Age has taken its toll on 62 East 4th Street, a historic East Village building that has housed scores of artistic and cultural organizations. It’s a really interesting spot, but not an immortal one, and it started looking like a neighborhood scab. But, when the façade had faded and the windows had cracked and the infrastructure was coming apart, something very strange happened.
Instead of knocking the sucker down and replacing it with another cold-looking ultra modern box, someone came to the rescue: the Rod Rodgers Dance Company and Studios and Duo Multicultural Arts Center (with a little help from the city) restored the quirky old building. Their anti-aging treatment has her looking good as new.
The building has a unique history - the space has been used as a meeting hall, a German music hall, Astoria Hall, Manhattan Lyceum, the Astor Ballroom, a gay cinema, a hang out for Andy Warhol and Jim Carroll, and a performance space.
According to Gothamist, Andy Warhol once used the building as a set for a series of gay porn films, enlisting himself under the project title, “Poetry on Film.” Ultimately, the title was changed to “Andy Warhol’s Theatre: Boys to Adore Galore.”
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