Thursday, November 20, 2014

REMEMBER: BURLESK ON A BUSTLING BOULEVARD


A image from 1936 shows three burlesk theaters in a row and a busy boulevard.  During the early part of the 20th century, opera houses and respectable entertainment venues had opened on this bustling thoroughfare but during the Depression years, the more commercial low-brow forms of entertainment took over.  Can any of the history buffs out their name the 3 famous venues and the vantage point of this photo?

ANSWER: The lower photo shows the Apollo theatre at the same vantage looking east on 125th Street.  This is the only functioning institution out of the great three and the Victoria just a couple of doors down might be residential conversion one day if that ever gets off the ground.  As far as the Harlem Opera House goes, that grand old dame was demolished somewhere in the 1960s: LINK

Archival photo courtesy NYPL
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 20, 2014 at 6:29 PM

    East 116?

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  2. GregNovember 20, 2014 at 8:18 PM

    Obviously this is West 125th St. looking east. The first venue is Hurtig & Seamon's New Burlesque Theatre that would go on to become the Apollo Theatre. The second building is now the closed up Loew's Victoria

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  3. GregNovember 20, 2014 at 8:29 PM

    Maybe the 3rd one is the Harlem Opera House?

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