Sag Harbor Cinema
90 Main Street
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
A community-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization, Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center is dedicated to presenting the past, present and future of the movies and to preserving and educating about films, filmmaking, and the film-going experience in its three state-of-the-art theaters and in the surrounding community. The Cinema engages its audiences and the community year-round through dialogue, discovery, and appreciation of the moving image – from blockbusters to student shorts and everything in between. Revitalized and reimagined through unprecedented community efforts to rebuild the iconic Main Street structure after a fire nearly destroyed it in 2016, SHC continues a tradition of entertainment, education, and enrichment in the heart of Sag Harbor Village.
HISTORY:
For over a century, a theater in Sag Harbor has been a landmark in the lively and culturally diverse Main Street district of Sag Harbor, New York, long a haven for writers, artists, and independent thinkers.
Designed by renowned architect John Eberson—one of the great designers of atmospheric theaters—and beckoning moviegoers since the 1930s with its classic art deco neon sign, the original Sag Harbor Cinema stands as a symbol of the progression of 20th-century culture. It began as a vaudeville and burlesque theater in the 1890s, then became a silent movie house that evolved to show talkies, and after its purchase in 1978 became one of the few single-screen arthouse cinemas left in the country, thanks to the stewardship of Gerald Mallow, its owner and programmer for 38 years.
In July 2016, the Sag Harbor Partnership had begun negotiating with Mr. Mallow to purchase the theater and preserve it as a non-profit “art-house” Cinema. But on December 16, 2016, the cinema was partially destroyed by a massive fire that ripped through Sag Harbor’s Main Street, damaging several adjacent buildings. Firefighters from 19 companies courageously stopped the blaze, icicles hanging from their helmets, after hours in extreme conditions.
