Allerton Theatre

One present tenant at 744 Allerton Avenue in The Bronx is a Payless ShoeSource location; whether it's based in the former Allerton Theatre space or an altogether new building is something I can't attest to.

I lived around the corner from the Allerton from about 1978-1980, and I remember it as a twin, and one of the worst places you could go to see a movie. As I recall we would take the train into Manhattan to see something that was also playing at the Allerton, because it was such a bad place to see a movie. It might have been a different experience as a single screen, but as a twin you didn't wasnt to know from it.A good reminder that not every theater was a treasure.

What was so bad about the Allerton, jackeboy?

A Kramer organ was installed in the Allerton Theater in 1927.

I remember that the manager ruled that place with an iron fist.

He was like the movie theater version of the "Soup Nazi" from the Seinfeld show.

the allerton was a great theatre before they made it a multiplex.... you could spend a whole saturday afternoon and see 2 movies and a cartoon for like $ 1.50 to $ 2.00..... i love the early 70's prices...... if we were not there we were at the allerton library.... i can still remember the lady in the booth and at the concession stand

A May 10, 1979 certificate of occupancy shows a twin motion picture theater at this address. Theater #1 had 495 seats and theater #2 had 423 seats. A July 29, 1982 certificate of occupancy shows a triplex theater at this address. Theater #1 had 168 seats, theater #2 had 358 seats and theater #3 had 245 seats.

So let's see: it went from 1232 seats, to 918, to 771, to 0. Guess that's progress.

This is a slightly fuzzy photo of the Allerton Theater.

This site alleges that the building with the "for rent" sign is the former Allerton:
http://tinyurl.com/6fggon

Comparing the two photos, it appears that allegation is correct -- although the actual theater entrance and marquee would have been to the left in the second photo, behind the corner building in the foreground.

thats a great pic of the allerton ..... thanks lost memory my grandmother has been in the neighborhood for like 65 years im sure she can tell me every store that was in the pic

I'm trying to imagine, from the July 29, 1982 certficate of occupancy Lost Memory cited in his post from this past May 3rd (great research, as always, on the behalf of LM) and based on the seating capacities in 1979 and 1982 - and presuming the Allerton had a balcony, what the division from a twin to a triplex must have been...

the payless shoe store was actually the marqeed entrance the actual theatre ran PARRELEL BEHIND THE STORES

Thank you for that information, bx11211; is the Payless Shoe Store still there? Has the theatre structure behind the stores been converted for other uses?

The street view photos on Google Maps and the Bird's eye View photos on LiveSearch both show Payless still there, and those appear to be fairly recent. Interestingly, viewing the building from the rear in the Live Search Bird's eye View (http://tinyurl.com/3ocwn6) you can see that the theater building has a stepped roof that actually peaks in the middle, rather than at one end -- which seems kind of curious to me.

Whoops, sorry -- that link didn't seem to work; go to http://maps.live.com, put in 744 Allerton Ave, Bronx, NY as the location, and choose Bird's eye View; you'll see the building on the south side of Allerton.

That link doesn't work for me Jeffrey. Try this link and enter the address into the search box. The building does have an unusual roof.

thr majority of the movie theatre is the cvs pharmacy cruger avenue on the side street would have been behind the movie screen and the emergency exits

This is an updated link for the photo posted on Jun 4, 2008.

On August 2nd, 1946, The New York Times reported that Combined Bronx American Corp., owner of a one-story theatre and stores on the south side of Allerton Avenue between Cruger and Holland Avenues, had commissioned John Eberson's architectural firm to do $50,000 worth of alterations. In 2008, that would be equivalent to about $560,982.

I spent many hours at the Allerton Theater in the fifties; along with the Globe and the Pelham, it was one of the three places we saw movies in the neighborhood. Most memorable: Land of the Pharoahs in 1955.

When I moved into Parkside Projects as a kid in 1973 I saw "The Exorsist" at the Allerton. It was my first time in the theater and it was huge. I spent my teen years watching movies like "The Taking of Pelham 123", "Serpico", the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"My friends and I were there every Saturday, two movies and a cartoon for $1.25 (kids). I also remember the lady at the consession stand. Short old lady with a beehive hairdoo. She never smiled. I also remember sneaking in the rear emergency exits on Cruger Ave. My friends and I would pry open the doors and run into the theater during a show on a Saturday afternoon. Light would flood into the theater and we would all spread out into the seats. (Yea, I was one of those retards) As per the above posts, yea, after they changed it into a triplex it just wasn't the same. The theaters were long and narrow, like a large hallway. I have many fond memories of growing up in the Bronx in the 1970s and the "original" Allerton Movie Theater will always have a place in them.