Sunrise Mall Cinemas

I believe this was a drive in theatre before becoming the Sunrise cinemas.

They used to have metal detectors for patrons, it was so bad.

You're thinking of the Sunrise Cinemas in Valley Stream, which is still operated by National Amusements. The Sunrise Cinemas was the theatre in which several people were killed in a gunfight during a showing of The Godfather Part III.

The Sunrise Mall Theatre was inside the Sunrise Mall about 15 miles east of Valley Stream in Massapequa. This was one of the worst-run theatres by UA (quite a feat) and before they entered bankruptcy they simply stopped paying the rent. They were locked out of the theatre suddenly by the Mall management and Long Island was finally rid of the Sunrise Mall Theatres.

The address for the Sunrise Mall Cinemas was 319 Sunrise Mall, Massapequa, NY.

Hello;
This was not the Valley Stream Sunrise Drive In as, it seems, one person seems to think. The Valley Stream Sunrise was located near Green Acres Mall. When I last passed their the site was occupied by the Sunrise Multiplex.

This was the worst UA theater quite a feat for sure>>>>>

i actually spent a few pleasant evenings here, watching light fare like the farrah fawcett-jeff bridges movie whose name i can't remember. don't laugh. it wasn't a bad movie.
my wife took me to a few others. one movie that played here was Stop Or my mom will shoot! with Sly Stallone. perhaps that's just another reason why theaters close (besides raping their customers at the popcorn stand); movies Hollywood is churning out just plain stink!
who wouldn't rather fire up the popcorn maker, and toss on a dvd of The Pit and the Pendulum? No extraneous noise from rude customers, no rattling of candy wrappers.

the theater had a sort of arcane way of selling tickets, in that you would stand at a kiosk in the center of the mall on the second level, purchase your tickets, then walk across the mall to the actual theater itself.
at night , when your picture ended, you'd come out to find half the mall closed and several exits blocked.

UA has a habit of getting evicted, even before the bankruptcy - at least in New York - they got evicted from the 8th Street Playhouse, and they got evicted from the Eastside Cinema.

This was (I think) somewhat of a milestone on LI. It was one of the first, if not THE first, multiplex theaters to open on LI.

It opened around 1970 or so in the "new" Massapequa or Sunrise Mall (people I knew used either name to designate it).

I only saw one movie there (Bad News Bears in 1976) at my insistance. My parents were born and raised in Manhattan and grew up in the movie palaces of NY. To them, these tiny theaters (and they were tiny) were awful. I thought the concept (back then) was pretty cool. Wow! Five movies under one roof! In a Mall!! (That's how many were there when I lived on LI).

And yes, I believe the entire mall was built on the site of the old Massapequa Drive In.

The Massapequa D.I. was on the other side of Sunrise where Toy R Us and other stores are now.

Orlando: if you know, what was on the site where the Sunrise/Massapequa Mall is now before it? My parents always said it was the Drive In.

Used to go here all the time. Also was known as the UA Movies at Sunrise Mall. Originally opened with 5 theatres. Then they knocked out theatre 2 and built a hallway with theatres 2, 6 and 7. Then they constructed another long hallway near theatre 5 to build theatres 8 and 9. One of the many unique things about this theatre was that the movies started at 10AM, the same time the mall opened.

If another company had operated this it would still be open. They were in a free booking zone and had no close competition. It might have been possible to make at least some of the screens into stadium theatres even though they were small.

You know, RobertR, you're absolutely correct. Think about Massapequa. Where's the nearest theater these days? Merrick? Bellmore? Amityville is gone. There used to be a Jerry Lewis Twin in the shopping center across the street from the mall (I forget what it is now and I don't think it's listed on this site...). That area is under served as far as a movie theater is concerned. It would be a great place to build a megaplex.

Well, the UA Farmingdale Stadium 10 and National Amusements Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas are just a few miles up on Route 110.

Well, that shows you how long I've been off the Island. Those two weren't there when I last lived on LI in the early 90's. Yep, 110 actually still had a couple of working farms back then. Hell, there was one right off of the LIE for years. So I assume all that nice open space was perfect for the space needed for a multiplex.

But I still say Massapequa is a ripe area for a megaplex.

Yes, I think Farmingdale is far enough away for Massapequa to support its own theatre again. So who knows about the Jerry lewis twin, let's get it posted.

Massapequa is large, fairly affluent....though to schlep up 110 is not a big deal, there would appear to be a lot of places to plop a megaplex.

Now the Jerry Lewis Theater...it was a twin located in the large shopping center right across the street from the Sunrise Mall. It was near the back of the parking lot.

A friend of mine in college worked as a concession stand salesperson at this theatre in the 1970s. She said that the manager counted the soda cups, so they would enjoy a soda and simply put it back in the stack. EW! Also, she said that she and her coworkers regularly split up the take from the Will Rogers Institute cups that workers would collect money with before the movies. So, while I still get soda at the movies at my own peril, I never, ever give money to charities in the theatres themselves.

RobertR: since you seem to be aware of the theaters from "old" LI, I've got a question for you about two theaters that I remember that don't seem to be on this site. One was in Cedarhurst on the main drag in town (was it Broadway or West Broadway?). The other was a large movie theater located right in the middle of Farmingdale. This was a big theater located right in the heart of the town. It was a discount theater in it's later days....

Are either of these on this site?

CConnolly......There was a Farmingdale theater located at 354 Main St. I don't see it on this site unless it is listed under another name.

lostmemory: yep, that's the one. It was a big one, too. I remember it later on (late 70's) was a discount house that charged for admission whatever the last two digits of the year were (79 cents, 80 cents, etc.) Closed around 1982 or so. I only saw one or two movies there ("Comes a Horseman" in 1979 was one) so I don't know enough about it.

You have enough info to add this theater. You just need the name and the address. Other people will add whatever they know about the Farmingdale theater after its added here.

I believe United Artists Theatres were the last operators of the Farmingdale as a discount house.

Yes UA had it on the same dollor track as Lindenhurst and Smithtown.

I'd add the Farmingdale Theater because I'd like to know more about it but I don't know the exact name.

It was just UA Farmingdale

Use the theater name that Robert posted with the 354 Main St address.

The Farmingdale theater was very large and not a bad theater at all. It shutdown around nineteen eighty two.

The Movies at Sunrise Mall introduced me to a new concept
in theater design, no slope/pitch in the auditoriums, this added a nice
touch, your movie going experience now included having to look through the heads in front to see the film.

The manager had to count the cups because once you were sent a box of cups, it was valued as if it was sold at the overpriced candystand rate. The manager was held responsible for this, so if you lost a box of let's say 1,000 cups that could have been used to hold drinks that might have sold for $1.50, you owed UA $1,500 of your candy commission. You were "carrying a shortage." The same held true for all the other concessions items. Theater employees usually were instructed to bring in their own cups and did not use the ones that were sold. Movie patrons did not understand why they couldn't ever get an extra cup.
Sometimes, maintenance workers or a relief projectionist would unawarely take some cups. Nothing could ruin you more than a few pennies worth of missing cups. You were compensated for your labors in the same manner as a donkey with a carrot on a stick dangling in front.

Employees were required to periodically sloicit donations from movie patrons. When it came donation time, the chain got the recognition
for such a charitable effort when it was movie patrons who paid, and the theater staff who took on the added tasks of begging and then processing.
Yes, It is quite possible that some of the collected money was taken,
but that might happen with all organized charities.

As for being one of the worst run, besides the design, in those
days going to the shopping mall was exploding into being a huge part of youth culture and recreation. Those youths in the mall went to the Movies at Sunrise Mall. One can only control kids so much when they are out
on their own having fun. Too much life force.

Here's a little history of exactly where the Sunrise Mall Theatres were located. I grew up a block from where the mall sits. It used to be a huge sand pit where people would dump old cars and teens would hang out. In the early 70s, construction began. The site was never anything but a mall site with the original 5-plex. They were real shoebox theatres. Simply awful. The other theatres in the Massapequa area included:

-Amity Theatre (Carmen Road, South Farmingdale) an A.I.T. Theatre located in a strip mall.

-Amityville Theatre (Main Street, Amityville) A real class theatre complete with big screen and balcony.

-Pequa Theatre (Sunrise Hwy, Massapequa) Real nice theatre with a comfy rocking chair section. (we used sneak into that section as kids!)

-Bar Harbour Theatre (Merrick Road, Massapequa Park) an A.I.T. stand alone theatre in a shopping center that spealized in art house stuff.

-North Massapequa Theatre (North Massapequa) another tiny A.I.T. Theatre right below a dance studio in a shopping center.

-Massapequa Drive-In (Massapequa) a simple no frills drive-in near the corner of Sunrise Hwy and Unqua Road.

-Johnny All Weather Drive-in (Sunrise Hwy, Copiague) one of America's best and largest drive-ins.

-Jerry Lewis Twins (Sunrise Hwy, Massapequa) built just east of where the Massapequa Drive-in was located.

Everyone of them are gone. Great memories, though.

Does anybody remember the theatre that used to be in a shopping center on Carmans Road about a mile or so north of the Sunrise Mall. I think it was still considered Massapequa. If my memory is correct, I believe the exterior was blue. I believe it was a twin. I just can't remember the name.

I went to the Johnny All Weather Drive-In many times but dont remember Massapequa DI at all. Does anyone know around when it closed?

The Amity Theatre was on Carmans Road in South Farmingdale. It was a single screen that burned down in 1968. It was rebuilt and opened with "Planet of the Apes" a few months later.

The Massapequa Drive-in was on Sunrise Highway where Lucille Roberts is now. Was a Prudential, then UA. Spent hundreds of evenings there.

By the way, the rebuilt Amity had a powder blue facade.

Maybe off topic for the mall theatre, but I did sell the last tickets for the Drive-in. The last car admitted came a bit late, after the show had been running for a while, I let them in free.

I saw one film at this theater, Tombstone. It was about as bad a time as I've ever had at the movies. The tiniest screens you can imagine and no slope to the theater. It's not surprising that it didn't last long.

having worked at the Sunrise Mall theatres and still alive to talk about it, I would have to say it was the biggest shithole I have ever seen. Roaches, unbelievably filthy floors, some of the strangest coke head weirdos I have ever encountered who were the managers, etc... But what really sticks out in my mind was what had taken root to the bottom of the punch/lemonade machine. It was like a mutant form of sea monkeys that we were afraid to clean without hazmat suits on for fear if we ever had children, they would have three eyes and a triangle shaped head.

nellieF, did you ever work at the Lynbrook?

There was a body shop on the corner of sunrise an carmen..Futher down carmen was a oil dist called duncan petroleum Then a large laundry plant and then a gulf station This was in the 50's and earley 60's

Grew up in N. Massapequa and as a movie nut, went here the very first night it opened, mid-week, and saw, of all things, Vittorio DeSica's A BRIEF VACATION in 1975.

Opening Engagements:
1: The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud
2: Young Frankenstein
3: A Brief Vacation (dubbed version)
4: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
5: can't seem to find it in the New York Times archives, I may need some help here