Maspeth Theatre
69-20 Grand Avenue,
Maspeth,
NY
11378
69-20 Grand Avenue,
Maspeth,
NY
11378
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 102 comments found
My pleasure Bway. By the way ct I like the new web design. Good job.
Hahaha! Thanks for getting of the Expressway and fixing it! I have up after some minutes on the expressway where the view originally left us!
After being a reader of ct for years I decided to officially sign up after 30 minutes of searching the google map, getting off the expressway, and finding the Maspeth. Left NY 33 years ago but I still remember taking my mom to the Maspeth 3 times a week for bingo.
Yes, I tried to fix it too, but it doesn’t let you get off the Long Island Expressway and onto Grand Ave where the street view belongs. This one will have to require an administrative “fix”, as the link to the street view is WAY off
The current view is way off the mark! I don’t know how to correct it.
“He Walked By Night” & “Let’s Live a Little” opened at the Maspeth Theatre on May 30th, 1949. according to advertising in the Long Island Press. By that time, the Maspeth had been upped in “clearance” and was playing day-and-date with the third-tier of Loew’s theatres (Woodside, Willard, Hillside, Prospect, Plaza). That’s probably the reason for the multi-colored flags above the marquee and entrance. If the photo had been taken much later, the Maspeth probably would also have had “Air-Conditioned” banners hanging from the marquee.
Well, I guess it has now been displayed three times!
That 1949 photo has been displayed here at least twice before, most recently on 12/5/09 when it was part of an exhibit at the Q Gardens Gallery.
I did a little research and found that the photo was almost certainly shot in the spring or summer of 1949. While both films on the double bill were released in 1948, “He Walked by Night” opened on November 24th of that year. Since the Maspeth was decidedly not a first run theater – and since I clearly doubt that summer arrived in December, 1948 – the films most probably came to Maspeth about six months after being released.
A bit more trivia about these films: (1) the Bob Cummings film – “Let’s Live a Little” – also starred Hedy Lamarr, who played a shrink, and (2) it has been alleged that one of the the other film’s supporting players, Jack Webb, used “He Walked by Night’s” story line as a prototype for a project he was developing – called Dragnet. Well, those are the facts maam!
Thanks for the terrific picture. It not only evokes the time, which I guess was late 40’s/early 50’s, but provides a picture of Grand Avenue in Maspeth before it was rudely cut in two by the LIE.
Thanks again.
Here is a photo I picked up on Ebay
View link
I lived on 69th Steet (formerly Juniper Avenue) about half-way brtwwen Grand Avenue to the North & Metropolitan Avenue to the South for almost 30 years. I often ate in the Junpier Diner as a teen-ager. They made the best Salisbury steak! I also worked in the Maspeth Theatre in 1948-49.
Mario the Dinerguy
DonT -
Yes – I am a Diner-holic and love to hear about diners.
Mario the Dinerguy
Mariothedinerguy, are you the person that asked about the Juniper Diner?
The Meriden is listed here: /theaters/9226/
The Crescent also has a CT listing.
The Crescent Theater was there, too.
Make a new listing with your memories
Anyone remember the Meriden Theater on Astoria Square in Astoria, Queens, NYC?
Of course, I meant – pix.
TWO GREAT PIX !!!
I can’t count the number of times I walked under the Maspeth Movie marquee. I lived on 69th Street for 30 years and worked in the theatre in 1948-49. The trolley car is part of the Flushing-Ridgerwood Trolley Line.
The 2nd pix is the corner of Austin Street & Continental Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens. I lived on Ascan Avenue near Austin Street for 4 years in the late 1990s.
What memories these pox bring!
This 1949 photo will be on display at Q Gardens Gallery on Lefferts Boulevard in Kew Gardens from December 11, as part of a show devoted to Maspeth and Middle Village:
View link
More information about the gallery is here: www.qgardensgallery.com
Here is a circa 1941 photo that shows the Maspeth Theater.
I think so.
Thanx.
Mario
I think so.
Thanx.
Mario
There is the Brandon Cinemas on Austin St which used to be the Continental? is that the one you mean?