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Hammerstein Ballroom

Coordinates: 40°45′10″N 73°59′39″W / 40.752908°N 73.994189°W / 40.752908; -73.994189
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Hammerstein Ballroom
Map
Address311 West 34th Street
LocationNew York City, New York, U.S.
Coordinates40°45′10″N 73°59′39″W / 40.752908°N 73.994189°W / 40.752908; -73.994189
Public transitNew York City Subway: "1" train​"2" train​"3" train at 34th Street-Penn Station
"A" train​"C" train​"E" train at 34th Street-Penn Station
Railway transportation Amtrak, LIRR, NJ Transit at Penn Station
New York City Bus: M7, M20, M34 SBS, M34A SBS
OwnerUnification Church[2]
TypeMusic
Capacity2,500 (Reception style)
2,000 (Theater style)
1,000 (Seated Dinner)
Construction
Opened1906
Renovated1997[1]
Website
Venue Website

The Hammerstein Ballroom is a 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) ballroom located within the Manhattan Center at 311 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The capacity of the ballroom is dependent on the configuration of the room; it seats 2,000 people for theatrical productions and musical performances, and several thousand for events held within a central ring. The floor of the ballroom is flat.[3] The two main balconies – which are unusually close to the ground and gently sloped – seat a total of 1,200. The third balcony has been stripped of seats and is not used.[3]

History

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The Manhattan Center was constructed in 1906 by Oscar Hammerstein I as the Manhattan Opera House, the home for his Manhattan Opera Company, an alternative to the popular yet comparatively expensive Metropolitan Opera.[1] In 1910, the Metropolitan Opera paid Hammerstein $1.2 million to stop operating the Manhattan Opera House as an opera venue for ten years. This led to the elaborately decorated theater being used for a variety of events, including vaudeville.[1]

The ownership of the center changed hands multiple times over the next few decades, with the theater being converted into a large ballroom and being used as a temple for the Scottish Rite branch of Freemasonry in the 1930s and a trade union headquarters in the 1940s before falling into disuse in the 1970s. It was bought by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the ballroom's current owner. The building was renamed Manhattan Center Studios in 1986, and in 1997 the former theater was renamed the Hammerstein Ballroom and underwent extensive renovation, with the hand painted ceiling being completely restored.[1]

Notable events

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The Hammerstein Ballroom has seen performances from a wide variety of musical acts and its popularity has varied over the years due mainly to competition within the neighborhood.[4]

  • In April 1971 the Grateful Dead recorded several tracks for the live album, Skull & Roses, which became the band's first RIAA gold album.
  • Jane's Addiction recorded the 1997 Halloween Show of their reunion tour at the Hammerstein Ballroom, with the band's members performing some numbers in their encore from the balcony.
  • In 1997, Bryan Adams recorded his album Unplugged at the Hammerstein Ballroom. He was backed by students of the Juilliard School of Music in the orchestra.
  • Patti LaBelle recorded her DVD Live! One Night Only at 2 sold-out concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom with special guests Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey. It was released in 1998 and later won her a Grammy Award.
  • On July 7, 1999, Britney Spears performed to a sold-out crowd as part of her ...Baby One More Time Tour. It marked the singer's first solo concert in New York City.
  • The professional wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling staged some of its events from the Ballroom. Starting in August 2000, ECW staged two back to back shows[5] before holding its final two pay-per-view events, Massacre on 34th Street in December 2000[6] and Guilty as Charged in 2001.[7]
  • Boy band O-Town performed at the ballroom on the last night of their concert tour in 2001. The concert was filmed and was released as O-Town: Live from New York.
  • Alt-rock band Incubus played at the Hammerstein on September 15, 2001, at a time when nearly all other bands scheduled to perform in New York City canceled their appearances in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.[8]
  • In 2002, NASCAR held its annual end-of-season awards ceremony in the Ballroom, the only time from 1981 to 2008 the end-of-season awards ceremony was not held in the Waldorf-Astoria, with the Grand Ballroom being the location from 1985-2001 and 2003-2008.

On November 2nd 2003 the theatre hosted the 75th anniversary of CBS with a television special CBS at 75

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "History". Manhattan Center. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  2. ^ Wong, Edward (May 16, 2000). "Cultures Clash Where Divas Once Held Stage". New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Venues & Event Spaces in New York".
  4. ^ "Hammerstein Ballroom". QRO Magazine. May 2, 2008. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  5. ^ GUZMAN, ISAAC. "HAVIN' A BRAWL New York's getting a taste of Extreme Wrestling". nydailynews.com. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  6. ^ "Throwback Thursday: ECW Massacre on 34th Street, As Seen on WWE Network". Wrestling DVD Network. December 3, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  7. ^ "Throwback Thursday: ECW Guilty as Charged 2001, As Seen On WWE Network". Wrestling DVD Network. January 7, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  8. ^ "9/11 tuneout: No seminal song has captured experience but concerts in aftermath provided relief". New York Daily News. September 6, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  9. ^ "Guns N' Roses Storm New York". Business Wire. May 4, 2006. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019.
  10. ^ Jones, Dylan (2017). David Bowie: A Life. Preface Publishing. ISBN 9781848094956. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  11. ^ "Hillsong Church NYC". Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  12. ^ Amenabar, Teddy (February 8, 2020). "As Overwatch League opens 2020 season, New York Excelsior shows home team advantage is real". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
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