Levittown Theater
3080 Hempstead Turnpike,
Levittown,
NY
11756
3080 Hempstead Turnpike,
Levittown,
NY
11756
6 people
favorited this theater
For most of its life this was a discount house playing sub-run double features. Later on it was twinned and jumped back and forth between first and second run.
Contributed by
RobertR
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Recent comments (view all 49 comments)
Use to go there in the 50’s and 60’s. Saw Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla, Rodan, Them, Day of the Triffids, Crawling Eye, and every Hammer Horror film ever made. They even had Flash Gordon serials between shows. The place was a babysitter for the neighborhood on Saturdays. Poor ushers! It was like the premiere scene from Ed Wood, with hails of Jujube’s and Good & Plenty’s flying through the air at the poor schmuck unlucky enough to have the flashlight. The bathrooms were foul, but the popcorn had real butter. I also miss Jahn’s ice cream parlor next door to the old Meadowbrook theatre. That was the site of everyone’s first date. If you could finish the humongous “Kitchen Sink” ice cream extravaganza, you didn’t have to pay the $6 it cost. It came in a cardboard sink. people ran outside in a hurry if the sink began to “back up” barf-wise. Levittown kids were blessed in all departments back then. So many things to do, and cheaply too. It was a different America in many ways. It was WAAAAAY better for kids in a lot of aspects. We all ran wild in the asphalt streets without worrying about kidnappers, molesters, gangbangers or crackheads. I used to skateboard all over the May’s Mall area with my buddies from Division Avenue. Gilgo Beach surf-rats one and all.
What you say, Jojojo77, about those days is very true. I lived down Hempstead Turnpike from Levittown, in the village of Hempstead in the late 60’s. I was 8, 9, 10 years old, white, and used to walk into downtown Hempstead to matinees at the Calderone, Rivoli, and Hempstead theatres — alone, and I don’t remember it ever crossing my mind that I’d be kidnapped or molested, maybe beaten up by slightly older kids, especially blacks, but that was it. Those really were the lates days in America when kids could enjoy that kind of freedom.
Don’t forget the RKO Hollywood
how about the soft-core “t*tty” flicks at the “Fine Arts” in Hempstead? A true educational experience for us sheltered suburban innocents. Pretty lightweight compared to today’s super-smut…
I was an usher for almost two years starting in June of ‘75. It was more quaint then sleazy in those days. One summer we had the Disney festival and babysat every kiddie in Levittown for six weeks. And all were wearing Fonzie t shirts. Had great runs of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Blazing Saddles”. We would trade free tickets with the Chinese resturaunt down the street. We had to turn away the single patron who showed up to watch the last showing of “Benji” two nights in a row. Almost got fired for wording the marquee out front from “Three Days of the Condor” to Three Days of the Condom". Thursday night was the porters night off and the ushers would clean the theater. So we would get drunk and spend four hours doing a one hour job. Ah, those were the days.
Ahh…those Disney Summer Festivals. We had them here in Jersey too. Rainy days were the WORST. 600 kids would show up to a 400 seat theatre. But, as I have said elsewhere here on CT, and as stated above, ‘those WERE the days’ and I’m sorry to say they will never, ever return.
Did anyone else notice that the ad posted here for the movie “Volunteers” misspelled Tom Hanks and made him “Tom Hawks”?
Grand opening ad Sept 18, 1957 added to photos.
I remember $2 Tuesday’s here, I think I saw back to the future III here, the only flick i saw there that stands out in my mind.
In the 1990s, they used to do children’s birthday parties at this theater. If you had your party here, you received a year’s free pass to the theater for your entire family. Sweet deal. They also put your name on the marquee AND gave you a video.
I had my 10th birthday here in 1991. They showed “Edward Scissorhands.” I also had my 12th birthday here in 1993 – they showed “The Mighty Ducks.” Great place. Definitely miss it.