Queen Theater
3588 Wai'alae Avenue,
Honolulu,
HI
96816
3588 Wai'alae Avenue,
Honolulu,
HI
96816
1 person
favorited this theater
A neat theater in Honolulu’s Kaimuki neighborhood with a stage, fly tower, and dressing rooms for live shows.
Became a second run theater and was showing midnight “Rocky Horror” shows for a while before closing.
Contributed by
Eric Quakenbush
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Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
I remember back in 1954 when I was seven, coming to the Queen with my parents to see a movie, and being shocked by the poster for “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”. I was so scared that they were going to show a preview that I pleaded with my folks to take me home immediately. It wasn’t until many years later that I saw the film, and now I root for the monster!
I also recall the 1959 premiere of “Sleeping Beauty” and how the line went several hundred feet up Center Street.
The Queen Theater in 2008.
Here is the Queen in October of 2008.
2009 Photo
A local group has formed in an effort to preserve this theater: View link
Thanks CWalczak.Good article hope it can be saved,but if it is in a bad part of town as mentioned above it might be useless to try and open it.
What “bad part of town”??? Obviously, none of you have been to Kaimuki Town recently. There has NEVER been a “bad part of town” in this area. I was born and raised in Kaimuki, patronized the old Queen Theatre (before it went porno), saw my first Rocky Horror Picture Show there, and if anyone still remembers, Kaimuki Theatre, located a block away from the Queen (well, it was a block away, now torn down and a new commercial building in it’s place. I also remember the old Kress/Ben Franklin store, Thrifty Drugs, National Dollar Store and my favorite eating place, Aotani Okazu. Now all long gone. I also worked in Kaimuki Town for nine years from the mid 70’s to the mid 80’s…and BTW, I still live in Kaimuki. There has never been a “bad part of town” in the Kaimuki district. Yeah, the building is really sad looking now, but that is the owner’s (Narciso Yu)fault. When you don’t take pride in your property and let it go undeveloped for 25 years, this is the result. There have been many groups that have wanted to restore the theater to it’s former glory, but he (Mr. Yu) has been resistant to any discussions (or answering phone calls) regarding this.
I was going by what was said above Jucee,Hope it gets saved.This was a Yulcan Theatre along with the CAMEO gave up on X rated movies in the ninties and started showing mainstream films.Sadly they closed the Rex Twin Cinemas.
The Kaimuki’s owners (Consolidated, I think) tried making it an art house in the early 1960s. I saw my first Bergman film, The Virgin Spring, there. Times were already tough for free-standing, single-auditorum movie theaters by then. I left Hawaii a couple of years later and don’t know what the Kaimuki was like in the years before it closed.
thanks Jim for the update.