Forum Theatre
490 East 138th Street,
Bronx,
NY
10454
490 East 138th Street,
Bronx,
NY
10454
4 people
favorited this theater
Situated in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, the Forum Theatre first opened in February, 1923, with vaudeville and movies. Newspaper advertising claimed 3,000 seats, but no reference books have ever cited more than 2,300.
As an independently-owned theatre, the Forum Theatre struggled to survive against competition from the Loew’s, RKO and Skouras circuits. But its luck changed at the end of WWII, when it was re-named Teatro Puerto Rico, presenting Hispanic stage shows that attracted patronage from all over the Greater New York area.
When the novelty wore off, it switched to wrestling matches, which had become highly popular on TV. Finally closing in the wake of the neighborhood’s decline, it re-opened in 1994 as a performing arts center for the Hispanic community. The auditorium was divided into three, two for “live” usage and one for showing the latest Hollywood movies with Spanish subtitles.
Unfortunately, the project failed and the site was closed. At last report, one of the three auditoriums was being used as a Spanish evangelical church.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 36 comments)
Here’s a new link to an image described above on 9/8/06:
View link
This is another photo of the Forum Theater.
All of the photos that Lo Mem posted links to can be found here in bulk. I congratulate the owners of the website on their sterling effort: www.backinthebronx.com/demo/images/movies
So do I senile “Warren”. Is the baby upset that he didn’t find the photos first? LMAO
In this undated photo, the Forum is either closed or just cross-promoting another theatre under the same management. Only the message on the front of the marquee is readable: http://www.pelparktimes.org/forum.jpg
Here’s a 1954 view of the Puerto Rico Theatre marquee: View link
Here’s another view with crowd scene: View link
The Google view displayed is nonsense, but has no option for correction.
I am on the on the phone with my mother. She remembers fondly the shows at the Teatro Puerto Rico. She told me the tickets were $2.00
Here’s a side view of the building as the Puerto Rico Theatre: nyc.gov