Albemarle Theatre
973 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
973 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
8 people
favorited this theater
Opened as the Albemarle Theater in 1920, it was still an excellent place to see event films in the 1970’s like “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and played host to most of the horror movies of the early-1980’s like “Creepshow”.
In late-1984, at a time when there were few single screen cinemas left in Brooklyn, the Albemarle Theatre closed its doors due to a fire. One of the last feature presentations at the time was “Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter”.
The building, which also housed a grand banquet hall above the auditorium with an entrance on the side, was partially damaged in the the fire. It was able to be refurbished after laying dormant for a few months when it was purchased by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and became a Kingdom Hall.
The old marquee remained for several years — as did the advertisement in the old box office of “Creepshow” — but over the years with further renovations saw the marquee remodeled and no sign really today of it ever being a movie palace.
Contributed by
Jamal P. Savage
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Recent comments (view all 75 comments)
1969 Marquee.what ever happened to Christopher Jones?Great shot of a nice marquee.
Surprised that Google Maps provides no street view for the introduction. Do they have a bias against Jehovah’s Witnesses? Nearby theatres such as Loew’s Kings and RKO Kenmore come under the Google cameras.
Tinseltoes – rather than report Google problems, of which there seem to be a good deal, on the theatre site you might achieve better results reporting them directly to CT.
Here’s another street view to compensate for none provided by Google Maps: brownstoner
As a child pre-teen living down the street I can attest to the family ownership the box office was very strict no one under 18 allowed without a parent. A very steril atmoshere in the lobby big glass windows with brass all over. I remember being seeing Conan on the Marque but was not old enough to get in. The owners played it smart by sticking to a certain genre of movies, but the age of action movies and martial arts was upon them an everyone flocked to the Kenmore down the street, with their pay per view antenne, and long lines for early shows and rampent ticket swapping in the bathrooms, the Albemare fell to its own high class successs and or failure.
I worked as an usher at the Albemarle in the summer of 1963, when it was still being managed by the Century chain (I got the job because my dad worked for them as a manager elsewhere). It was my first job, and because I was under age, I could only work during the day. I made the minimum wage then (maybe $1.15 an hour). It was the usual neighborhood movie palace, not on a par with the Loews Kings or the RKO Kenmore, but pretty amazing. I was always explaining to people that no, the theatre wasn’t “air-conditioned,” it was “air-cooled” (we used to joke that that meant they kept a door open to the street), and that the coolest place to sit was in the back of the orchestra (again, near the open door). Lots of complaints and lots of refunds (it was a hot summer). Century let it go at the end of the summer, and I moved on to the Nostrand Theatre.
jinchelsea- The Rialto, down the street from the Albemarle was operated by Century. I don’t recall the Albemarle ever being operated by Century. I believe the last owner was Interbourgh Theatres. The Albemarle had a booth built into the loge, which would have been perfect for 70mm…but it was not to be.
Century leased the Albemarle for many years. See earlier in the thread. They specifically built the Rialto.
Saw the auditorium after the renovation. Nice job and friendly crowd.
I remember going there as a kid in the 70’s and early 80’s. If we couldn’t get into the RKO Kenmore over on Church we’d walk down the street to the Albermarle.