RKO Proctor's Quad

572 Main Street,
New Rochelle, NY 10801

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Showing 1 - 25 of 33 comments

robboehm
robboehm on April 26, 2017 at 6:06 pm

I find it really odd that a number of entries mentioning the Main Street Cinemas and photos are on this RKO sit but no one ever created one for the Main Street itself. I will do so now.

robboehm
robboehm on April 26, 2017 at 5:50 pm

Uploaded photo bearing RKO and Proctor names.

robboehm
robboehm on April 9, 2015 at 1:40 pm

Early photo uploaded where the vertical said Proctors rather than RKO.

DomZ
DomZ on April 24, 2014 at 8:39 pm

Actually, the first floor is retail/office space and the upper floors is leased to a private School known has Hallen which has been at this location going on 20 years.

Joseph
Joseph on January 15, 2014 at 6:13 pm

The New Rochelle RKO Proctor’s no longer functions as a theatre. Several years ago it was gutted and converted into retail and office space. The exterior remains basically intact.

svercher
svercher on November 4, 2013 at 11:48 pm

Please, could you someone give me some link or information that how RKO Proctor’s Theater interior looks and it is use now. Have they kept the seats and scenario ? thanks!

LugosiResearch
LugosiResearch on December 29, 2012 at 5:30 pm

On Friday 29 December 1950, Bela “Dracula” Lugosi presented his in person Horror and Magic Stage show at RKO Proctor’s. Currently I am conducting research on all things Lugosi; if anyone out there actually saw this show and/or has memorabilia (poster, handbill, photos) related to this show, please contact Bill at Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Farquarh
Farquarh on January 16, 2011 at 4:04 am

Growing up in New Rochelle in the 50s and 60s, I attended many movies at both Lowes and RKO which were magnificent theaters. The wrought iron work in the RKO made it something special. It’s a shame they were lost to capitalism, they should have been preserved for posterity. Given the resources I would re-build it in a heartbeat!

spectrum
spectrum on December 5, 2010 at 11:39 am

This is practically across the street from the Proctor’s. Narrow lobby, then turn 45 degrees to the right, the auditorium is set at a diagonal. At the Proctor’s, you’d enter and go straight back and then go to the right into the auditorium.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on February 10, 2010 at 7:52 pm

Sorry, that’s the Loew’s on the left, not the Scenic.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on February 10, 2010 at 7:49 pm

The RKO, the Scenic and the Town can be seen in this 1969 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y9rpuhc

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 19, 2009 at 10:46 pm

The January 8, 1949, issue of Boxoffice Magazine reported that the RKO Proctor’s Theatre had been reseated, reducing capacity to 2,688. Seats in some sections of the main floor had been staggered to improve sight lines, thus reducing the number of seats in alternate rows from 12 to 11. The ends of the 11-seat rows featured extra-wide standards. The theater’s side boxes had been removed at the same time, to enlarge the floor area for regular seating.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on February 4, 2009 at 12:16 pm

On Friday January 26, 1962, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly-Joe DeRita) embarked on a three day promotional tour for their latest feature film, THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES. They were accompanied by “The Herculean Giant” (almost 8 foot tall Dave Ballard) and popular DJ Clay Cole, who was one of the stars of the co-feature, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK.

On Saturday January 27, they appeared at the RKO New Rochelle at 1:05 PM.

poman
poman on January 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm

Howie, the Main Street Cinema used to advertise in the Village Voice and I’ve actually seen an ad for this program pictured above — it’s called THE BEATLES MEET STAR TREK. What was this exactly, a bunch of clips of the Beatles intercut with episodes of Star Trek?

howvideo
howvideo on November 20, 2008 at 6:18 am

the second picture is from 1978 but its not the star trek movie they were showing it was episodes. i remember going there to see Trek on the big screen. they were way ahead of their time

poman
poman on June 25, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Actually, that second picture of the Main Street Cinema looks to be from 1978 or later, because of the STAR TREK on the maquee.

poman
poman on June 25, 2008 at 12:27 pm

Here are some not-very-good quality scans from old newspaper clippings.

Picture from 1986
View link

Picture of the Main Street Cinema marquee, circa 1976
View link

Picture of the Main Street Cinema, with RKO Proctors sign and marquee in background (circa 1970)
View link

rdabrowski
rdabrowski on May 28, 2008 at 8:59 pm

Thank you Warren for updating the links to the images of this theatre. My grandfather, Frederick M. Merrow (1879-1979), F. F. Proctor’s nephew, was the first manager of the New Rochelle theatre. Proctor lived in Larchmont and owned a block on Park Avenue facing Long Island Sound that included his own home, matching homes for his two daughters, a home where my family lived, and the Hotel Bevan (now a private residence). F. F. Proctor invited the stars performing in his theatres in the New York area to stay at the Hotel Bevan and it remained a popular theatre hotel until the beginning of WWII.

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on May 28, 2008 at 4:28 pm

I found historic theatre attendance tallies for this theatre among others while working for the CT Film Fest last week. On Sunday, during the last screening, I self-toured the stagehouse of the Palace in Danbury on both sides and found the info.

From 3/19-3/25/79, The New Rochelle Proctors 1 is listed as having 1014 seats, Proctors 2 – 567 seats and Proctor 3 – 589 seats.

MichaelWG
MichaelWG on September 17, 2007 at 5:17 am

Trying to locate the whereabouts of JOSEPH MARCHETTI who I believe would have known my Grandfather ERNEST GEORGE (possibly also known as “ABE” whilst at the RKO Keith’s in White Plains)

Joe was his Manager during the late 1960' early 1970’s & I believe Joe moved to RKO New Rochelle in 1973.

ANY information would be much appreciated (see the RKO White Plains pages).

Please contact Michael W George at or

howvideo
howvideo on September 2, 2006 at 5:12 am

Thank You very much for the photos, the New Rochelle RKO was the best theater I’ve ever been to, so many memories, Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Rocky Horror and all the Rock and Roll Movies, fooling around with the ladies in the back row, smoking in the last 9 rows only and all the rest. A fantastic time has passed that we will never see the likes of that again in our clean sterilized world of gentrification. If New Rochelle had to keep 1 thing it would have been the RKO. Elaborate by today’s standards with grand fixtures and marble bathrooms, balcony’s and 4 screens before its time. Surprising that the historical society didn’t demand the theater restored! Hey where did that vibrant neon sign go? a lot of the fixtures live on in the Capitol Theater in Portchester, as the new Rochelle theater closed the capitol was undergoing renovation, both places are Landmark Thomas Lamb theaters, with similar or same features, thus the move over to Portchester, the Capitol is now used for bar-mitzvahs and boxing matches, Once the Capitol saw the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. I grew up in New Rochelle and was part of the renovation crew that’s where the info comes from.
H. Finkel

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on February 23, 2006 at 8:48 am

To promote his new film “The Ladies Man,” Jerry Lewis appeared on stage at this theater on July 12, 1961.

togie
togie on January 28, 2006 at 7:50 pm

I want to thank Warren for posting the pictures of the RKO .
I grew up in New Rochelle and lived there and attended both the LOWES and RKO in the 1960’s and early 1970’s almost every Saturday.
I have wonderful memories of both places and remember personal appearances by Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and even the 3 Stooges at the RKO.
I was in New Rochelle this past August for the first time in years and saw that they are turning the RKO into condos! Does anyone know if there was any kind of effort to save these theaters in New Rochelle

joemasher
joemasher on August 7, 2005 at 1:36 am

Proctor’s in New Rochelle was gutted approx. 5 years ago. It was ‘filled in’ by a school and offices. The building shell was not demolished. Across the street, Loew’s New Rochelle is a nightclub. Just south of Proctor’s on Main St. the Town Theatre is now “Wicker Paradise”. The Loew’s and Town still have their marquees, Proctor’s was removed during the re-use. In the late 70’s/early 80’s, Proctor’s was known as “RKO (later Cineplex Odeon) Proctors Sevenplex”. That configuration was as follows: four screens in the original Proctor’s house (two up/two down), one screen on Proctor’s stage (which operated prior as the “Main St. Cinema” with a separate entrance, lobby, concession, and restrooms), and two across the street in the former Loew’s. When Cineplex terminated its lease on the Proctor’s building, the complex was advertised as “Cineplex Odeon Proctor’s Twin”, which actually was just two screens in the former Loew’s across the street.
New Rochelle also had Century’s Mall Cinema (single screen) a few blocks north of Proctor’s on Main, but that closed with the rest of the New Rochelle Mall, which was demolished for the New Roc City Complex (which contains the Regal Cinema 18 and IMAX Theatre).