Colony Theatre

In the 60s, I went to the Colony the most. One event was showing epic ‘Gone with the Wind’ across two afternoons. Mom said I had to see this on the big screen (same with ‘Wizard of Oz’ at the Midway). Mom told me as a teenager she used to ‘fish’ for people’s hats from the Colony’s balcony with string and gum. Other stores on 82st were Danow’s card shop (1, then 2 locations!), Jamaica Saving Bank (moved from 81st when Field’s expanded into their space), Household Finance and Beneficial Finance, Burger Nest, Kresge’s, Drs Rosenkrans and Adler (oral surgeons), Barricini candy.

And per my comment on the Jackson this is an ongoing problem. And just look at the nearby theatres listed. The Cameo was on Steinway Street in Astoria!!!

I grew up in Jackson Heights in the 1950s and saw a few movies at the Colony, including High Noon, Disney’s The Living Desert, and at least one of Ingmar Bergman’s films. The Colony was one of two “art houses” in the neighborhood, the other being the Earle on 74th Street.

The entrance and marquee of the Colony Theatre were just to the right of the Game Stop store in the Google Maps view. The space is occupied in the Google Maps view by Foot Locker and a small jewelry store. The auditorium ran parallel to 82nd Street, but had stores in front of the 82nd Street wall.

Thank you for updating the theater’s address on this thread, as well as the write-up.

Tinseltoes: Thank you for sharing this very impressive vintage image.

Here is a photo of the Colony today, May 3, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeldj/3498753416/

I had been to the Colony many times, the first time was to see the double Feature of “West Side Story” and “In The Heat Of The Night”. What i remember most of that first time was that inside the theater by the refreshment stand in the lobby was a second marquee which told us the upcoming attractions at the theater. I also the Frank Sinatra film “Dirsty Dingus Magree” there with an advance preview of Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. I also saw the third Sidney Poitier Virgil Tibbs film “The Organization” with an advance preview of the george Segal drug film, “Born To Win”. Later on on saw the second Dirty Harry film, “Magnum Force” with “The Last Of Sheila”.

Lost Memory mentioned an address of 37-27 82nd Street back in September 2006. That’s the listing for the theater in the 1959 yellow pages. It looks like the current occupant at 37-27 is a women’s clothing store.
http://tinyurl.com/5t6apc

I guess I was wrong. When I moved to Jackson Hts. in 1971 it was a funeral home. I seem to recall reading some years ago that it was a theater and it looks like a small nabe, at least when you can’t see the roof.
Eighty first St. at that location was never Shelton Ave. It was cut through around 1911 and was originally called 24th St.
Kurt M.

Warren is correct the theatre entrance was under the window. When it was first converted the store occupying the lobby area was “Parade of Shoes”, which has now apparently moved out. In the second photo, next to the ABC store is a $5 Store. The back of that store was knocked through into the former Colony auditorium. Between the ABC and $5 store is an alleyway, where the fire exits from the theatre were.

The address of the property that Kurt M references is 80-20 Roosevelt Avenue and was a funeral parlor and mortuary since as far back as 1956 when the C/O for same was issued. The C/O indicates the alteration of an existing building – and the timing is certainly right for the closure and conversion of a former nabe. The “bin” for this lot on NYC’s Building Department website also contains a C/O for a dwelling and store issued in 1931, but it seems to be referencing a Shelton Ave in the address. Was this an archaic name for 81st Street? This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run across an errant C/O in the wrong property bin on that website. And I see no newer C/O converting from funeral home to restaurant.

I can’t get a good view of the front facade from local.live.com due to the elevated IRT tracks, but the building profile from the air does not seem to indicate that the structure was built as a cinema. While the structure may be big enough to have once contained a small theater, the two story structure features a flat roof with parapet wall, rather than the usual peaked roof seen in most purpose-built auditoriums. KurtM… how did you come to understand that this was ever a theater?

At the moment I am upstate and can’t check. The building is on the south west corner of Roosevelt Ave and Eighty First St. There is a Latino restaurnt there now, formerly called Gus' Chicken.
Kurt M.