Berenice Abbott

Beginning in 1929, Abbott devoted herself to the portrayal of New York, especially at street level. The city had entered a massive building boom and was evolving daily. In 1935, she received funding from the Federal Art Project to continue her personal passion in a series of some 300 photographs entitled "Changing New York." This photograph documents the Lyric Theater, which was built in 1880 and converted to a cinema in 1910. Located close to the Bowery, its Depression-era clientele could pay ten cents to see a newsreel, a short subject, and two feature films.