Village East Cinema

The story

A Moorish Revival palace built in 1925–1926 for Yiddish theatre stands on the corner of Second Avenue and 12th Street, its cast-stone facade easy to miss among the East Village storefronts. Designed by Harrison Wiseman for Louis Jaffe, it once anchored the Yiddish Theatre District, then pivoted through burlesque and off-Broadway before Angelika Film Center took it over in 1991 and carved it into seven screens. The city has landmarked both its exterior and interior — an unusual double designation that keeps the auditorium's ornate bones intact behind the movies still showing there.