Eagle Theater
73-07 37th Road,
Jackson Heights,
NY
11372
73-07 37th Road,
Jackson Heights,
NY
11372
3 people
favorited this theater
Located in the Jackson Heights section of Queens. The Earle Theater was an Art Deco theater, similar in style to the Lane Theatre in Staten Island. This one-time porn house was shuttered for a while and later resurrected as the Eagle Theater. It continues to operate today, showing a healthy dose of Bollywood films.
However, it was closed in May 2009, due to a strike at the film production studios in Mumbai.
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SteveSmith
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Recent comments (view all 82 comments)
Here is a summary of the WSJ story. I doubt any bank branch will keep anything of the interior though I wonder how much of the interior is still there.
Historic Queens theater angles for bank
August 06, 2010 12:30PM
The Eagle Theater
The historic Eagle Theater in Jackson Heights, Queens could see new life as a bank branch, the Wall Street Journal reported. While the 4,000-square-foot theater had successfully operated as a Bollywood movie house for a dozen years, the Mumbai, India film strike spelled disaster for the business. It’s sat empty for several months and now the leaseholder, Shaukat Ali, is looking for a subtenant who’s willing to pony up the $15,000-a-month rent for the ground floor. The bank branch idea appealed to Ali for obvious reasons: “I won’t have any problems collecting the rent,” Ali said.
Here is the link, NFH; however WSJ requires a subscription which why I was reluctant to post it: View link
Is it still sitting vacant? I was sure they would divide it up into ten trashy jewelry stores, or have the finally reached the saturation point with that junk? Every other storefront on 74th St. was that stuff. Even then, when the bar next door to the theatre went out of business, it was divided with 2 jewelry stores on the street level and 2 more in the cellar.
I updated the Street View, which was showing 37th Avenue, not 37th Road. Not sure how recent the photo is.
When I walked by yesterday retail space was being built under the 37th Road marquee. At the back of the theatre on 73rd Street an entrance has been created leading to second floor office space.
As usual, it tells the story of shameful Queens politics. A typical retail establishment could have opened anyplace else. Why here, when the owner has the power to do something creative? Our borough keeps on losing its distinctive culture, only to be predictable and homogenized. Can you please take a few photos, and share them with us? My email is
Those of us who care and cherish these movie theaters appreciate them for what they are. But others only see dollar signs and could care less about their past as a place to escape the dullness of everyday life.
The Earle was the premier “art” movie house in Jackson Heights, always showing the finest independent and foreign movies. Here’s a list of what I remember seeing there: Hiroshima Mon Amour, And God Created Woman, Medium Cool, Alfie. And God .. featured Brigitte Bardot and you had to be at least 16 to see it. I lied about my age and the eager ticket seller let me in. Not a bad movie, actually, very daring for its time. The theater was a beautiful deco piece and very well maintained. That all changed when it turned into a porn venue; it was probably the raunchiest movie house in the neighborhood, the Fair and Polk running close.
Today’s Daily News reports the Eagle will become a grocery and food court.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/eagle-theater-south-asian-grocery-store-food-court-article-1.1021804
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