Forest Hills Theatre
107-16 Continental Avenue,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
107-16 Continental Avenue,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
7 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1921, the large Forest Hills Theatre is located around the corner from the more famous (and still operating) Midway Theatre in the Queens, New York neighborhood of Forest Hills.
After seven decades of showing movies, the theater was sold, along with the Midway Theatre, by United Artists to a local developer in 1998.
On August 28, 1999, the Duane Reade opened, with the theatre’s facade restored. The original building beyond the facade was demolished for construction of the drugstore.
The project was given a local design award — ostensibly for the meticulously preserved exterior. The interior, however, is now part of Forest Hills' history.
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 76 comments)
Thank you.
Neglected to mention that “The Time Machine” had its NYC premiere engagement at the midtown Warner (ex-Strand) Theatre, where it opened on August 17th, 1960. By that time, the Warner was no longer a showcase for Cinerama roadshows.
Does the lobby part of the building exist, or just the exterior facade?
This should settle any doubts about the demolition of the Forest Hills Theatre. Only the facade was retained, with a new building constructed behind it: View link
The Forest Hills Theater can be seen in this 1924 photo.
The Forest Hills Theatre can be seen at left in this vintage photo of the intersection of Continental Avenue and Ausin Street. The image comes from historian Ron Marzlock, who recently opened an art gallery in Kew Gardens that specializes in Queens memorabilia. Starting December 11, he will be having a special show of material covering Middle Village and Maspeth. Marzlock is probably best known for his weekly “I Have Often Walked” feature in the Queens Chronicle:
http://qgardensgallery.com/index.html
Hi Everyone! This is my Forest Hills Theatre flickr photoset, courtesy of Rego-Forest Preservation Council, which I founded and chair:
View link
You can click the thumbnails to enlarge the photos, and view them in a low, medium, high resolution, or original (maximum) resolution, as well as download them for future reference.
If anyone can contribute any vintage photos or ads to this photoset, I will be happy to give you credit. All images help preserve the spirit of the former Forest Hills Theatre, and may contribute to other great preservation projects. Let’s be proactive!
This photo of the Forest Hills is dated 1940, which the titles on the marquee bear out. Thanks to Tinseltoes, who introduced me to this website (for The New York City Organ Project) by linking out to pictures on other theater pages.
I was the manager of the Forest Hills Twin for 25 months, from January 1986 to February 1988. The theatre was very different from the others I had worked. This theatre was not booked with the action shoot ‘em and blow everything up type movies that the Astoria, Midway and Quartet theatres showed. I was grateful that my audience did not includ those that were threats to society. The majority of the movies we offered catered to a much different and sophisticated clientele. Of course the downside was that this type of crowd didn’t buy much at the concession stand, which is where I was supposed to earn a commission. There were many months where we had the lowest sales per capita in the division. After a while I became accustomed to having popcorn for dinner and appreciated an atmosphere of calm, quiet and safety.
The street level auditorium sat close to 500 people, the upstairs held about 285. However our lobby was so small we had to form our ticket holder’s line outside of the theatre. At times it would curl around the corner of Queens Blvd and 71st Ave and merge with the line for the Midway Theatre. The line to purchase tickets would find its way around the corner to Austin St. I wish I would have taken pictures on some of those nights, my words can’t describe the scene.
Our concession stand was very small. We were one of the few theatres in the division that did not pop fresh popcorn in front of everyone. Our popper was hidden away at the top of the theatre and popcorn was pre made during the week.
Some of our big hits included Dirty Dancing, Nuts, On Golden Pond, The Color Purple, Yental and Radio Days to name a few.
In 1987 we broadcast the Leonard/Hagler fight in early April. Our AC was giving us problems all night and the crowd grew restless. Thankfully the fight was exciting and went the distance keping them distracted. Everyone went home quietly.
I was so grateful to have such a terrific staff during my two years at the Twin. I’ll always remember the contributions and efforts of Lisa M. Mohammed Q., David A., John, Jack E., Cynthia C., Mike C., Andrew (Fugi), James F. and our projectionist Ted S. who was one of a kind. Anita and Regina were fixtures at the theatre for many years. They were extremely dedicated and hardworking but at times could drive me (and most others) to drink. Thank you all for your help.
I was so happy to again work with my dear friend Mary S. who I first met at the Astoria Theatre in 1978. Mary was a great source of comfort to me when I lost my mother in 1980. Sadly Mary passed away suddenly just a few months after I had left the theatre.
Thanks for posting, kurt. I remember seeing Radio Days here during your time as manager. A few years earlier, I did see a more conventional (and sort of goofy) fantasy/adventure flick here called The Beastmaster. Last movie I caught here was Trainspotting, upstairs in the summer of 1996. I miss this theater. Enjoyed watching films in both auditoriums, but really liked the raked seating of the balcony room.