The Fillmore East

The Fillmore East

Aside from tight pants and tinnitus, what do Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, The Allmans, Hendrix & The Dead all have in common? From 1968-1971, they all gigged in the present day Apple Savings Bank on Second Avenue and East 6th Street… except back then, it was the legendary venue called?The Fillmore East.

It began life in 1926 as the Commodore Theater cinema, along a strip of theaters on 2nd Avenue that were known as “the Jewish Rialto,” for its popular Yiddish theater scene. By the 1930s, it was THE spot to go for live?Yiddish vaudeville. As the Jewish Rialto declined in the subsequent decades, the building sadly became just an average movie house-- although it did host occasional performances by Lenny Bruce, Timmy Leary, and Allen Ginsberg.

Cut to?1968, when another Jewish entertainer reinvented the building. A visionary impresario named?Bill Graham, who had jumpstarted the rock scene in San Fran with his west coast Fillmore Auditorium, decided to recreate that success in his hometown of NYC. Despite its tiny appearance, the building at 105 2nd could hold an audience of 2,600 fragrant young people, and seats sold out fast! Names like Elton John, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and the Who typically booked two shows, on Friday and Saturday nights. The number of legends who blew the roof off the venue is astonishing, topped only by the number of legendary live albums recorded there:?over 40!?Sadly, the Fillmore East’s run ended as headliners moved to larger arenas and stadiums. The auditorium inside was ripped down in the 1990’s, and fast forward to now, as mentioned, it’s a savings bank. Bummer, man. Hard to think of something less rock ‘n’ roll than that!

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