Loew's National Theatre
570 Bergen Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10455
570 Bergen Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10455
1 person
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The Loew’s National Theatre is claimed to be the very first theatre that Marcus Loew built himself, after starting his circuit by acquiring a number of existing properties in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The name was a message to the entertainment business that Loew’s intended to become a national circuit, and it did. The National Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of Neville & Bagge, with H. Craig Severance as consultant, and first opened in September, 1910, with vaudeville the primary attraction and movies shown only as fillers.
With white marble frontage and a gorgeous Beaux-Arts auditorium, the National Theatre was one of the largest theatres built in the Bronx up to that time. The movies were first-run for the borough until 1929, when Loew’s gave that exclusive privilege to the newly-opened Paradise Theatre and shifted the National Theatre and its other Bronx theatres to playing the same programs two weeks later.
The National Theatre was one of the longest lasting of the Loew’s Bronx theatres, operating into the early-1970’s before being closed and eventually demolished. As far as I know, it was never sub-divided.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
In 1974 the National was still open as an independant.
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Henry Loew, the only brother of Marcus Loew, was the very first manager of the National, and ran the theatre for 33 years, until his death in 1943 at age 66, according to an obituary in The New York Times of 6/15/43. Henry Loew entered the business in 1904 as manager of his brother’s penny arcade at 147th Street & Third Avenue in the Bronx, and then ran another Loew’s arcade in Manhattan at 23rd Street & Sixth Avenue before Marcus promoted him to the National when the theatre opened in 1910. Marcus Loew died in 1927 at age 57.
Here is the Loew’s National circa 1967.
This is a new link to the photo posted on Jun 3, 2008.
The year given for this photo is 1968.
I’m a Three Stooges Fan Club member, trying to confirm a personal appearance by the “3” Stooges (Moe Larry and Shemp), on a bill with Wee Bonnie Baker, the Barretts and Don Hooton, after an appearance by the A.B. Marcus Revue. The movie “Queen of Burlesque” was also shown. I have a display ad, but no dates (or town shown). Believe it was the Summer of 1946, and may have been Shemp’s first appearance after Curly’s strokes. The National was advertised as air cooled and showed a phone number of JA-7863.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks Frank Reighter
Cool pictures, Lost Memory.
Marcus Loew was born on this date in 1870.
I would venture that the location of this theater was the east side of Bergen Avenue just south of the intersection with Westchester Avenue. A parking lot now occupies most of this block front from Westchester Avenue and down along Bergen approximately 2/3 of the way to the corner of E 149th Street. The E 149th Street corner is occupied by a vacant and overgrown lot. Department of Buildings records indicate a Certificate of Occupancy was issued on July 26, 1985, for a “public parking lot for 74 private passenger cars” at 570 Bergen Avenue.
The street view above faces the opposite side of Bergen Avenue, down the block near E 149th – south of the theater’s site. The correct view can be obtained by turning around to the right and heading north about half a block.
On this first day of spring in 1949, Loew’s National treated the Bronx to a vaudeville show, with two performances at 3:30 and 8:30pm. Young Hollywood and Broadway star Tommy Dix was the headliner. Also, on screen, the National presented two Film Classics releases in glorious Cinecolor, “Sofia: City of Intrigue,” and “Miraculous Journey.”