I agree with LuisV that the theaters here should be posted by their most famoius name. When I put Loews Ator Plaza in the search engine, it came back as “theater not found”. What I’m not understanding about the Best Buy is: is it a theater, a club, or a concert venue?
I saw two Streisand films here in sneak previews, “The Way We Were” and “Funny Lady”. A very restless and disrespectful crowd sat through “The Stepford Wives” waiting for “Funny Lady,” and a lot of very funny comebacks were hurled at the screen.
Actually, it shows up on the Fox Movie Channel fairly frequently. We shouldn’t ban the art of yesterday because it doesn’t conform to the political correctness of today.
Ed, my recollection of the interior of the Arcade/Studio 1 is that it was very small and nondescript, very much like the interiors of the Bleeker Street Cinema and the Orpheum Thaeter in Manhatttan’s East Village. I was in this thater about a dozen times, under both of its names, and I don’t recall anything memorable whatsoever about the interior.
Ed Miller
I have to admit that I was very wrong when I posted my previous comment. The “modern building” I referred to has been there since the late 30s, and the Gate theater was actually in the very old building to the left of it.
Thanks for your answer, Don. I keep seeing an interstitial on Turner Classics that several times a year the downtown L.A. movie palaces open their doors to the public and show vintage movies.
Please take note on Don’s beautiful photo: you can see how Sutphin Boulevard was paved in brick, a childhood memory of mine that I’d nearly lost, until seeing this picture.
I’m an East Coast guy, but I’m an enormous classic film fan and movie palace enthusiast, so I have a sad question. Is downtown L.A. really “doomed,” as I read above? I’ve never been there, but I know it like the back of my hand.
What an extraordinary shame that here in the United States, we don’t preserve our history. That the Roxy, “the Cathedral of the Motion Picture,” should have been demolished is beyond criminal.
Ed (my name is also Ed), I have no intention of being argumentative either, especially not with people who share my passion for the old movie palaces. People on this website are extraordinarily knowledgeable, as well as civilized, and how often do you see that, in this day and age? Ed, your documentation is superb, and I will defer to you. That said, lol, I’m certain that there was a period in the 70s when the Alden was shuttered, and you’ve come up with a perfectly plausible explanation. Here we are, the two Eds, both of whom used to ride the Q5! I actually grew up in Valley Stream, just over the county line, and the Q5 stop that I used on Hook Creek Boulevard was just two blocks from my home. I took the bus to and from Jamaica to catch the E and F trains at 169th Street.
Many thanks for your prompt responses! From the exterior, it looked like a movie palace from the 20s, but it just goes to show that we shouldn’t assume.
A longtime Brooklyn resident, I was never inside, so I’ve learned something I didn’t know about the interior space of the Cinema. All I know about the theater is by reputation, through friends. I won’t belabor the point, but the payphone in the theater was heavily used, as were the payphones on Kings Highway near the famous notorious municipal parking lot at East 13th Street, several blocks to the east of this theater. In my day, in the 70s and 80s, this strip of Kings Highway was a famous cruising area, which I can testify to personally.
I was no longer traveling in the Jamaica area in the early 80s, and I distinctly remember the Alden being closed soemtime in the 70s. This can all be easily explained, however. Maybe it was closed for a time, and then reopened as a multiplex.
Tinsel, this “theater” has long been a seedy dump, with no histoirical value whatsoever, so why not delete the listing for always, if people are using this site for hookups
I saw a number of movies at the Beverly in the 70s, when I was living in Prospect Park South. I definitely saw “The Eyes of Laura Mars,” “The China Syndrome,” and “The Awakening” there, amongst others. I don’t think there was a balcony, but wasn’t the auditorium large-ish? At least, I remember it as kind of big.
Not only do I find what happened in this theater in 1942 interesting, but the rules of this site also advise us to be civil. I can only add a small tidbit of info about the Hillside. My mother and aunt lived in Springfield Gardens, and did most of their movie-going in Jamaica. Mom told me that they saw “The Jolson Story” at the Hillside, sometime in 1946, and she said the house was packed. It makes sense that the movie, which was an enormously popular favorite that year, would have played the Hillside, which was a very large house. I wonder if there’s anything remaining of the interior? I do remember always getting a clear view of the Hillside from the LIRR trains, just west of Jamaica station.
I have to take exception to the profile that states that the Alden was turned into a quad. Not in my excellent memory bank, it wasn’t. It closed around the same time as the Valencia, across Jamaica Avenue, but while that theater was given a rebirth as a church, the Alden just remained a hulking derelict, without ever being divided. I used to catch the Q-5 bus at Hillside and 169th, and ride it all the way to the end of the line, in Rosedale, and the bus route passed right next to both theaters. As a matter of fact, there was a bus terminal behind the Valencia, and the Q-5 would sit there for about ten minutes, before moving on its route. Gone are the days!
I agree with LuisV that the theaters here should be posted by their most famoius name. When I put Loews Ator Plaza in the search engine, it came back as “theater not found”. What I’m not understanding about the Best Buy is: is it a theater, a club, or a concert venue?
I saw two Streisand films here in sneak previews, “The Way We Were” and “Funny Lady”. A very restless and disrespectful crowd sat through “The Stepford Wives” waiting for “Funny Lady,” and a lot of very funny comebacks were hurled at the screen.
AXminster must have been Brooklyn, then.
AXminster, right?
Actually, it shows up on the Fox Movie Channel fairly frequently. We shouldn’t ban the art of yesterday because it doesn’t conform to the political correctness of today.
If this was “Jeopardy,” lonixcap would have the correct answer.
Ed, my recollection of the interior of the Arcade/Studio 1 is that it was very small and nondescript, very much like the interiors of the Bleeker Street Cinema and the Orpheum Thaeter in Manhatttan’s East Village. I was in this thater about a dozen times, under both of its names, and I don’t recall anything memorable whatsoever about the interior. Ed Miller
I have to admit that I was very wrong when I posted my previous comment. The “modern building” I referred to has been there since the late 30s, and the Gate theater was actually in the very old building to the left of it.
Thanks for your answer, Don. I keep seeing an interstitial on Turner Classics that several times a year the downtown L.A. movie palaces open their doors to the public and show vintage movies.
Please take note on Don’s beautiful photo: you can see how Sutphin Boulevard was paved in brick, a childhood memory of mine that I’d nearly lost, until seeing this picture.
Wonderful photo, Don, and let me add my welcome to this site.
I’m an East Coast guy, but I’m an enormous classic film fan and movie palace enthusiast, so I have a sad question. Is downtown L.A. really “doomed,” as I read above? I’ve never been there, but I know it like the back of my hand.
What an extraordinary shame that here in the United States, we don’t preserve our history. That the Roxy, “the Cathedral of the Motion Picture,” should have been demolished is beyond criminal.
Wow, love the recent photos, with the old facade exposed!
Ed (my name is also Ed), I have no intention of being argumentative either, especially not with people who share my passion for the old movie palaces. People on this website are extraordinarily knowledgeable, as well as civilized, and how often do you see that, in this day and age? Ed, your documentation is superb, and I will defer to you. That said, lol, I’m certain that there was a period in the 70s when the Alden was shuttered, and you’ve come up with a perfectly plausible explanation. Here we are, the two Eds, both of whom used to ride the Q5! I actually grew up in Valley Stream, just over the county line, and the Q5 stop that I used on Hook Creek Boulevard was just two blocks from my home. I took the bus to and from Jamaica to catch the E and F trains at 169th Street.
Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks for teaching me something today!
Many thanks for your prompt responses! From the exterior, it looked like a movie palace from the 20s, but it just goes to show that we shouldn’t assume.
A longtime Brooklyn resident, I was never inside, so I’ve learned something I didn’t know about the interior space of the Cinema. All I know about the theater is by reputation, through friends. I won’t belabor the point, but the payphone in the theater was heavily used, as were the payphones on Kings Highway near the famous notorious municipal parking lot at East 13th Street, several blocks to the east of this theater. In my day, in the 70s and 80s, this strip of Kings Highway was a famous cruising area, which I can testify to personally.
I was no longer traveling in the Jamaica area in the early 80s, and I distinctly remember the Alden being closed soemtime in the 70s. This can all be easily explained, however. Maybe it was closed for a time, and then reopened as a multiplex.
Tinsel, this “theater” has long been a seedy dump, with no histoirical value whatsoever, so why not delete the listing for always, if people are using this site for hookups
OMG, during the 70s and 80s I hung out in this neighborhood a lot, and had no clue that the furniture store had been a theater!
RobertR, WHAT inside pictures?
I saw a number of movies at the Beverly in the 70s, when I was living in Prospect Park South. I definitely saw “The Eyes of Laura Mars,” “The China Syndrome,” and “The Awakening” there, amongst others. I don’t think there was a balcony, but wasn’t the auditorium large-ish? At least, I remember it as kind of big.
Not only do I find what happened in this theater in 1942 interesting, but the rules of this site also advise us to be civil. I can only add a small tidbit of info about the Hillside. My mother and aunt lived in Springfield Gardens, and did most of their movie-going in Jamaica. Mom told me that they saw “The Jolson Story” at the Hillside, sometime in 1946, and she said the house was packed. It makes sense that the movie, which was an enormously popular favorite that year, would have played the Hillside, which was a very large house. I wonder if there’s anything remaining of the interior? I do remember always getting a clear view of the Hillside from the LIRR trains, just west of Jamaica station.
I have to take exception to the profile that states that the Alden was turned into a quad. Not in my excellent memory bank, it wasn’t. It closed around the same time as the Valencia, across Jamaica Avenue, but while that theater was given a rebirth as a church, the Alden just remained a hulking derelict, without ever being divided. I used to catch the Q-5 bus at Hillside and 169th, and ride it all the way to the end of the line, in Rosedale, and the bus route passed right next to both theaters. As a matter of fact, there was a bus terminal behind the Valencia, and the Q-5 would sit there for about ten minutes, before moving on its route. Gone are the days!