RKO Alden Theatre
165-16 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
165-16 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
10 people
favorited this theater
Located on Jamaica Avenue at 165th Street in the Jamaica section of Queens. The Shubert Jamaica Theatre was opened on December 31, 1928, as a live theatre for the Shubert Brothers. It was not a great success, and after a short period as a burlesque theatre, was soon renamed Alden Theatre, operating as a movie theatre. It was taken over by the RKO Theatres chain in the mid-1930’s. It was last operated as a quad many years ago.
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SteveSmith
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Recent comments (view all 166 comments)
Hi, I just found this wonderful site and here’s my story. In June of 1960 upon completion of our freshman year at Richmond Hill HS, my friend Alan Wood and I went to EVERY movie theatre in Jamaica looking for work. Alan was hired but I had to wait until September when I turned 16. We were hired by the manager, Mr. LaRocca. Some of the people who were already working there included HEAD Usher, Jimmy Ward, two lovely old matrons (who loved to drink), Tony Sacco, porter, Malverna, cashier, Patricia, the candy counter girl and an elderly doorman. Alan and I quickly became friends with everyone especially Jimmy Ward who was 18 and could proof us at the local bar ajacent to the 165th St. train station, The Paddock Bar. We continued working there thru graduation in June of 1963. During that time we had our friends/classmates Sonny Spiller, his girl friend Rosann DeGruccio and my almost girl friend, Emma Haines. Being an usher is a lonely job, often times boring after you have seen Gypsy 40 times! So part of the fun was exploring the old vaudville back stage dressing rooms where we would find old movie posters, accounting ledgers with hand written accounts of weekly takes from the different stage shows and films. The stage itself was a wonderful array(?) of electrical switches and ropes for the curtains and scenery. Lastly, if Brooklyn Jim is around, I went to Saint Michael’s in East New York.
The address ribbon across the top of the introduction has one “Jamaica” too many. And why include a Flushing cinema as a “Nearby Theater” when several theatres right there in Jamaica are unlisted, such as the Merrick, Savoy, Skouras Jamaica, and Loew’s Hillside?
More importantly, some of the introductory “facts” need to be corrected. Herbert J. Krapp was the architect (not Charles Sandblom). The theatre first opened as the Shubert Jamaica on 12/31/28. It quickly flopped as a “legit” playhouse and had a brief flirtation with burlesque before an indie management took over and turned it into a cinema called the Alden. RKO bought control in the mid-1930s, when the theatre finally became the RKO Alden.
I doubt the interior is still intact. I remember going to a DMV office located in what probably was the auditorium. As I recall the lobby was located on Jamaica and the theatre on the side street. Does anyone know what the interior was like?
I posted an image of the auditorium in the Photos Section for this listing. I have a feeling that many readers are missing the photos because most of them are not displayed as part of this page. And I don’t think that alerts are sent out as they are for the comments page. Unless one goes to the Photo Section, you won’t know what new photos have been posted. I’ve also noticed that since the Photos Section was added, we seem to have attracted a new sort of member who only posts photos and rarely or never makes comments.
What’s wrong with that? We need more photos and less of some of the comments.
I think TT’s point that visitors to this site can easily overlook the picture sections and just go straight to the comment section is well taken and that it makes sense to remind us of this resourse. (I know that I was quite slow in appreciating the value of the photo section when CT was upgraded.) So let’s both encourage the posting of new pictures as well as good comments in going forward.
On Monday 1 January 1951, Bela “Dracula” Lugosi presented his in person Horror and Magic Stage show at RKO Alden. Currently I am conducting research on all things Lugosi; if anyone out there actually saw this show and/or has memorabilia (poster, handbill, photos) related to this show, please contact Bill at Thanks in advance for any assistance!
LugosiResearch,
I believe that Bela Lugosi did the same show at the RKO Keith’s in Richmond Hill.
“Willburg145 on October 5, 2012 at 4:11 pm I doubt the interior is still intact. I remember going to a DMV office located in what probably was the auditorium. As I recall the lobby was located on Jamaica and the theatre on the side street. Does anyone know what the interior was like?”
I had the MISFORTUNE of working as a projectionist at the Alden for a few years after it was “quaded”. The motor vehicle office was NOT in the theatre building, it was a separate NEW building.