Brentwood Theater
1825 Brentwood Road,
Brentwood,
NY
11717
1825 Brentwood Road,
Brentwood,
NY
11717
2 people
favorited this theater
The Brentwood movie theater has received a second life showing Bollywood films in 70mm on their huge, curvalon-style screen.
“It appears that this theater might have been constructed as a D-150/Cinemascope/Cinerama theater, although I was unable to confirm this.”
Contributed by
SteveSmith
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
As I promised myself a few weeks back, I got back to the Brentwood this morning with camera in hand and snapped about two dozen photos. The owner is gutting the place for re-use as a commercial space of some kind. While I was snapping away, I spotted a worker coming around from the back of the building and tried to ask him some questions, but he spoke very little english. A few moments later, he was back outside and handed me his cell phone. Apparently, he was concerned to see me snapping away and called the owner – who was curious as to my intentions and asked to speak to me. I didn’t get a name, but I spoke to a very nice – but very puzzled – woman who wanted to know exactly what I was up to. I explained that I was a movie theatre buff and that the photos were for my own private collection and possibly to post online in a theatre forum. She was dubious at first and couldn’t understand my interest in the building since it was no longer a theatre, but I guess I convinced her that I had no agenda of any kind. She took my email address and first name and I told her I’d be happy to send her copies (and encouraged her to let me know when work was complete so I could photograph the finished refurbishment). She wouldn’t elaborate on the proposed new use for the building and I really couldn’t sort it out from this stage of the rehab work.
The two-story glass front lobby has been partially boarded up and is in the process of being replaced with cinderblock (I presume this is a temporary measure to protect against the elements). The former lobby space has been opened up to the former auditorium – which has been gutted to the bare brick walls and the steel framework of the ceiling. I guess if a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll just shut up and post ‘em here:
Here’s a link to the first photo in the album. Just click on the “next” button from there. That probably works easier than linking to each of the 24 images separately. In several of the photos, you’ll see the last remnant of the upper lobby wall at the far left of the building just over the former box office. The doorway into the balcony seating is still there. This is the last interior remnant of the old theatre.
Just occurred to me that the status should be changed to “Closed” – an update that is long overdue.
I cant believe its gone it had more lives than a cat……….
This was my local theater in the 70s-early 80s and I saw so many movies there—Blue Water White Death, Charlotte’s Web, Jaws, Grease, Escape From Alcatraz, Empire Strikes Back, History of the World Part 1, Poltergeist among others. The last time I was there was in 1986 and saw Short Circuit. I never sat in the balcony—it was always closed whenever I went there. They had this tiny concession stand. After the Commack Multiplex opened, this place was doomed. The area is horrible now.
The area isn’t horrible. It’s perfectly fine. It’s just heavily hispanic, particularly with many immigrants from El Salvador. The building now has new life as the Brentwood Soccer Academy.
I think I saw “Spinal Tap ” here because it was one of the few theaters showing it at the time —anyone else remember ? 1986 ??
Oops. 1984
I just uploaded a couple of photos of the Brentwood Theatre from the late 1980s. The entire front is boarded up because it was all glass. Note the similarity of the building to that of the Bay Shore Cinema (the theater referred to on the road-side marquee of Brentwood).
For anyone interested, I uploaded a photo of the theatre cum soccer academy taken this past weekend just before Hurricane Irene.
Looks like by early 1985 Brentwood was getting films at the tail end of the first run. The January 28, 1985 issue of New York Magazine lists The Terminator (which hit theaters in October 1984) as playing there for a few more days with City Heat (which opened in early December) scheduled to be there as of January 25.