UA Quartet

I know that neighborhood so well…I worked at the McDonald’s on the first day it was open in 1972. I was 17 and made $1.85 an hour! We used to eat at the International House of Pancakes quite a lot – is that still there? Also used to hang out at the Jack-in-the-Box across the street from the Shell station. Are any of those places still open?

I know that, I grew up and have lived in the area since we moved as a kid in 73' Used to go to Murry’s for the cub scout uniforms, I remember there was one sit down chinese resturant right next to or a door or two down from the quartet! By the way! Here’s to Eckard’s gutting out the quartet only to have there own store shut down a few years later! Now the whole building will probably come down, wait! i know, another church! Thats what the area needs!

I meant that all the same structures are still in place – except for one of the mailboxes. Also notice that on top of the apartment building the antennas have changed…in 1990 they were the traditional aerials for TV reception, and now they look like possibly satellite antennas. Other than that, only the signage looks different. When I lived in the neighborhood from 1968-79, Flushing still was a mostly caucasian area – in fact, it was hard to find a decent Chinese restaurant! Now it’s become mostly Asian. I’m sure decades ago the local residents were complaining about all the Italians and other non-English folks moving into the area. Things change, that’s life.

How little has changed?? Have you looked at the store fronts? Hardly ANYTHING is in english!!, Not for nothing but where and how am I supposed to shop locally without knowing what the buisneses are?

I just visited the site yesterday and have some new photos to post:
A 2006 view of Bobosan’s 1990 shot:
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(Bob- feel free to post the above on your tripod site crediting me)

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Side view, taken from front of parking lot

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Rear View

Next time we go to the adjacent bank, I’ll take a pick of the other side which still has the yellowish paint job.

-Tom Stathes

Here is an X show at the Quartet
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That’s a fascinating piece of history, Lefty… The MPAA ratings were established in ‘68 and Federal Appeals Court had ruled that the content of films like “I Am Curious (Yellow)” was protected by First Amendment rights around the same time (or shortly thereafter). I can understand the community outrage against explicit cinematic content, but it’s hard to imagine in this day and age how the Police Department would have had grounds for any arrests for what should have been the legal exhibition of a motion picture!

I’m also curious what kind of product the Quartet’s management thought they’d be able to book into the “X” theater. Were they actually thinking of showing hardcore porn alongside the other fare? Or did they expect a steady stream of films like “A Clockwork Orange”, “Midnight Cowboy” and “The Devils” to meet their programming needs?

The Quartet Theatre was a great theatre to see a movie. Because it was the FIRST quad that open in the US it was built above standandards that are still in place today. The volume could be blasted in any of the theatres and it wouldn’t be heard in the other theatres. They used brick to divide the theatres not just plywood. Also, the original marquee was left intact. The new marquee was built over the old marquee. In one of the corners you could look up and see the bulbs and the marquee. The concession stand was located in the middle of the original theatre area. There were two retail stores located on either side of the theatre, in one of those spots was a pet shop. One year the pet shop burned down killing all the animals. If you walked to the theate and the music wasn’t playing or the a/c wasn’t running you could hear the sounds of animals and catch the scent of burned fur. That was the only threate out of all the four that you would encounter that.

I have a photo showing the Quartet in July 1990. Click on the following website and then click on the “UA Quartet 1990” link on the left hand side.

http://bobby19850.tripod.com/

Hi Ed,
Yep, the building was around one story high and connected the theatre and the other building opposite the parking lot (previously a Chinese restaurant which was there for a few decades.)I assume Genovese (the owner of the franchise or however that works) bought the Reception building and demolished it to make parking space.
I’m wondering if anyone has pictures of the Quartet before it was gone? I can hardly remember what it looked like, except for the glass doors in front and the Wig shop which was housed in the Macybed portion. The Wig shop is now a couple blocks down in another complex.
Feel free to email me at if you have questions, pictures, or more info.
-Tom

I’ve always lived a few blocks away from this theatre. The last film I saw there was SPACE JAM when I must have been in 3rd grade or so. My father said to me, “Wanna stay home from school? Let’s go watch a movie.” With a little common sense you’ve probably already figured out that I’m not very old. Because of that, I can barely even remember the quartet before it was converted into retail space a few years ago. After reading Mike69’s story I am deeply saddened. Old architecture and the ornate-ness of times gone by have always intruiged me and it is heartbreaking to know that in recent years when there is more knowledge of the importance of preserving history that such a beautiful interior was destroyed as he described. The establishment and basically any aging structure in Flushing has taken a backseat to the development of the area which I am at odds with. I’d much rather have a slightly run-down neighborhood with historical structures than an economically sound neighborhood with new structures and storefronts which are not in the English language.
I just home Boymelgreen does a good job in preserving what’s left of RKO Keith’s. Just the fact that ANY of it will be demolished is already upsetting me.
On a trivial note, my father tells me that back in the 60s/70s him and his friends called the quartet “The Itch” because the fabric on the seats were very itchy according to him.
Also, the building to the left housed The Reception House where my parents had their wedding reception in 1980. This establishment has ever since inhabited the building where “Villa Bianca” previously was, further up Northern Blvd.

Thanks Warren. It’s difficult to reconcile that facade with the current pictures I posted above. Or even with the red-brick facade I seem to recall from before the conversion to drug-store and the destruction of the neighboring storefronts to the left of the theater. Then again, look at how the original presumably beaux-arts interior described by mike69 on September 26th was obscured for so many years once the theater was divided by four.