   the fillmore east was rock promoter bill graham's rock venue on second avenue near east 6th street in the east village neighborhood of the borough of manhattan of new york city. it was open from march 8, 1968 to june 27, 1971 and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time. the fillmore east was a companion to graham's fillmore auditorium, and its successor, the fillmore west, in san francisco, graham's home base. ==pre-fillmore east== the theatre at 105 second avenue that became the fillmore east was originally built as a yiddish theater in 1925-26 &ndash; designed by harrison wiseman in the medieval revival style &ndash; at a time when the section of second avenue was known as the "yiddish theater district" and the "jewish rialto" because of the numerous theatres that catered to a yiddish-speaking audience. called the commodore theater, and independently operated, it eventually was taken over by loews inc. and became a movie theater, the loews commodore. it later became the village theatre. when graham took over the theatre in 1967, it had fallen into disrepair. despite the deceptively small marquee and faÃ§ade, the theater had a capacity of almost 2,700. ==fillmore east years== the venue provided graham with an east coast counterpart to his existing fillmore in san francisco, california.shelton, robert. "7,500 attend concerts at the fillmore east." the new york times, april 1, 1968, p. 56. opening on march 8, 1968, the fillmore east quickly became known as "the church of rock and roll," with two-show, triple-bill concerts several nights a week. graham would regularly alternate acts between the east and west coast venues. until early 1971, bands were booked to play two shows per night, at 8&nbsp;pm and 11&nbsp;pm, on both friday and saturday nights. ===notable acts=== among the notable acts to play the fillmore east was jimi hendrix. his album band of gypsys was recorded live on new year's day 1970. 
1968_establishments_in_New_York Former_music_venues_in_New_York_City Former_theatres_in_Manhattan Hippie_movement Live_at_the_Fillmore_East_albums Loew\'s_Theatres_buildings_and_structures Music_venues_completed_in_1968 Music_venues_in_Manhattan Rock_music_venues