Beekman Theatre Closes Unexpectedly On Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Longtime Upper East Side arthouse film venue the Beekman Theatre closed unexpectedly this week. The Second Avenue theater's marquee was taken down and its front windows were covered with paper.

No note was left behind explaining why the Beekman suddenly closed. The theater's number is still active, but nobody is picking up the phone. The Beekman was operated by City Cinemas, which recently closed theaters on East 86th Street and the historic Paris Theater.

All mentions of the Beekman Theatre were removed from City Cinemas' website. The theater chain now only operates two theaters in New York City, Cinemas 1, 2 & 3 and the Village East Cinema.

The Beekman first opened its doors as a single-screen theater in 1952, but later shut down in 2005 when the site was redeveloped into a new cancer research center by Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Then operators of the Beekman, Clearview Cinemas, renamed its New York One & Two theater across the street after the Beekman in 2008.

A message left with City Cinemas was not immediately returned.