Boulevard Theatre

On Tuesday 6 March 1951, Bela “Dracula” Lugosi presented his in person Horror and Magic Stage show at Skouras Boulevard. Currently I am conducting research on all things Lugosi; if anyone out there actually saw this show and/or has memorabilia (poster, handbill, photos) related to this show, please contact Bill at Thanks in advance for any assistance!

I went to movies at the Boulevard in the 60’s with my best friend, Richard L. A movie I recall seeing was ‘Yours Mine and Ours’ with Lucille Ball. We used to be slightly difficult with the matron, throwing candy at her bottom, never realizing she was there to protect us! Very young, I remember attending a children’s theater stage show of ‘Aladdin and His Magic Lamp’ produced by a friend of my mother’s. My Junior High graduation was also held here; my parents told me there was line for the payphone(s) thru the ceremony while guys called their bookies! Ah Queens! All the theaters in Jackson Heights were a little ‘off’ in the 60’s, like a worn-out bowling alley (which Jackson Heights also had), which definitely lent to their appeal for us! I believe on the corners were Paladino Pharmacy, Cook Funeral Home, and a Firehouse. I recall one block west was the Manufacturers Hanover Bank, and the A&P with wooden floors and a cow-catcher at the checkout that the checker mightily pulled to bring your groceries to the register.

Thank you for sharing these images of the facade & interior, Ed. Too bad the facade has that tacky aluminum siding. I hope the owners see our correspondence, and restore the theater. A restored facade = A greater entrance, which is better for business. I love envisioning what it would be like to peel back the layers.

dag. none of these photos work??

Website http://www.nativesrestaurant.com/

A capsule history and vintage photo can be found here: View link

The Boulevard was a regular theater for me during the 1970’s. I first saw a double Feature of “Che” and “The Sand Pebbles” there. I also saw Mel Brooks' “The 12 Chairs there. Later in the mid ‘70’s they closed off the balcony and twined it. They constantly doubled up films that played single at other theaters. The theater that was one bus away from me showed the RObert Shaw film, "Diamonds” by itself while I instead took two buses to see it with “Rider on The Rain”. In the summer of 1976 they were the only theater showing the reissue of “The Exorcist” with a second feature which was the sean Connery starrer, “The Terrorist”. I was shocked when they let kids of all ages to see it. I sat with two 9 year olds. During the second feature one of the kid’s fathers came in to see the show and was shocked to see his son there. Plus as I was waiting to get in the manager was telling the kids to come back next week to see the R rated, “Squirm”. I did see “Squirm” there with a sneak preview of “Futureworld”. Squirm was a great experience as the packed audience there mostly for “Futureworld” was make remarks at the screen and all of us were having a good time. I became friendly with the couple next to me, they just got married and he loved horror films, she never watched them and was complaining to me that the night before he took her to see “The Food Of The Gods”, and she commented that first Giant rat now human eating worms. I always wondered how long that marriage lasted.

Other double features I saw there was “Rabbit Test” with “The Hot Rock” (which had been shown on TV many times at the time), “Mr. Billion” and “From Noon To Three”, “Smokey And The Bandit” with “The Seven Percent Solution”, and the last double feature I saw there was the 1979 reissue of “Jaws” with another film that had already been shown on TV a few times, the Charles Bronson/James Coburn film, “Hard Times”. I miss those old days.

My mother, who will be 80 in November, remembers seeing Frankenstein and Flying Down to Rio here(not together!) when they first came out.

Happy New Year, kids! The fun starts at 10:00 AM:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/skblvd.jpg

Thanks, Joe, for clearing that up! Once the weather here gets a bit sunnier and the days a bit longer, I’ll make my way back and see if I can visit the restaurant as well as the bingo hall.

Yes, dave-bronx… I recall the church occupying the Boulevard in the ‘90’s as well. I visited the website of the current occupants and found this page which details how one can rent the theater space for $1000.00 a night (includes 4 hours with a sound tech). There is a small photo of the theater space, which I clipped and linked to below. Looks like it’s basically the original balcony with a streamlined decor (possibly just dry wall over the original walls). Can’t see if anything remains of the ceiling. I called the theater to discuss the space and they say that this is the only theatrical space in the building and that the bar and restaurant occupy all of the 1st floor. Trying to reconcile that with Warren’s initial description above, perhaps this is the only theatrical space they are renting out, and therefore didn’t discuss the other auditoriums. I guess only a visit to the restaurant will settle this issue.

I also clipped these small photos from the site, which depict the bar area on the 1st floor and seem to show that some of the original ceiling decoration (from either the old lobby or under the balcony over-hang) is still in existence:

View link
View link

Here is the photo of the theatrical space:
View link

Lived a couple of blocks away as a kid, and went to this theatre many times in the 70’s. In the early 70’s, a lot of double features, for some reason, I remember “Prime Cut” and “Boxcar Bertha”. Remember they were pretty lax about letting underage kids in to see R rated flicks. OK, I remember seeing “The Deep”, “The Jerk”, “Popeye” in the late 70’s, and the last movie I saw that decade was “10” on New Year’s Eve, 1979.