Steinway Theatre
31-08 Steinway Street,
Astoria,
NY
11103
31-08 Steinway Street,
Astoria,
NY
11103
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Showing 1 - 25 of 46 comments found
Conway has opened its doors, with its name in large pink letters above the entrance on the facade used by Dr. Jay. Three sales floors, including the basement. False ceilings and modern lighting fixtures throughout.
This is finally close to re-opening as part of the Conway chain of clothing/housewares stores. Front facade will remain the same except for the new Conway sign. Since previous tenants removed all interior traces of the theatre, I don’t expect any surprises in the new Conway.
Sorry to disappoint, John, but I visited the site this afternoon, and the frontage looks nearly the way it did when Dr. Jays left. The only difference that I noticed since my post above of 6/30/10 is that the sidewalk entrance now has Mac Hudson Group of Long Island City listed as doing the renovation job. According to NYC permits posted, the work is all Alterations Type 2 and 3, which classify as “minor.” Two permits have already passed their expiration dates, but another is valid until May 31st. I suspect that once refurbished, the site will return to retail as soon as a tenant can be found.
Well, my wife and I passed by the old Steinway yesterday evening and found that the “modernistic” facade has been removed and that the old white marble frontage now appears to have burst from its “iron mask”. While a remnant of the “Dr. Jays” logo remains etched in the surface, this can probably be corrected – or, perhaps one could say, exorcized.
Since it was dark when we visited the site, I can’t definitively verify this development. What I CAN say is that my wife, who was not previously aware of the site’s specific history, made an unprompted comment that “this looks like an old theater” when she saw it. This comment could not have been made while the awful Dr. Jays facade defiled the exterior.
I hope that other commentators will visit the site, take pictures and either verify or contradict my observations. If I am correct here, this facade could very easily support the development of a classy business, such as a bank or a good restaurant. In any event, let’s take a close look of this very promising recent development.
The “modernistic” facade used as recently as Dr. Jays remains unchanged. I don’t know if the original facade is hidden behind it, or was destroyed. Some of the work that I saw being done yesterday was by Jerrrick Associates, which proved to be a waterproofing firm when I checked it out on the internet.
Tinseltoes can you tell if any of the old theatre facade is still there? I think it was removed when Lerner’s moved in some 50 years ago.
Construction is currently going on inside, with scaffolding over the sidewalk and a hoist on the roof. Work permits on display suggest that the interior is being gutted and divided into space for at least two stores.
I was a teenager when the closed theatre was converted to retail space – I believe it was Lerner’s. I tried to see what remained of the old theatre through the construction. If my recollection is correct the entire facade of the building was removed. Also, in later years I remember standing on Steinway Street and looking back at the building reinforcing my theory that there was a whole new facade. But that was 50 years ago.
The building is still sitting vacant with a “For Rent” sign displayed. The “false front” used by the last tenant remains. Whether any of the original facade exists behind it is unknown. I’ll try contacting the realtor for information.
Here’s a street view from google of the Steinway:
View link
Dr. Jay’s has finally vacated the premises and removed its name, though an outline of the lettering can still be seen on the dirty facade. Steinway Street currently has so many empty stores that the future of this large site seems doubtful, at least for retail. Perhaps it will be demolished for housing.
I had thought the thread for this theatre was not active, but I see it is. Growing up in Astoria, I always knew this was a “movie house” (as my parents / grand parents described it.) But for me it was “Learners” , a woman’s / little kid’s store (they had a kid’s department as well).. I know I spent alot of time here when I was little! It was a big store inside, without a hint it was a theatre, I guess thanks to plaster board and dropped ceilings. Talking about the white marble facade.. that was not original to the Steinway theatre. I believe that was part of the late fifties change to “Learners”. Up untill Learners closed, the front of the building was very 50’s looking with a smooth white front with a HUGE LEARNERS neon sign on a 45 degree angle running up the front of the building (lit up in pink neon)I am sure, from viewing photos of the Steinway that the front was destroyed in the original make over to retail. (about the interior, I would not know. In my time (70’s) it was all dropped ceiling.) When they re-opened as DR.Jays, It was all open structure inside. IE exposed brick and I beams. but if you were to walk to the back of the store and go up stairs to the second level, you were walking up through the “ Fly space.” You could /can see a ladder bolted to the wall going up to the roof, you could see, in your minds eye (with help from some bricks and beams, where the auditorium ended and the back stage began.
Warren, your last comments just confirm my previous points. Thank’s for your support.
John, Steinway Street has always been considered the main shopping artery of Astoria. The shopping portion used to extend roughly from Broadway north to the block that had Loew’s Triboro on the corner. After the closing of the Triboro. the last block of importance became the one with the Astoria Theatre on the corner. In recent years, the portion of Steinway Street south of Broadway has grown in importance due to a P.C. Richards store and the Kaufman multiplex cinema.
As of yesterday, when I walked by, the apparently never ending “lost our lease” sale remains going strong at Dr. Jay’s. When viewed from across the street, you can really see the skin of a once beautiful facade struggling to burst from its ugly body armor.
I think Warren is probably correct that the future history of this building will be commercial and that, save for the not very likely appearance of a replacement tenant, the site will probably lie vacant until the economy begins to turn north. The structure is really good and ample commercial space that is situated less than a block from the shopping district’s heart at Broadway. Thus, it would make little sense to replace the current building with another commercial facility, and the mid-block site is just too commercial for residential development. Also, if something other than another crummy outlet moves in, the possible replacement of the current facade – possibly with the original – could be a real possibility. But, we will have to see what unfolds.
Alex, I really appreciated your kind comments about my remembrances of the Triboro that I posted about a year ago. It is great to once again make your acquaintance.
Like many other shopping districts, Steinway Street seems in decline, so the site will likely just sit there vacant for a long time. Also closing is an FYE music store on the opposite side. The next likely re-development will likely be the corner block occupied by the ex-Astoria Theatre, which was sold for a whopping price about two years ago. Please see the Astoria’s listing for details.
That’s wishful thinking Warren, I hope you’re right. More likely is that they will just tear the building down altogether and build another multiple-story monstrosity as they have been doing these last few years in Astoria.
Dr. Jay’s has “lost” its lease and is running a closing-down sale, according to signs in the display windows. Perhaps a new tenant will remove the hideous “false front” and solve the mystery over whether the original facade still exists or not.
Here’s a new link to an image of the original facade, some of which may still exist behind a “false front” built for the theatre’s conversion into retail space:
View link
Prior to that, an Odell theater organ opus 510 size 2/15 was installed in the Steinway Theater in 1917.
A Moller theater organ opus 3450 size 2/9 was installed in the Steinway Theater in 1922.
I was recently looking at various vintage Queens photos online and came across this wintery image of Steinway Street in Astoria from 1935, which includes in gthe center a moving northbound trolley. Looking further, I was delighted to see on the left the rare image the marquee of the Steinway Theatre. On the right at the intersection of 31st Avenue is the building which was occupied by Woolworth’s for several decades.
View link
Warren you ARE RIGHT.. Man it sucks to get old….
They say the mind is the second thing to go.
I forgot what the first thing was.. LOL….
There was a Steinway Theatre now a DR. Jays but it was closed down in the 50’s. At one time we had three theatres on Steinway The UA Astoria on 30th ave The Loews Triboro on 28th ave and Steinway and the Cameo Steinway between 25thave and 28th ave on Steinway. The Cameo changed its name to the Olympia Then it became a porno theater.
“Joe H,” are you sure that you don’t mean the Astoria Theatre, which was also on Steinway Street? I’ve never seen advertising for the Steinway Theatre in the 1970s or even 60s. In the 1970 Film Daily Year Book, the Astoria Theatre is the only UA theatre listed for Astoria. Also, the Steinway had only 900 seats, while the Astoria was more than three times that size.