Loew's Triboro Theatre
2804 Steinway Street,
Astoria,
NY
11103
2804 Steinway Street,
Astoria,
NY
11103
15 people
favorited this theater
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Everybody’s getting into the act. Town of North Hempstead announced a drive in night and there is one scheduled at a local country club on Long Island.
The drive-in theatre project at the Bel Aire Diner resumes tonight (5/13) with two screenings of “Dirty Dancing.” A news report and link to a new video can be found here
Cool idea. The virus may bring back the Drive-Ins. Unfortunately on Long Island all but one or two of the former footprints have now been developed.
Astoria’s Bel Aire Diner recently made news by erecting a temporary drive-in theatre in its parking area, starting with a screening of “Grease.” Video coverage can be viewed here
1939 photo added via Theo Tersteeg.
As a neighborhood house it was magnificent and as large as some of the wonder theaters so it might as well have been one even if it wasn’t official. When you think about it all the ‘wonder’ theaters were neighborhood theaters.
Can’t believe it made it to ‘74 and was still torn down. If I had known it existed I would have made the daunting trip to Queens.
What a cool looking Theatre.
The Triboro was never a wonder theater just a large neighborhood house.Hard to believe but the 5 wonder theaters are still standing
The Aaronson article (see Photos) mentions that the Triboro had 3800 seats, making it one of the largest of the “Wonder” theaters. I recall it being very wide, confirmed by the photo showing five sections in the orchestra (six aisles). And it was, indeed, an “atmospheric” theater, with a blue sky and twinkling stars. For a young kid, it was a memorable experience seeing a movie there.
Although I lived in Brooklyn, on Saturday nights my parents would take us to the Triboro. My mother had a cousin who was a manager for Loews. He lived in Coney Island and did not drive. What ever Loews theater he worked at. 86th St(Manhattan),Alpine(Bay Ridge), Kings(Brooklyn), Pitkin(Brooklyn), my parents would go to the last show, see the movie for free, and give him a ride home.
I remember the ceiling of the Triboro had clouds that seemed to move. I could never figure out how they did that
Upload street view looking up. Dramatic.
I saw “The Lords of Flatbush” there in 1974 — always figured it was one of the last movies to play there.
Here’s a three page article with photos from 1931: http://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher103unse#page/n220/mode/1up
I remember seeing 2001 there in 1968. The screen was as big as a football field! They demoed it with a wrecking
ball. It should’ve been land marked. A real loss.
The Last Picture Show at the Loew’s Triboro was “The Lords Of Flatbush” which opened on June 6, 1974 and played two weeks. I don’t have the Post listings for June 20, but by June 27 the Triboro was not listed in the Post Neighborhood Guide. It could have closed on the Sunday of the 3rd weekend (June 24th). They probably had some graduations there in late June. I might be off by 2 days depending if the movie opened on Wed. or Fri. The two features prior to “Lords” were “The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad” followed by “The Last Detail”. The theatre was on the Columbia track at this time.
1935 pic
http://astoriahistory.smugmug.com/keyword/steinway/431342741_vTTmkQ7#!i=431342741&k=vTTmkQ7&lb=1&s=A
I was trying to recall what movies I saw at the Triboro, and could remember Dangerous When Wet (Esther Williams), The Caddy (Martin and Lewis), War of the Worlds (with great surround stereo sound), Fort Ti (in 3D) and, perhaps, Becket. I know I saw at least one vaudeville show when Loew’s tried to revive live entertainment in the late 50s. The theater was fantastic, always a treat to visit, even though it was a bus ride from my neighborhood in Jackson Heights.
Holten’s had great shakes. They were so full of ice cream that the machine had to strain to liquify the mass. Sitting on a stool here I watched them take down the original vertical that said Loews Triboro to ones which just proclaimed Loews.
This theater was like a palace inside….velvet drapes, statues, lighting effects…it was like a magical place at the end of a busy shopping street. Went there in the 50’s and 60’s when I was a child. How was this ever torn down!!! Holten’s was the luncheonette up the block.
> There are likely thousands of photo links on this site that no longer work. Has anyone found a solution?
I too have found the broken links on Cinema Treasures frustrating, michael22b. Clicking here will take you to the Wayback Machine, an internet archive. Almost magically, it brings back to life most dead links. Given current events, it’s interesting to note that the Internet archive at the New Library of Alexandria, Egypt mirrors the Wayback Machine.
This photograph of the Loew’s Triboro Theatre was taken in 1931 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.
There are likely thousands of photo links on this site that no longer work. Has anyone found a solution? Can’t photos be uploaded to this site and stored here?
Many or 99% of Warren’s photo links no longer work. They stopped working over a year ago.
“THE GREEN SLIME” played there.You Can’t make it up.
Loved those old pictures wish I could have been there.