Movies

The Last of Loews

The Loews name, which dominated the Times Square area for nearly a century, has all but disappeared. Regal, which bought the E-Walk fom AMC last year, has finally taken down the huge vertical illuminated Loews sign from the 13-screen megaplex that Loews opened on 42nd Street in 1999. AMC was obliged by federal regulators to sell the property when it bought the venerable Loews chain at the beginning of last year, since it already owned the 25-screen Empire (opened in 2000) directly across the street. In addition to replacing the Loews signage — except for some murals with Loews references on the upper levels — Regal has all of the escalators working for the first time in at least a couple of years. The Loews name lingers on, temporarily, on the darkened marquee of the second Loews State, a four-auditorium theater that used to occupy the basement of the Virgin Megastore on Broadway, the former site of the demolished Loews flagship, also called the State. The second Loews State closed at the beginning of last year, just before the AMC takeover took effect. AMC has dubbed the remaining Loews properties AMC Loews Theaters, at least for the time being.