Calderone Theater
145 N. Franklin Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
145 N. Franklin Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
5 people
favorited this theater
Named after its owner, the Calderone was the last to be constructed by this family chain on Long Island, around 1948-49.
Over the years it operated dually as a movie house and concert venue. Throughout the 1970’s and into the early-1980’s, the Calderone Theater played to packed houses, booking the likes of The Dead, Aerosmith, etc. As the neighborhood fell under bad times, so did the Calderone Theater.
The theater went through a series of uses and operators over the last 20 years, ultimately getting split up into a 7 screen multiplex. It has most recently been taken over by a local church that is in the process of restoring the auditorium for their congregation.
Contributed by
SteveSmith
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Recent comments (view all 42 comments)
The pictures you have are of the Rivoli Theater which was located just up the block from the Calderone. The Rivoli was know as the Calderone 2 for a period to try to change the bad image it had for may years. It did not work… The theater has been demolished.
According to an article in the August 26, 1949 Newsday, the opening night proceeds of $ 3,568 were turned over to the local Community Chest by the Skouras Theatre Corp.
What was the name of the opening band for Hot Tuna on May 4, 1975?
There are a plethora of images of the Calderone Theatre (as well as other Long Island theatres built by the Calderones) on the excellent Long Island Library Resources Council’s Long Island Memories website – where a sample of photographic collections from various regional libraries have been digitized for easy access. Among the collections is one that focuses on the Calderones from the Hofstra University Library’s archives.
This image of the Calderone’s auditorium under construction starts off the series of images pertaining particularly to this theatre. You may click anywhere on the image to zoom in for a closer look. Click on the thumbnail image to move the “red box” around and change the area of detail viewed in the larger image. You may advance to the next image by clicking “Next” in the upper right side of the page header.
Excellent images well worth spending the time to peruse. And once you move past the Calderone Theatre itself, a number of other Calderone projects may be found, including the Mineola Theatre, the Cove Theatre, the Hempstead Theatre and others.
Never was in the theatre but went for a job interview in office space which was included in the theatre complex. I was negatively impressed by the apparently cheap construction. The floors in the hallways actually moved underfoot.
If the floors were carpeted, that might have been the reason, rather than cheap construction of the building. It could have been the carpeting or padding underneath it.
It was cheap carpet too.
in 1979 I appeared in a live stage show here. It was sort of odd being on the stage after having seen movies here
used to go there in the 50s, brings back memories.
When the Skouras Calderone had its grand opening on the night of June 21, 1949, Newsday described it as “America’s largest postwar theater,” with a construction cost of about $1,350,000. Proceeds from that night’s gala were contributed to the Hempstead Community Chest. 20th Century-Fox, which had a corporate connection to Skouras Theatres, provided a sneak preview of its Technicolor musical, “You’re My Everything,” which was due to open later that summer in NYC at the Roxy Theatre. The Calderone opened to the public the next day, with a double feature of MGM’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” a Technicolor musical with Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, and Frank Sinatra, and Screen Guild’s B&W “I Shot Jesse James.”