Alpine Cinema

The Alpine Theatre in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was opened on June 6, 1921 by Loew’s Inc. The opening program 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 & Sunday. Its building cost, according to Variety of June 10, 1921, 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 panelled 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.

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.

The Alpine Theatre was twinned on November 13, 1976 and was converted into seven screens on January 17 1986. Loew’s sold the theatre to Golden Theatres in fall of 1986. By 2015 an eighth screen had been added. It is independently operated.

Recent comments (view all 197 comments)

ridethectrain on October 29, 2020 at 3:44 pm

After Loews Theatres had the theatre, Golden Theatres made it seven screens prior to Cineplex Odeon acquisition of Golden Theatres.

NewYorkToursbyGary on January 1, 2021 at 5:05 pm

There was a piece on channel 4 during the 6 - 6:30 news segment about this theater. One very cool find during renovations was the discovery of some original light fixtures. They are being rest Of and reinstalled.

stevenj on January 2, 2021 at 6:08 pm

For those of you with access to films at Kanopy.com you can watch Abel Ferrara’s The Projectionist, mentioned in the NYT link in CC’s Oct 29, 2020 post. Numerous shots of vintage Times Sq theaters and other NYC theaters (including the Alpine) owned by Nick Nicolau.

Trailer

Al Alvarez on January 2, 2021 at 7:30 pm

Mobster scum had nothing to do with the Alpine. Those criminal scumbags were the owners before Cineplex took the over the Fortway.

theatrefan on June 11, 2021 at 5:30 am

The Alpine Cinema recently celebrated it’s 100th Birthday this past Sunday June 6th 2021, they say that at this point it’s now the oldest continually operating movie theatre in all of New York City: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/alpine-cinemas-reopens-centennial/

bigjoe59 on June 11, 2021 at 2:33 pm

Hello-

now at 100 years old one wonders how this theater survived while other neighborhood theaters didn’t. for instance the Coliseum at Bway and 181 St.in Manhattan would have bested this theater by a year as the oldest continually operating movie theater in all of NYC if hadn’t been demolished last year. groups tried to save the theater but weren’t able to.

ridethectrain on June 13, 2021 at 9:02 pm

Please update, became a twin on November 13, 1976 and a 7 plex on January 17, 1986. Loews sold the theatre to Golden in the fall of 1986, last week as a twin was October 24, 1985

Metropolite on December 7, 2022 at 4:26 am

Spectrum’s “Mornings on 1” is doing a week-long feature on Bay Ridge. Mentioned the Alpine as the longest continuously running movie house in the five boroughs.

Moviefan333 on January 12, 2023 at 6:19 pm

The owner of the theater is very dedicated and has made it a wonderful place to see a movie. Make sure to come down to this cinema treasure soon gonna be celebrating 102 years in business the movie business

Comfortably Cool on October 25, 2023 at 6:57 am

SPAMER!