Chinatown Fair opened its doors on Mott Street in 1944, after original owner Sam Palmer, who had never been inside of an arcade before, had a "religious vision." The Fair was packed with old arcade games, a tic-tac-toe playing chicken (who retired in the late '90s), and a slew of patrons. "It was a hangout for teenagers of all backgrounds, from homeless transgender kids to hardcore gamers," recalls Irene Chin, producer of the documentary The Lost Arcade.
Decades ago, during its first incarnation, the arcade was featured in Old Dirty Bastard's video for "Brooklyn Zoo," and Al Pacino even talks about that chicken in Devil's Advocate.
When it closed its doors a few years ago, many of the games were relocated to Sunset Park, but they didn't seem to make it back to Mott Street in 2012 when Chinatown Fair reopened. At the time, new manager Lonnie Sobel described the arcade as now being "a cross between Dave & Busters and Chuck E. Cheese." Indeed, it's not as good as the ol' days, but Sobel's heart is in the right place, and he helped out after his grandkids begged him to step in.
As for the documentary, it focuses on a group of people whose lives were greatly impacted by the arcade, including Palmer himself. Director Kurt Vincent discussed how he began the project: "I was never supposed to end up at Chinatown Fair—I’m not a gamer and never went to arcades growing up. I stumbled across Chinatown Fair late one February night in 2011. It was exciting, it was alive. I sensed that it was not an ordinary place. A few weeks after that visit, I heard a rumor Chinatown Fair was closing. I immediately began documenting the final moments of the arcade."
The Lost Arcade is premiering at IFC Center as part of DOC NYC, and will screen there November 14th through 18th, and on the first night there will be an afterparty at Chinatown Fair.
