Avon 9th Street

The Avon Theatre was located at 289 9th Street, it seated 573 people.

Additional photo of the marquee exist in the Post Office next door.

Locals called it "The Tub o' Blood," because rumor went that in the '20s a gangland-style execution related to Prohibition took place there (during a Lillian Gish feature?). When I knew it in the '50s, it was quite cozy. It showed many terrific revivals and some foreign films, arty stuff of the sort that the Plaza on Park Slope was beginning to cash in on.

As a kid growing up in Park Slope,I often went to the Avon & the RKO Prospect. I loved the Avon because it always had a great double feature on the weekends. I can still remember seeing Jerry Lewis in "The Nutty Professor" along with Ann Margaret in "Bye Bye Birdie" at the Avon with my friends for only 50 cents.It was a smaller theatre than the Prospect but was still cozy.I have great memories of 9th street and those theatres. I even recall going to the locksmith next door to the Avon. I wonder if he is still there?

I've identified this theater as one of a couple of possible locations of a theater that my grandfather, Louis Eisner, opened in Park Slope in 1916. I have only a fragment of a note he wrote about it. He was a professional photographer, and said the following:
"I had just gotten another business idea with the potential for bigger money. I sold the studio, put together $2,000, moved to Brooklyn and opened a movie theater in Park Slope. I was proud of the theater. It seated 600 and we had a big opening might party, complete with a five-piece woman orchestra. The place was packed every night. And then, another disaster. New York had an outbreak of infantile paralysis. Children were dying and the only thing doctors could say was to keep children out of crowds and stay home to avoid contagion."
The Avon, along with the Deluxe or Garfield are other possible choices, based on timing, location and size of the house. All ideas on this welcomed.

Here is the Avon when it played X
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/SexfreedomInGermany.jpg

Man, I didn't know the theater but what great programming in January 1970:
SAT....Eye of the Cat, Frankenstein Created Woman, Tickle Me (Elvis)

SUN & MON.....Daddy's Gone A-Hunting, Tarzan Goes to India, Guns of the Magnificent7

TUES-THURS Films for Adults

FRI & SAT....The Ambushers (Dino/Matt Helm), Clambake (Elvis), Once Upon in the West......(tell mom you'll be home late for this program)

Great stuff. It seems that the Banco also listed for Park Slope. Graham & Marcy in Williamsburg/Bushwick had the same type of programming. j

The theatre reportedly first opened in 1914, and apparently kept the same name throughout its existence, though probably not with the original marquee:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/134-3464_IMG.jpg

Yes, the new marquee went up in the early '50s. From visiting my grandparents in the neighborhood, I remember its predecessor, an very old-fashioned but quite elegant one. Despite its elegance, everyone still called the theater "The Tub o' Blood," as I noted in my post of 7 Aug. '04 above.

Here's the original marquee, photographed during street construction in 1929. The later marquee is shown in my post above of 8/22/05:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/avon29.jpg

Warren--

That's a terrific photo-- It recalls the neighborhood as I knew it in the 1940s when my grandparents lived there-- Thanks.

Here is a movie shot in 1948 on 5th Ave and 9th Ave showing trolleys in last year of service. Car 1000, one of a kind PCC type of 1936 streamlined trolley, passes the Avon mid way through the film. Best guess it was shot in early January. UTUBE link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gmxm_xboqk


Note shape of marquee at this time.

The Endicott Circuit, operator of the Avon in 1970, was headquartered in the Avon Theater building. Endicott also ran theaters in the Bronx, Dobbs Ferry, Yonkers and Hastings-On-Hudson at the time.

Here are new direct links to exterior images of the Avon Theatre:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/avon29.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/134-3464_IMG.jpg

The year given for this photo is 1968.

The Avon appears at 2:30 in this 1938 film.

Films I remember seeing here: "By Love Possessed", "Pal Joey", Return to Peyton Place", "Road to Hong Kong".

Three views of the Avon Theatre circa 1940-41 can be seen here: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=379192&imageID=702488F&total=132&num=40&r=02fFurniture%2520stores%4013f219&word=&rOper=2&stype=Rel&rSource=&rDiv=Irma and Paul Milstein Division of Unite...&rCol=Photographic%2520Views%2520of%2520New%2520York%2520City%252C%2520187%2E%2E%2E&s=3¬word=&d=&c=&f=&k=4&imgs=10&pos=42&e=w

Just discovered this site. I think my grandfather, Julius Charnow, may have owned or leased the Avon in the 1950's. Does anyone know of a way to research this?

Thanks, in advance.