Westbury Theater

I’m very happy to hear that things are finally looking up for the Westbury Theatre. Sadly however, I moved out of Westbury nearly a year ago!

Here is a January 23, 2009 article about the possible renovation and conversion of the Westbury Theater into a performing arts center.

This is from Newsday, July 6, 2008
<<The Tudor-style Westbury Theater, built in 1927, has sat in poor repair for several years. But Mayor Ernest Strada said the village is working with the theater’s owner to overcome a major hurdle: parking.

He said the village hopes to seize land north and east of the theater through the eminent domain process and to allow the owner to build a parking lot there. Strada said he expects the theater to be restored within the next two years.>>

When I moved to Westbury 13 years ago I liked the convenience of the “local” theater. They were never showing anything that interested me to go in UNTIL the 10th anniversary re-release of Star Wars came out which the Westbury theater was showing. I thought this would be a great opportunity for my 7 year old son to be introduced to this great epic. So, he and I went the following friday and went in to purchase our tickets. It was dead in the lobby but I didn’t think much of it. It looked like nothing in it had changed in 50 years (reminded me of the Old RKO theater in Flushing that I loved going to when I was younger). We purchased our tickets and then my son wanted popcorn which need to be popped. The old gentleman said not to worry that for us to go in and he’ll “bring” the popcorn to us. I thought how odd? How will he find me? Anyway I said fine and proceed into the theater to find my seat. Well, now I know how the old man was going to find us, we were the old two people in the theater! It was a bit creepy at first but then I felt like the king in his private old theater with freashly popped pop corn brought to our seats! I have never had service like that since. After the movie ended we proceeded to leave and past the old man at the ticket booth. Well he was obviously a movie buff because we wanted to talk and talk about Star wars! I was thinking, doesn’t he have a theater to run? Finally I just had to cut him off since my son was getting fidgety. This was my one and only visit to the Westbury theater shortly before it closed.

The plastic has blown off the roof and there are huge gaping holes to let the rain and snow pour in. I’m sure the new owners want to tear this down or they would have at least replaced the roof.

i saw ghost at the westbury theater too. i also saw Neighbors there. the dan aykroyd john beluchi film.

SO much time has passed and nothing seems to be happening here?

I would advise all of you NOT to phone the number that Nova posted. I tried it myself today, and was greeted by a very gruff “HELLO”. The man treated my interest in the Westbury theatre building with suspicion. He wanted to know why I was so interested. I told him that the building had just stood vacant for many years, that I hoped something good was coming out of it, and that I hoped it would be a theatre again. He replied “yeah, something’s good coming out of it, but what, we don’t know”. I simply said “keep up the good work”, and that was that. Only time will tell what happens next.

Indeed, RobertR. Where I live, I can buy the print edition of the Times, but if I don’t see any news about the theatre on the front page, I pass it by. Getting back to the subject at hand, does anybody out there know what is happening to the theatre building proper?

Not too long ago, the village of Westbury received a grant for a much-needed revitalization of its shopping/commercial district. Many changes have already taken place, and the plan has sparked residential development – two upscale condominiums (92 and 90 units, most of which I believe are one-bedroom) are either under construction or near completion, and other developers are expressing interest to build as well. These are attracting mostly young urban professional types who like the location for its walking-distance proximity to shopping and mass transit, as well as retirees who are “downsizing”. The housing is an “affordable” alternative (relatively speaking) for those who work in NYC and want convenient access to it without having to live in or near it. This housing alone is expected to attract almost 600 new residents to the village.

If only those idiotic owners hadn’t turned the theatre into a pile of garbage, they could have capitalized on all of these changes. Still, it’s better off now that it’s out of their insanely incompetent hands – someone might actually come in now, renovate and make a successful go of it. Considering what developments are occuring in the village, it could be a prime opportunity.

All of this is happening despite the fact that just directly to the east is unsavory New Cassel, for years a depressed “minority” neighbourhood that over time has become permeated with drugs, gangs and [illegal] immigrants (I would advise against travelling through there, especially at night). A blight on the landscape and boil on the backside of one of Long Island’s most vibrant and popular shopping destinations – the Westbury/Carle Place/Garden City area.

“Shoes of the Fisherman” on its neighborhood run in 1969
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I worked on the 2/6 Midmer Losh organ for the owner in 1976. His name was Brandt if I recall correctly. He had no interest in the instrument other than to sell it, which he did about a year later. It went into a private home, I believe. The main chamber to the right of the proscenium contained all six ranks. The opposite chamber had only a tubular chime set. The main chest had a Diapason, Stopped Diapason, Dulciana and Salicional, all at 8' pitch. A Bourdon 16' and Vox Humana 8' stood on offset chests. The console was a typical Midmer Losh with an extended 73 note lower manual and a pre-wired, synthetic oboe stop tab. While working there, I noticed lots of stage equipment still in place, including scenery and curtains hanging way up in the fly. There was also an early Vitaphone sound system, erected on a scaffold behind the screen. It was still in use at the time, I believe, although I never saw a film in this theatre. It was a depressing place to work late at night. I can still smell the popcorn and carbon tetrachloride.

Is the theatre still just sitting there?