Alpine Theatre
6817 Fifth Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11220
6817 Fifth Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11220
14 people
favorited this theater
The Alpine Theatre in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was originally a Loew’s theatre and first opened on June 6, 1921. Its building cost, according to Variety of 6/10/21, was $420,000, including the real estate. Carlson & Wiseman were the architects.
At the time, the Alpine Theatre was the first Loew’s theatre anywhere with its entire seating capacity (2,200) on one floor, without a balcony or gallery. The tapered auditorium was 100 feet at its widest, with the last of the 55 rows of seats about 76 feet from the screen. The stage had no fly gallery or grid-iron, but had an apron just large enough to accommodate a vocalist or musical instrumentalist between film showings. Variety described the Alpine Theatre’s interior as “decorated in a tan and gold color scheme, the general atmosphere created being one of brightness. The side walls are paneled and painted in an imitation of tapestry. The floors are carpeted with red velvet. A good system of floor pitch gives a clear view of the screen from any part of the house.”
The opening program at the Alpine Theatre was Paramount’s “City of Silent Men”, plus shorts and a newsreel. Music was provided by a resident orchestra of twelve, including an organist. The admission price was 15 cents for weekday matinees and 25 cents at night and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
At the time, the Alpine Theatre’s nearest opposition was Fox’s Bay Ridge Theatre. Loew’s eventually took over the Bay Ridge Theatre and made it second-run to the Alpine Theatre.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 175 comments)
Just read an article about the Alpine. It seems that as of a few years ago Jeffrey Deneroff still owned the building which is the Alpine.
Al, While you know that I agree that Bernie Goldberg was an a-hole (by the same token, Garth Drabinsky and Steve Wiener (who personally I liked), were no bargains either.
What’s all this “There was no such intentional preference against the Alpine. The Fortway just had access to an ethnic audience that Bay Ridge police intimidated at the Alpine. Blacks and hispanics were simply not welcome in the streets of Bay Ridge in the evenings, even as late as the late nineties, so movies with wide appeal went to the Fortway first” all about?
I must have missed all that shit. All I know is that EVERY TIME I had to do work at the Fortway, if I parked in the back, when I came out my window was smashed and my radio gone.
“DJM78 on January 7, 2012 at 11:55 pm Just read an article about the Alpine. It seems that as of a few years ago Jeffrey Deneroff still owned the building which is the Alpine.”
That could be, I haven’t kept up with it. I know that Nick Nicolaou was leasing the Alpine from Golden after Loews Cineplex (or whatever they were calling themselves at that point) gave up the theatre. He still there as far as I know. I wonder if he’s converted to DCI….or how many theatres has he converted?
Techman, you may have noticed that minority audiences were rare at the Alpine and that the grosses reflected their reluctance to come into Bay Ridge at night. Even our ethnic Alpine employees had problems with the local police.
The Fortway attracted the Sunset crowd and had some problems. That is the price we paid for higher grosses.
You are correct about Garth Drabinsky and he now has the criminal record to prove it.
AlAlvarez-Hello Sir. Would you be the same AlAlvarez who was a district manager for Cineplex Odeon? I grew up in Bay Ridge and worked in the Fortway. THe “Bay Ridge Police” you refer to are the officers of the 68 Pct. The 68 Pct covers both the Alpine and former Fortway. The two theaters are roughly ten blocks apart. I don’t see why the “Bay Ridge Police” would intimidate a group in one place and not intimidate that same group ten blocks away at a similar venue.
I am.
They only harassed people on the Bay Ridge side of the Gowanus. Didn’t you ever wonder why Spike Lee movies played to all white audiences at the Alpine? Or why horror and big action movies always did better at the Fortway even if they were move-overs from the Alpine?
Al, To be honest, I really never noticed or even thought about “who” comprised the customers at the Alpine. If there was any trouble at the Alpine, I was TOTALLY unaware of it. Since I would regularly speak to some of the security people (who as you know were all off duty cops), they never mentioned any problems downstairs. I’m really surprised and saddened to hear that any Alpine employees had any problems with the local police. I would have thought that if any employees had any problems with local police, the security cops could straighten it out for them (of course it depends on the type of problem). Unlike other theatres where local police would “hide out” in the balcony in cold weather, I never saw any local police even come into the Alpine. I just assumed that with all the off duty cops that were hired as “security”, there was never any reason for local police to be around.
As you know, I stopped working at the Alpine in 1996, so I wouldn’t have been aware of anything that might have taken place after that time and would have been unaware of anything that took place at the Fortway after I stopped doing service for GTM in 1988. However, from your description, it doesn’t sound good and I’m sorry to hear about it. It’s something that I really wish I didn’t hear about.
In any event, have a HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR.
“AlAlvarez on January 8, 2012 at 1:59pm
I am."
LOL- Al, when I saw this post it made me think about “The Ten Commandments” when Charlton Heston is on the mountain and he says “Who should I tell them sent me?” And you hear a voice that says “I am that I am….you can tell them I AM sent you.”
Or “Popeye”.
Popeye used to say “I ams what I am and that’s all thats I am….I’m Popeye the Sailor Man”-toot toot.