Green Acres Cinemas
610 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
610 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
4 people
favorited this theater
This was one of the Century chains premiere Long Island theaters. It always played big movies and I remember seeing “The Towering Inferno” here in 70mm. Century first cut it up to three screens.
RKO and later Cineplex had stiff competition here because National Amusements built the Sunrise Sixplex which is now up to 25 screens. National Amusements eventually aquired this theater and booked the more upscale product here.
The Green Acres Cinemas was closed on September 18, 2011, and was demolished in May-June 2012.
Contributed by
RobertR
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Recent comments (view all 64 comments)
Many of the old theatres had downstair dressing rooms and cages for animal acts. Before they levelled and rebuilt the Southampton they used some of the downstairs area for an additional auditorium. The entrance was separate from the lobby. Stairs descending from the outside, albeit covered by a canopy.
Another great LI movie theater gone. This closing really hits home with me because after all these years, this theater is the one I remember the most and where I really fell in love with movies. When it was a single screen theater, it was not ornate like the older theaters built in the 20s but there was just something spectacular about it. The front entrance had a really long marquee that ran along the entire north side facing Sunrise Highway. There was this beautiful rich red tile at the entrance. For some reason, going to a movie here really meant something to me. I can still recall the excitement of going there and just seeing the theater made me feel good. It’s a fond memory that I suspect a lot of us here on this site can relate to. I’ve probably related the movies I saw here in other posts but the two that stand out were “Mary Poppins” during its re-release in (I think) 1974 and “Jaws” in 1975. We waited on line for both movies and I remember everyone in the theater screaming when the guys head rolls out of the boat in “Jaws”. To hear an audience that large collectively scream is something wonderful.
One last comment: when it was made into a triplex and then a six screen multiplex, it was one of the better reconstruction jobs. When the six screen facility opened, it was actually extremely nice though the theaters were small.
I was very sad to see this wonderful theater close!The staff were friendly and polite. We enjoyed going to this theater because it was more cozier, clean and less crowded. We now only go to the Sunrise during the weekday- forget the weekends! Too crowed.Please tell the Owner that we thank you for all the good times. Sorry to see you close :–(
I drove by today and saw that two of the front glass doors were busted wide open. Really shocking looking — no plywood repairs or anything.
I wonder who is in control of this theater.
Should be National Amusements. When they closed the Brookhaven and Commack Multiplexes they boarded them up.
There is now a fence around the place with a sign that says “Coming soon, Olive Garden Resturant.
Ugh.
Always amazes me that people in New York actually go to a place like Olvie Garden. You can get superior Italian food from the kitchen of your local pizzeria, in these parts! I can understand in Manhattan, around Times Square, say, where you have a lot of tourists looking for something familiar and predictable… but in the local neighborhoods? Anyway, whatever greatness this theater once had was greatly diminished when this was triplexed – and later completely obliterated when it was gutted for mutli-plexing. Turning it into an ersatz ristorante can’t possibly do any more damage to the long-deceased Century’s Green Acres Theatre.
They are demolishing this building down to the ground, it seems — it’s horrifying yet fascinating. I hope someone (hint, hint) can get some photos posted here of this debasement while it’s happening. A truly shocking sight.