Entertainment

38. Academy of Music, 1852.

39. Tony Pastor's in Tammany Hall, 1881.

40. Theatrical store on the east side of Union Square, 1889.

41. Automatic Vaudeville near Union Square, 1916.

42. Jefferson Theater, c. 1920.

43. Plaque marking site of Academy of Music, 2006.

Although few physical artifacts exist today to remind us, 14th Street, particularly the area around Union Square, was once known as the premier theater district in New York City. During the period from approximately 1870 to 1900 the area was more commonly known as “the Rialto.” As with most other things, theater development in New York City began in Lower Manhattan. Examples of early theaters are the Park Theatre and the Bowery Theatre—two popular sources of entertainment that catered to two different audiences. As immigrants poured into Lower Manhattan during the mid-nineteenth century the upper class found themselves being pushed out of their homes and their theaters and consequently moved up towards 14th Street and Union Square.

Beginning in 1834, Samuel B. Ruggles commenced the conversion of Union Square from a purely rural area to a residential area with the construction of a row of brownstone rowhouses on the east side of the park. As this type of residential growth took place over the next twenty years, theater development progressed quickly up Broadway. Union Square provided several desirable characteristics as it was the convergence of two major roads, convenient to wealthy patrons, and it offered a large, open space that allowed the theaters to spread out in close proximity to one another. The Academy of Music was the first theater to be constructed in Union Square, appearing in 1854 on the northwest corner of 14th St. and Irving Place (Figure 38). It was said that this was, “the first effort to provide a fitting home for the opera” in New York. Other theaters followed such as the Fourteenth Street Theatre in 1866, Union Square Theatre in 1870, Tony Pastor’s Variety House in 1881 and the Irving Place Theater in 1888 (Figure 39). Other factors played a role in creating “the Rialto.” Indeed, it takes much more than just a theater venue alone to create a full production – it also requires buildings housing hotels, restaurants, costume shops, etc. The introduction of hotels (particularly apartment hotels) on Union Square, such as the Morton Hotel provided convenient lodging for patrons and actors alike and restaurants near Fifth Avenue such as DelMonico’s provided fine dining. The erection of elevated railways on Third and Sixth Avenues in 1878 provided easy access to the area. All of these amenities contributed to the proliferation and popularity of theaters on 14th Street and around Union Square. In addition, stores providing theatrical goods and related merchandise moved into the area (Figure 40). During the mid-1870s the theater district had completely taken hold of Union Square. By this time, the wealthy had moved out of Union Square to residences further north on Fifth Avenue, an action which left the existing rowhouses on Union Square prime for conversion into retail stores.

By 1912, 14th Street was no longer heralded as the premier theater district in New York City. Theaters moving uptown sprang up around 23rd Street, then 34th Street and Herald Square, and finally in and around Times Square. The Times Square assemblage of theaters, hotels and stores effectively stole the elite theater crowd from Union Square. When this happened, entertainment on 14th Street transitioned toward a more “popular” form of entertainment. Vaudeville had begun to flourish during the very end of the nineteenth century when the exodus of “legitimate” theatres left with its wealthy patrons (Figure 41). Vaudeville was made acceptable on 14th Street largely due to Tony Pastor’s Theatre in Tammany Hall which boasted that it was “a house to which a gentleman could bring a lady without embarrassment and be rewarded by first-class entertainment.” In this period, 14th Street had also become the heart of New York’s motion picture theater district. Establishments such as the Jefferson Theatre, the City Theatre, Fox’s Academy of Music (formerly known as simply the Academy of Music), and the Irving Place Theatre satisfied the local class community’s growing desires for adventure, fantasy, and information in a sometimes squalid and wanting environment (Figure 42). Steadily theaters began to adopt motion pictures as their new source of income as film gained a mass audience. One example is the Irving Street Theatre, an establishment which had opened in 1888, changed formats from live to recorded entertainment in the 1930s. As television began to take the focus away from theatre, radio, and movies, theaters such as the Jefferson and City could no longer profitably survive, and all closed and have been demolished.

Today, no remnants of the theatre or motion picture district remain, save a few plaques (Figure 43). There are a few off-Broadway theaters clustered near Union Square East and 15th Street (all in converted buildings), which represent entertainment as it exists in Union Square today. The theatre and motion picture districts were one collective force that helped transform this area from a rich residential area, to a thriving commercial area, to a seedier but still creative area.