Mme. Hermine Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I know this is isn't dance, but it is sort of Lincoln Center-related. I was surprised to hear that the Empire Hotel had closed! I get the feeling that the whole block will eventually then be emptied and torn down to make way for something bigger and more expensive. Does anyone remember when it had a coffee shop? When O'Neal's was still there? When it was a residential hotel? Wouldn't that have also been where the old Harkness Theatre was? sigh... Link to comment
glebb Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I remember The Empire Hotel from the outside, O'Neals and The Ballet Shop from the inside and have only heard stories of the Harkness Theatre. Heck, what about the massive changes at Columbus Circle? Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted February 20, 2004 Author Share Posted February 20, 2004 i've seen the photos, glebb, but haven't been there yet, though it will be soon. that's just amazing too! Link to comment
punkie Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I stayed at the Empire several times on visits to NYC, loved the location but not the room size. I always checked out the Ballet Shop while in town as well. I'll miss them both, but I've missed O'Neal's even more! Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted February 20, 2004 Author Share Posted February 20, 2004 well o'neal's moved, though not too far away, and though it's not exactly the way it was before, it was nice to see that they moved the famous mural with them. Link to comment
Giannina Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I noticed the Empire Hotel wasn't in my AAA book on New York, and now you say it's gone. It was so convenient for those attending the ballet at Lincoln Center; I loved it for that and will miss it dearly. Giannina Link to comment
carbro Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I stayed in the Empire for a couple days while moving into my apartment in '75. Dinky little room, but convenient. I do remember well O'Neal's Balloon and the coffee shop (with Charlie the waiter), both of which places I wiled away many between-matinee-and-evening hours with friends. The trouble with the "new" O'Neals is that it isn't conducive to such lingering -- and it doesn't have the cheaper menu items. The northbound creep of midtown is greatly accellerated by the new Time Warner Center. Evidence? The banner announcing that the new residential tower now rising on 65th & Columbus/Broadway will house a Bed, Bath & Beyond. Added to the Loew's 13-plex, the huge Barnes & Noble and Tower Records, well, as they say, "There goes the neighborhood." Link to comment
ShesnoFonteynsMom Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 I attended an event there back in September---the management told me it will be converted to co-ops or condos. Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 There are people I know who lived there from the days when it was an SRO hotel. I wonder what happened to them at the closing? New York's tenant laws are pretty stringent about not turning people out on to the street. Link to comment
Mme. Hermine Posted February 20, 2004 Author Share Posted February 20, 2004 i know of at least one tenant; have to hope he was offered a pretty big carrot. Link to comment
Farrell Fan Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Is the new O'Neals' open yet? After closing O'Neals' Baloon (the odd spelling arose when the name "O'Neals' Saloon," original choice of the management, ran afoul of municipal bylaws and sensibilities), O'Neals' Restaurant moved to the Liberty Warehouse building, the one with the little Statue of Liberty on the roof. It stayed for quite a few years, partially occupying some of the space of the old Ginger Man, an earlier O'Neals' restaurant. There were two other restaurants on that site, one of which, fronting on Broadway, called itself "The Saloon." I suppose the irony was lost on anyone not as old as I am. O'Neals' Restaurant closed over a year ago, while the building was remodeled and the Statue sent to Brooklyn. In recent weeks I've seen a red canopy reading "O'Neals' Cafe," on 65th Street, but the last time I looked, the place was not yet open. I presume the mural will be on a wall there, although I can't imagine all this moving is good for it. Link to comment
atm711 Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 In 1972 Rebekah Harkness bought the old Colonial Theater on Broadway and 62nd for one and a half million dollars. She modeled the renovation on the Maryinsky and spent five million. In a biography by Craig Unger he said the following: "Black 'negro marquina' marble was shipped from Spain to line the foyer.....sixteen crystal chandeliers were hung from the ceiling....the stage had absorption units beneath the floor to give it special resiliency...Rebekah had 1,277 hand carved Louis XIV chairs made in Valencia...upholstered in Harkness Blue" Link to comment
Hans Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Are they going to take down the Harmony building too or just remodel it? I used to have a friend who lived there; it was a nice getaway from SAB every now and then. Link to comment
ShesnoFonteynsMom Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Hans---don't quote me, but it was my understanding that the Empire will not be demolished but renovated. As for the Harmony it is a fully functioning co-operative and will stay as such. For those who need accomodations to replace the Empire, try the Comfort Inn Central Park West at 31 W. 71st St.---Travelocity can book rooms for $79. (Caveat emptor: the rooms are teenier than the Empire, the elevators are s-l-o-w, but they serve a continental breakfast and the block is lovely. Link to comment
carbro Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Is the new O'Neals' open yet? FarrellFan, rejoice! :bouncing: :party: There is a big banner at the corner of 64th & Broadway (the construction site, if my memory sees it correctly) announcing in green letters that O'Neal's is now open, with an eastward pointing arrow. When I mentioned the "new" O'Neal's, I was referring to the spot carved out of the Liberty Warehouse -- be it Gingerman, Liberty Cafe or anything else operated by The Brothers. Hans, the ground floor retail space at the Empire is fully occupied -- at least on the Broadway side. It hardly appears that the building is in (pardon my language) imminent danger of being torn down. Link to comment
Hans Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Sorry, I misunderstood the original post. Link to comment
Jack Reed Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 atm711's background on the Harkness Theatre reminds me of how I thought the place expensively overdone to the point of distracting, with, IIRC, a mural over the stage full of pink-cheeked cherubim or the like. (I must have had a balcony seat the one time I was in there.) The Maryinsky angle is news to me, so thanks, atm711. BTW, isn't there a Maryinsky blue? More somber and retiring than Harkness blue, I think? Like in the studios at SAB? Or is that a different color? Other memories of the block include a leisurely evening in the Empire Coffee Shop after a performance, with some people who knew NYCB's then - assistant concertmaster? - Leon Goldstein, listening to him reminisce. I think there was a story about Mr. B. coming into the pit with a moustache one evening and conducting some very lively tempos. The New York Times printed a full page of Goldstein's reminiscences around the time of his death. Later on, after Mr. B. was gone, I remember coming out of the New York State Theatre after an evening's program and looking across Columbus Avenue into the glassed-in sidewalk-cafe part of O'Neal's to see Peter Martins and some one I didn't recognise at a table as though they'd been there for some time. I suppose in fairness to Martins now I should say that I'd heard that Mr. B was not always on his stool in the second left wing when the company danced, sometimes he wasn't even in town, but at the time, I thought, "What the hell?" Now it seems like some kind of harbinger. The more things change, the more they change... P.S. Friends told me they liked the Mayflower Hotel, east of the Empire on Central Park West, but this was almost twenty years ago. At the time, the Mayflower's phone-message handling was so bad they steadfastly denied my friends were staying there. When I caught up with them in the theatre and told them why they hadn't heard from me, I suggested they see if they could check out while the hotel insisted they weren't staying there - they might save some money! (It didn't work.) Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 Harkness blue is a sky blue with a slight pinch of red in it to make it vibrate a little. I would have added a little black to it to keep from being so bright, but that's what the Harknesses wanted. It's actually a named color in the Munsell Color Systems, which is used for international reference on color. Link to comment
carbro Posted February 24, 2004 Share Posted February 24, 2004 Mayflower -- had cousins who stayed there and I visited their room. Park view (although on a low floor) was quite a special feature. Link to comment
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