#old met

The line of music lovers waiting to get tickets at the old Metropolitan Opera House at the first performance of the season, November 22, 1925. The old building was at Broadway & 39th St. before the company moved to a new building at Lincoln Center in 1966.

Hanging posters advertising Verdi's Simon Boccanegra as the season's opening performance at the old Metropolitan Opera House at 39th St. and Broadway, 1930s.

The famed "Diamond horseshoe" of the (old) Metropolitan Opera House sparkles on November 13, 1951, as the 67th season opens with the presentation of Verdi's Aida.

The Met box office is open for business, 1944.

Pianist Josef Hofmann plays to a full house at the the old Met, Broadway & 39th Street, November 28, 1937. It was built in 1883 and demolished in 1967, when the new building opened in Lincoln Center. Click to enlarge.

I remember taking a good look at the audience just before the house lights dimmed, and I remember feeling thankful that I didn’t have to appear on a stage in front of all those people, for the interior of the Met, seen from the stage, is like the mouth of a great monster, wide open, yawning and red, with tiers of golden teeth.

—Edgar Box (Gore Vidal), Death in the Fifth Position, 1952