Hempstead Theatre
310 Fulton Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
310 Fulton Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
2 people
favorited this theater
With Eugene DeRosa as architect, the Hempstead Theatre was the first “deluxe” theatre to be built in the rapidly growing Nassau County city of Hempstead, Long Island. Salvatore Calderone already ran the Strand Theatre, which he bought from its original owners, but it was too small and antiquated for his planned policy of first-run movies and vaudeville.
The Hempstead Theatre opened on April 29, 1922, and was an instant success. The profits enabled Calderone to start a circuit of theatres that expanded beyond Hempstead to Westbury, Lynbrook, Valley Stream, Mineola, and Glen Cove. After Calderone’s death, his family turned the management of the Hempstead Theatre and most of the other theatres over to the Skouras Theaters Cop. circuit.
The Hempstead Theatre was eventually sold and converted into the local branch of the N.Y. State Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV moved out in the late-1990’s and a church took over the building.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 56 comments)
Sorry, but based on your description, I couldn’t find that photo. Can you provice more specific details?
When I did an advanced search on Hemstead Theatre there were only seven hits. Number 5 shows the theatre with the policemen already available, the preceeding one is entitled Fulton Avenue. The text mentions the sign on the building. This maybe too tricky to enlarge enough to actually see the sign and not worth the effort.
You’re probably right. I don’t think that a sign on the wall is going tell us much, if anything, that we don’t know already.
This is most likely the photo that your talking about. I can’t read the sign either.
True, but it adds to the picture of in the day.
True, but it adds to the picture of in the day.
It would be interesting to know if any of the interior decor of the theatre remains now that it’s become a church. DMV left the ceiling in tact, I know.
The following interior images are found on the excellent Long Island Librarry Resources Council’s Long Island Memories website – under the extensive Calderone Theatre collection of Hofstra University’s Library:
Slightly larger version of pic previously posted by Warren
View of proscenium and house from rear of loge
View of house from stage
Alt view of house from stage
Click on the images to zoom in and click on thumbnail image to move “red box” and change area of detail viewed in the larger image.
Ed, notice the seating pattern with the raised, stadium portion? Per our discussion of the Westbury.
I did indeed notice that, rvb.
Here’s an image of the block where the Hempstead Theatre would eventually rise. In fact, according to the notes under this photo, there is a sign on the 2nd building from the left that announces the theatre to be built on that site. Unfortunately, you can’t zoom in on this image to see it for yourself.
Here’s another pic showing the theatre’s entrance and part of the canopy as it appeared in 1931/32. The data provided by the Hempstead Library on this photo dates it circa 1932. The title featured on the marquee opened in the USA on August 22, 1931, according to IMDB.COM.
These images were posted here earlier, but the links are no longer working.