Long Beach Cinema 4
179 East Park Avenue,
Long Beach,
NY
11561
179 East Park Avenue,
Long Beach,
NY
11561
1 person
favorited this theater
In the 1970’s, this was the Lido Theater. I drove out to this theater because they were running a horror triple bill of three Hammer classics from the 1960’s. The theater was as decrepit as could be, but had the most incredible neon marquee. I wish I had a picture of it, because for a small neighborhood house it was quite special.
The theater closed and the neighborhoods improvement saw another owner reopen it as the Park Avenue Theater. They later twinned it and then quaded it. The most recent owners have renamed it Long Beach Cinema 4.
It was suddenly closed in April 2011, but reopened shortly thereafter. It was closed in November 2012 due to flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Contributed by
robertr
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From Long Beach Herald:
On April 1, Long Beach resident George Ennis, who hosts the annual George Ennis Film Festival, said he had booked the theater at Long Beach Cinemas at 179 E. Park Ave., where he planned to hold a pre-screening of the festival’s short films on May 25.
Ennis said that the pre-screening event â€" a lead-in to the film festival on June 5 at the Cabana, that also raises money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation â€" was expected to attract about 150 people to view the roughly 10 to 12 short films that would be presented at the festival and showcase the work of amateur and professional filmmakers.
“A lot of people were looking forward to it,†Ennis said. “Having [the pre-screening] at the theater put a little bit more legitimacy to the film festival.â€
So Ennis said it came as a shock when the movie theater manager told him that the event would have to be canceled. The manager, Ennis said, informed him that theater’s owners had abruptly closed the business the night before. On Thursday, the theater’s coming attraction posters and movie listings were removed, and the lights inside the building were off.
“I went by [Thursday] and wanted to ask [the manager] a question,†Ennis said. “When I saw there was no coming attraction signs, I knew something was fishy.â€
Ennis said the manager later contacted him to apologize and explained what had happened.
“Evidently the owners came in the middle of the night and said ‘we’re wrapping it up,’†Ennis said. “Who knew that two days ago, driving by the theater, that they were going to pull the rug out.â€
The abrupt closure came as a shock to many residents, Ennis said, adding that even the manager seemed a bit unsure as to why the owners closed the business without any notice. Neither the manager nor the building’s owner, Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, returned calls for comment on Friday. City Manager Charles Theofan could not be reached for comment on Friday. Another city official with the building department said on Friday that he was not sure why the theater had closedOn April 1, Long Beach resident George Ennis, who hosts the annual George Ennis Film Festival, said he had booked the theater at Long Beach Cinemas at 179 E. Park Ave., where he planned to hold a pre-screening of the festival’s short films on May 25.
Ennis said that the pre-screening event â€" a lead-in to the film festival on June 5 at the Cabana, that also raises money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation â€" was expected to attract about 150 people to view the roughly 10 to 12 short films that would be presented at the festival and showcase the work of amateur and professional filmmakers.
“A lot of people were looking forward to it,†Ennis said. “Having [the pre-screening] at the theater put a little bit more legitimacy to the film festival.â€
So Ennis said it came as a shock when the movie theater manager told him that the event would have to be canceled. The manager, Ennis said, informed him that theater’s owners had abruptly closed the business the night before. On Thursday, the theater’s coming attraction posters and movie listings were removed, and the lights inside the building were off.
“I went by [Thursday] and wanted to ask [the manager] a question,†Ennis said. “When I saw there was no coming attraction signs, I knew something was fishy.â€
Ennis said the manager later contacted him to apologize and explained what had happened.
“Evidently the owners came in the middle of the night and said ‘we’re wrapping it up,’†Ennis said. “Who knew that two days ago, driving by the theater, that they were going to pull the rug out.â€
The abrupt closure came as a shock to many residents, Ennis said, adding that even the manager seemed a bit unsure as to why the owners closed the business without any notice. Neither the manager nor the building’s owner, Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, returned calls for comment on Friday. City Manager Charles Theofan could not be reached for comment on Friday. Another city official with the building department said on Friday that he was not sure why the theater had closed. Ennis said that he was given no indication that the theater was in danger of shutting its doors.
Ennis said that he was given no indication that the theater was in danger of shutting its doors.
“I’ve been talking to the manager on a weekly basis â€" there was no indication that it would close,†Ennis said. “The manager didn’t really get into why it closed that much, but I can only guess that it was for financial reasons.â€
For many years, Long Beach Cinema, the only movie theater in Long Beach, was located at the corner of Long Beach Road and Park Avenue. The theater boasts four movie screens and is located on the former site of the Lido Theater, said Carole Shahda Geraci, of the Long Beach Historical and Preservation Society.
Ennis acknowledged that, as of Friday, it was still unclear if the theater was shutting its doors permanently. “The manager said that he couldn’t tell me for sure that it was going to reopen in a few weeks, but he said that it didn’t look that way,†Ennis said.
Now, Ennis said that his pre-screening benefit may be relocated to the Cabana, and said that the theater’s closure is a bit of a letdown.
“It’s a little difficult â€" this would have put [the event] in a much more conducive atmosphere to concentrate on the films,†Ennis said. “And it’s going to hurt a little from a contribution standpoint.â€
Check out next week’s issue of the Herald for expanded coverage.
Link includes a photo.
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Why closed the theater before you sign a redevelopment deal?
Test of NY Post article dated 6/3/11:
ong Beach, LI, is getting its movie theater back.
The beach town’s four-screen cinema is reopening after mysteriously closing in late April.
Its owner, PL Long Beach LLC, announced today that the theater would reopen June 10 after undergoing renovations that include a new 3-D screen.
When the theater closed, residents were left to wonder what had happened. Signs were simply taken down and the glass covered up with paper. Town officials were even were unaware about what had happened.
The theater’s owner said today that it planned to lease the space out for retail stores but changed direction after the community made it clear it wanted a place to see movies. Long Beach Cinema is the only theater in the town.
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The comment by saps, December 20, 2006, suggests that the Lido Theatre might have been demolished and replaced by an entirely new building. Judging from the bird’s-eye view of the building at Bing Maps, the original theater building’s shell, including the roof, still exists.
The Cinema 4 occupies two buildings, and it looks like the one at the corner of Long Beach Boulevard could be of recent construction, but the original auditorium building still has a gabled roof, the peak of which can be glimpsed in this 1951 photo (the same photo lost memory linked to early in this thread.) An entirely new building would not have that sort of roof.
The photo shows only a small part of the corner building, but it’s clear that it was once lower than the theater. The current street view shows that it is now the same height. My guess would be that the original corner building was demolished, rather than extended upward, and an addition to the theater was built on its site.
I also suspect that, as the theater’s footprint was just about doubled by the addition, its current seating capacity is probably more than the 540 this page currently lists, even taking into consideration the likelihood that the current seats are larger than the Lido’s seats were, and the rows probably spaced farther apart.
I telephoned this evening. A recorded message states that the theater will have a “grand reopening on Friday June 10th”, and no further information.
So did the theater reopen?
Newsday carried movie times in the June 26, 2011 paper, so, presumably, it’s open. Whether it opened on the 10th is a moot point so long as it’s open.
Currently closed as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the owners have indicated that the theater will eventually reopen: View article
Still closed — doors, marquee and display cases all covered in plywood.
The Long Beach Cinema remains closed, having been damaged by three feet of flood waters. Local newspaper reports that a leaky roof caused substantial damage to projection equipment.
As mentioned in posts above, the west side of the structure was built in the original shell of the Lido Theater. The entire interior was cleared out – gutted with little remaining other than the roof and west wall. The eastern half of the building is indeed new construction, replacing a single story frame real estate office.