigrant Savings Bank. A bank branch occupies the one-time theater lobby. The rest of the theater was razed to make way for the new apartment building.... A plaque will be placed at the building's entrance telling passers-by of the storied night spots that once occupied the site -- despite the fact ... that the people who will rent apartments here will probably be too young to remember them.

Update:
It's All the Streets You Crossed Not So Long Ago has a great post on the Village Theatre era here here.



Fillmore East photos via.

At the Fillmore East, Jan. 1, 1970

And check out the shot of Ratner's at the 18-second mark....