By Gus Saltonstall
Somebody tagged the landmarked facade of the Metro Theater in recent days.
It is unclear what exactly is depicted by the spray paint, but it appears that somebody got themselves on top of the theater’s vintage marquee.
A misinterpretation of the decade-old “Space Available” sign? Or a sign of the decay of a long-abandoned building?
Maybe now the Landmarks Preservation Commission will get involved in the effort to save the Metro.
At present, the theater is in the process of reopening as an upscale Alamo Drafthouse dine-in movie theater. This reopening has stalled, however, as the new owners have been navigating the state’s liquor license process since September 2022.
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Totally disgusting. The amount of disrespect is mind boggling.
Yes, why is no one being arrested and fined for this.
Not a crime. Not good citizenship but not illegal.
You mean the ones tearing them down or those putting them up? No one should be. It’s the. Price of freedom of speech. But we can voice our opinions
you mean the ones asking to bring the hostages home? should they be arrested?
Sure, but never mind that this building has been left empty and rotting for over 10 years. 🙄
That’s the most work that’s been done to this place in 15-years
That lettering!
Ugly font! Lettering looks like private parts. Inventive ugliness.
It looks like the gaffitti artist was inspired by the figure in the circle above. It must have taken a long time to do it. Did anyone see it being done?
What’s going on with the Metro? Zero movement on its development. Can we get Alamo, the New Plaza or some other theater operator in there yet?
See my comment above and thank you for your concern for Metro!
Unless I miss my guess, the part of the facade that was tagged is particularly “fragile” in that regard. I hope the current owners of the building will remove the tag immediately – and as safely as possible so as not to damage that part of the facade.
I would add that leaving storefronts empty for so long is almost an invitation for this kind of vandalism. And while the posters for the kidnapped Israelis are technically illegal, they now take up entire storefronts from top to bottom and side to side. I believe that this is one reason why it is taking P.C. Richard so long to move into the old DSW space: because they now have to remove hundreds of flyers, which would not only be difficult, given that some are glued to the windows, but something the store may not want to do so as not to start a political firestorm.
They are actually livid as they cannot get them off without badly scratching the huge glass windows. So, they will have to replace them all. This why the former Verizon store across the street put up plywood
They can remove them without damaging the windows. I’m sure until they need to they won’t to avoid having to do it again.
This building is now a huge dangerous eye sore. Especially with all the illegal immigrants in the area, we are asking for trouble. Sell it and tear it down at this point a build apartments and retail.
Gold ⭐️ star for the most insane way to connect 2 unrelated things. And please don’t assumptively give yourself moral ground by saying “we’re asking for trouble”? How “fakakta”😂
It would be fantastic to see this gem ingeniously brought to life but barring that let’s hope it becomes a productive asset for all.
Yes, retail. We need more empty stores.
Well, the lettering is pretty darn good. And it’s more artistic than the “space available” sign. I’ve seen worse!
Does the lettering have any meaning? Is it understandable?
Art!!!!!
Get with the times, it’s only been around since the 80s!!!!
OLD CLUBBE (??) artist is maybe VAT or AT. Hope someone unearths info -this is not a passing tag.
It looks like it says “OLDE!” and then a drawing of a hand unfolding. How did this character get up there and didn’t anyone call the cops? That is not a 10 minute job.
At least someone is putting the theater to some good use
Does anyone else think giving this any publicity wrong?
One more slap in the face of the Upper portion of the Upper West Side.
As for the delay in opening — Why aren’t the new owners employing the Temporary Retail Permit approach — they can legally serve while the full OP is in process.
There is no plan and/or planned reopening at all.
None have ever been passed the early paperwork stage.
If the theater is in the process of reopening, why is the Space Available sign still there?
And why can’t they open, but not sell liquor until the license comes through? Many restaurants have done that.
They have done zero construction so far. It is a shell inside.
There is no hope for this building. It is NOT landmarked only the small part that is pink terra cotta is It was completely gutted to the brick four walls’ years ago. It has sat this way for years because our local self-appointed community. leaders killed Urban Outfitters, Alamo House and a number of other things. Without any support over the years the wood truss and tar paper roof now has large sags in it. They get worse with any snow load. I fully expect it to fall in any day.
With the terra cotta landmarking almost no one has looked at it
The plan until owner Albert Bialek’s passing in December was to reopen with the founder of Alamo Drafthouse. NEW Friends of Metro Theater remain committed to this goal.
The theater has been closed for 20 years. And it’ was tagged in 2024. But crime is down.
I honestly think that nothing is going to be done with the empty space, which is disappointing.
Tear down that THEATER…. it’s a piece of junk always had been.
Turn it over to MoMA!
RE: Jewish flyers:
I understand your frustrations and as Director… I asked all my fellow Jews to stop with this flyers litter on the light poles, private stores, private property and city property and stop annoying the neighbors and residents of our good city and to make friends not enemies. Disperse this nonsense, remove them.
Restrain from this matter immediately make friends not enemies.
The Lord, Yahweh, bless you and keep you.
http://www.emanuelnyc.org
As President of NEW Friends of Metro Theater, I was very disappointed to see the graffiti on the landmarked facade of our beloved Metro Theater.
The current delay in opening follows the death of Albert Bialek, who was in the process of partnering with the founder of Alamo Drafthouse in construction for a dine-in eating and film space at the Metro. I know because I was in touch with Bialek several times a month until mid December for real time updates, as well as with the new tenant.
At the time of Bialek’s passing, his properties began moving through the slow and arduous process of probate. This can take six months or more, as shared with me by his legal firm.
Our group NEW Friends of Metro Theater has worked tirelessly to turn the lights on at Metro Theater. We will certainly escalate this new issue to everyone (elected and designated) to assist.
Please follow us on Facebook at NEW Friends of Metro Theater for updates and to engage and support our goal of Metro’s renaissance.(https://www.facebook.com/share/Smisa48X979R9myA/?mibextid=I6gGtw)
Best,
Liza Cooper
It would be great to open it, but you will need tens of millions of dollars to just stabilize it and bring it up to code. Have you ever had a compressive professional engineering study done? Let alone the fact that Alamo’s folks were stopped cold at the SLA the last time they tried this. The local elected etc also worked hard behind the sceans to kill it after getting a large number of complaints about possible crowds, noise etc.
Alamo and/or anyone affiliated with them will have trouble with the SLA, as they took and still take a very dim view of the firm’s policy of removing patrons that make noise in the theater.
Please tear it down and build something new there. It is an eyesore. Build an IPIC.
They should turn it into a dance club or an indoor golf simulator bar/lounge.