Forest Hills Theatre
107-16 Continental Avenue,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
107-16 Continental Avenue,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
8 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.
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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.
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.
I saw Blade Runner here in 1982. The biggest problem with this theater, as with the Midway, was parking.