New Venus Theater
1224 Prospect Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11218
1224 Prospect Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11218
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The New Venus Theater stood at Prospect Park on the corner of Vanderbilt in the Windsor Terrace section of Brooklyn. It once offered movies and a stage show.
Closed in 1954, it served as an American Legion Post Hall and later became an Elks Hall. After this closed the building stood empty and unused for several years, until it was demolished in May 2008.
Contributed by
philipgoldberg
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
Four photographs I took in June 2006 of the New Venus Theater. Unfortunately, due to the time of year, the building (which is currently unused and for lease or sale) is partially obscured by untrimmed trees and bushes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/211143349/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/211143951/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/211144986/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/211145549/
Thanks for those photos, Ken. I have been curious about this place recently. I live just over on the other side of Prospect Park West. Sad to learn it’s being sold. Would have loved to get a look inside. Imagine if some crazy rich movie nut bought it & reopened it ? “The NEW New Venus” ?
Is that really you frankie? Or is it really me? Confused? So am I. Another member of this website claims that you and I are one in the same person. We could be twins separated at birth. I was raised by wolves in the mountains of Tibet while you were growing up in Brooklyn. LOL Maybe you could enlighten this person by explaining that we are not related in any way. Thanks.
Six Degrees of Separation!
No, dear inmate, we’re not related, except by our bittersweet longing for an era which has passed us by. I never got into the New Venus, or the Eden, or the Minerva, or the Paradise, although I still live near them all. I think my Dad took me to the 16th Street to see Charlie Chaplin eat his shoe, but after that I moved on to the Prospect, the Globe, the Avon, and the Sanders. At least I can still go to the former Sanders, now the Pavilion. Nice to meet you, inmate ! (Lost Memory ???)
Don’t tell anyone Frankie but it is me, your long lost twin brother. I’m still being punished. Now I’m at Rikers Island. Its not too bad. I received a free jump suit and a talent scout wants to test me for the tv show Cops. I have a cell mate that keeps singing the song “Sixteen Tons”. If he doesn’t stop singing soon I might actually be in here for murder. I hope that I am released in time to attend the horror fest at the Ridgewood theater. Will write to you soon. LOL
Sad news. A co-worker just told me the building is currently being demolished, so the status can be changed. And I never even got to go here !
Does anyone have any pictures from when it was a theatre? We lived across the street from that building for about 10 years in the 60’s and 70’s. It was the american legion then, and my father was a member. My brother and I would play in that building almost everyday, we loved it there ! The building was so cool, it had a coatcheck room, a lobby with a bar, a walk-in freezer, a large hall with a stage, upstairs was the projection room, a small office and large room that had 2 pool tables in it. The bar and staircase was wonderful dark wood. Even as a child I remember feeling at that time in the 60’s that this building was old fashioned and grand. It was my favorite place to be ! Not only did we get to play in there most days, we went to several events there and threw some of our own parties there. I’ll check my old black and white pics to see if I have any of the inside of the building. If anyone has any pics from when its was a theatre or when it was the american legion (or even elks hall) I would love to see them ! I did see the pics posted here. I was so, so sad to hear that it got torn down, I feel like my childhood playground got destroyed ! Living in another state since the late 70’s I can kick myself for not getting back to brooklyn for a visit before it go torn down ! Any additional pics would be greatly appreciated.
Great post !!! How wonderful to hear such memories !!! I wonder what it looked like as a movie theater. All I can recall is driving past the poster of “Nabonga” when I was a kid in the early 50s.
I spoke to “The Sheriff of Windsor Terrace” recently and asked him about this theater. He told me that the older residents of the neighborhood remember it well. They told him it was nicknamed the “The Bed Bug” and/or “The Itch”.
The building in the photograph is gone. Now there is some kind of neighborhood center on the site.