AMC Magic Johnson Cinema Gets Approval to Sell Alcohol to Moviegoers
The neighborhood’s only movie theater, at Frederick Douglass Boulevard and West 124th Street, can now sell wine, beer and cider.
By Esther Animalu and Aaron Simon Gross
The AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9, the neighborhood’s only movie theater, won approval to sell wine, beer and cider in a near-unanimous decision by Manhattan Community Board 10 tonight.
Approval of a liquor license for the multiplex cinema at Frederick Douglass Boulevard and West 124th Street came in a 33 to 1 vote, with board member Brianna McClure as the lone dissenter. She gave no reason for her dissent.
Marquis Harrison, first vice chair of Community Board 10, said the theater would implement security to verify patrons’ ages upon alcohol purchase. “They have been trying this out in other theaters and it’s been working very well,” he said. “They’re not gonna have a full bar of any sort.”
The New York State Liquor Authority decided in January to allow cinemas to apply for licenses to sell alcohol in order to generate more revenue.
AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9, through its attorneys at the Skene Law Firm PC, sent its application for the license to the community board on Aug. 10.
The theater is a unit of American Multi-Cinema Inc. based in Leawood, Kansas.
(Featured photo by Aaron Simon Gross)