Old Bethpage Theatre

My pleasure Sir, any time! Love re-living it!

I hear that Mike, proud to be in the age group I am…

Hello Friend, my projection experience was from 1993 through ‘98, which was real late in the game, and I worked the Long Beach, Oceanside, Malvern, and interned at the Green Acres theater. I practiced in many a booth, was in the Hewlett Theater booth in'79, but my best stories really come from the guys who trained me. I was a patron of movies and virtually lived in the theaters through the very late 70’s and early 80’s.

Wow. Haven’t been on this page in 5 years! Glad to see the activity here. So, where in the shopping center was this little cinema located? In the “L” shaped corner? Or out on the end somewhere?

As a kid in the late 70s and early 80s, I remember riding my bike to this theatre (and left it outide unlocked!) The last movie that played here was 1986’s The Money Pit. The theatre closed after that run, and that movie poster hung in the window for quite some time. I then started working at Richie’s Discount right next door, and remember seeing them pulling all the theatre seats out and bringing in new ones to a new playhouse, around 1989. I went to see the very first performance there, it was Evita, which as a 14 year old kid, thought it was awful, but I just wanted to see the inside of the theatre. This space operated as a live performance venue for many years under a few different names. Most recently, it was the Cultural Arts Playhouse, which has since moved up Old Country Road in Plainview. Currently, there is a sign in the window that says “Gym Coming Soon”. The box office lobby has remained in tact all these years, even the phone booth in the front corner. However, I’m sure it will all be torn out, if they are building a gym.