Pilgrim Theatre
2925 Westchester Avenue,
Pelham Bay,
Bronx,
NY
10461
2925 Westchester Avenue,
Pelham Bay,
Bronx,
NY
10461
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 16 comments
Hello-
as I asked seven years when did this theater close down as
a movie theater?
Richard Harrison – When Lost Memory severed his connections with Cinema Treasures most of his comments and photos were deleted, including the one of the Pilgrim to which you refer. Could you possibly upload it now?
Hello To Ed S.–
you have been most helpful in the past so i hope you can be this time as well. I have lived in this neighborhood my entire life and even as a child never remember the Pilgrim being opened as a movie theater. the intro at top gives no clue as to the date it ceased functioning as a movie theater. do you know?
This building is definitely still standing. Check this out on Bing maps and you will see this building now converted to retail, but all of it still intact.
Are we sure this theater was demolished? The street view above is off the mark, but if you swing it around 180 degrees and click your way south along Pilgrim Ave until you get to the intersection of Buhre Ave, the building on the far left corner (the south east corner of Buhre and Pilgrim Aves) looks very much like the old theater as depicted in Lost Memory’s photo, posted on July 1, 2008. That vintage image peers down Pilgrim Ave from the opposite direction, at the corner of Westchester Ave.
Hello-
i have lived within walking distance of the building my entire life. now i just turned 61 and never remember the building in operation as a movie theater. the marquee was kept up long after it closed. so when did it close as a movie theater?
Nice vintage photo of the Pilgrim.
Thank you Lost Memory for posting that terrific photo of the late and beloved Pilgrim Theatre. I have printed it out and I will cherish it.
Richard Harrison
Tom..Thanks very much for your film going background. I really enjoyed the info. These movie theatres were such an important part of my young years (still are!!) I went to PS 71 for second grade and the Pilgrim was my local. The Square was a 15 minute walk on 8 year old legs and when I got to 10 I would take the IRT at Middletown Road to the Parkchester area for the Castle Hill RKO…I remember especially seeing ‘Them’ with those giant ants and Edmund Gwenn.
I get most of my info on the ‘40ies and '50 films from the periodical room at the New York Public Library – Fifth Avenue branch. I have made copies of the New York Times, NY Daily News and Bronx Home News film pages from the mid-40ies to mid-50ies. It helps the memory as to what were the double bills, coming attractions and especially the movie ads graphics. I did realize that there was no Albee theatre in the Bronx. (I believe Suzanne Plechette’s father was the manager(?) of the Brooklyn Albee theatre.) I just mentioned the Albee because the ad for it was always under RKO’s ad. I also looked up Spryos Skouros’s biography on Google and it is quite interesting. He and his two brothers were certainly power figures and they began life in a
small Greek village with a father who was a sheepherder.. Spyrous died in Mamaroneck NY not too far from my parents home. Such coincidences. I don’t know if the Post took over the Home News but it certainly could have happened.
Richard, I remember many of these theaters. I attended PS77 near the Ward and remember getting tickets at the school for Saturday matinees. This was in the very early 50’s. The Ward was near the Elder Avenue Station of the Pelham IRT. In 1952 we moved to the Westchester Square area and I spend many an afternoon in the Square. I also remember the Interboro which was in the Throggs Neck area of the Bronx. By the late 1950’s we moved to University Heights and the Park Plaza and Ogden were the closest theaters to where I lived. By the mid 1950’s, I don’t believe that the Square or Ogden were part of the Skouras circuit- I believe they were “indies.” As a matter of fact, when I first moved to the West Bronx in early 1956, the Ogden was not operating. It reopened shortly after that and often showed triple bills including horror films (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, etc) and comedies such as the Bowery Boys series. I, too, vaguely remember the Bronx Home News. Didn’t the New York Post take it over?
Tom, I included RKO and the Albee because they were also part of the Skouras (“Cool Skouras Theatres”)chain. The Bronx Home News always listed the local Skouras theaters directly under the ad for the RKO theatres.
The local Skouras theatres were the Park Plaza – Univ. & Tremont, the Crotona – E. Tremont Ave., the Valentine – Fordham Rd, the Ogden, the Tuxedo, the Square at Westchester Square (which you mentioned, and was a second favorite theatre of mine), the Interboro on E. Tremont (which was my mother’s favorite during the 1930’s), the Ward and my beloved Pilgrim Theatre.
Richard, I remember the Skouras Pilgrim too. I do not understand your reference to “RKO, Albee Westchester Square, etc.” The Buhre Avenue station of the Pelham Bay IRT line is two stations north of the Westchester Square station. Why the mention of RKO and Albee?
The Pilgrim Theatre in the Bronx was not part of the Sack Theatre chain of Boston…but the Skouros chain of New York….RKO, Albee Westchester Square, etc.
Designed by William I. Hohauser
How did this theatre become a part of the Sack Theatre chain which was in Boston, and didn’t exist until the late 1950’s?
You are correct Warren, the Pilgrim Theatre was located at 2925 Westchester Avenue, right across the street from the elevated subway station at Buhre Avenue. Richard Harrison