Nostrand Theatre
2817 Nostrand Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
2817 Nostrand Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
5 people
favorited this theater
The Nostrand Theatre was a first-run neighborhood house and was run by the Century Theater chain of Floral Park, NY. It had a small balcony. It opened on December 26, 1938 with Deanna Durbin in “That Certain Age” and Anne Shirley in “A Man to Remember”.
The theatre closed in 1984 and reopened as a furniture store, before finding its recent function as an Empire Gym.
Contributed by
philipgoldberg
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Recent comments (view all 41 comments)
From what I can remember this theater was way smaller than most in Brooklyn. It possibly could have been twined, but it would have been pretty small. No way Quad. The Brook, kings, Canarsie and Walker theaters were way larger. However, it’s only from memory and it’s been close to 30 since I’ve been in there!
An interesting note I just remembered about this theater. Several years after it closed a local synagogue was damaged by fire, and the owners of the theater let the congregation use the now closed theater for a while for their services. I remember all the local news stations had crews down there filming the good deed.
Although a convenient neighborhood screen, this venue, due to location, did not have the transportation access or pedestrian traffic that generated large crowds. Quadding would not have helped. Occasionally a film like ET would do boffo business, but I suspect that was rare. The film palaces at the western end of Kings Highway had a critical mass of several theatres, in the middle of a major shopping district, served by a major express subway stop and numerous bus routes. Not so the Nostrand which was in a strictly residential area. No doubt the Waldbaums supermarket diagonally across KH had more weekly patrons than the Nostrand. Once the Loews Georgetown Twin and Centur’s Kings Plaza Twin opened, with suburban style parking and other amenities, the days of the Nostrand were numbered.
M.C. loved the “old Theatre smell” quote.Funny you don’t smell it much in these 20 plexes.Maybe the otta can it and spray it for us old theatre dawgs.lol.
Hi – I grew up in L.A. and spent countless hours in theaters that had the “old theater smell.” When I was in film school, Norman Jewison came in with “Rollerball,” and commented on how the best theaters had “that smell!”
Moviemanforever,I love it.great story on “that smell” must have been Nationwide.
Here I thought I was the only one who recognized that distinct smell! You might have something there Mike! Hey, the guys who make the “New Car Smell” air freshner, should work on a formula for the “Old Movie Theater Smell”! We can use it to spray in the new Multiplexes, which most I’ve noticed smell just like a dirty toilet!
The Nostand theater had that great old smell for sure! I wonder if it managed to hold up over the years as a gym. I’ll have to stop in there one day, if I can find parking, lol, and give a look and a sniff!
Most old theatre dawgs know that smell.The Imperial in Augusta had it and the CAROLINA in Hendersonville,N.C. had it for Sure. Great idea,M.C..
They do alot of Polls on CT How about “That Smell'.LOL.
RobertR, WHAT inside pictures?