Square Theatre

58 Westchester Square,
Bronx, NY 10461

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bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on August 20, 2020 at 12:31 pm

Hello-

I did likewise. my friends and I stood outside the theater
online for say an hour and a half till the next showing of Bye Bye Birdie.

MikeyFortune500
MikeyFortune500 on August 19, 2020 at 10:00 pm

I saw “Bye Bye Birdie” at this theater years ago.

bronxtheaters6
bronxtheaters6 on October 30, 2014 at 5:20 pm

I live around the corner from this place the white building is not the square. the square was shut down and demolished in the early 1980s and the building there is new and I saw the pics of it being built in 1981 and the white building was going to be the new square.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on February 7, 2011 at 6:47 am

Here is a fresh link to the photos of the Square Theatre in Boxofffice, March 7, 1936.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 22, 2009 at 2:11 am

The Square Theatre was renovated in 1936. The March 7, 1936, issue of Boxoffice has an article by architect William I. Hohauser, illustrated with a few photos of the Square Theatre, which was one of his recent modernization projects.

Unfortunately, the scan of the article is very blurry, and about half the text is unreadable, including the part that makes reference to the Square Theatre. The photo caption is readable, but doesn’t give much information. It does, however, specifically say the project was a renovation, so the Square must have operated before 1936, perhaps under a different name.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on January 12, 2009 at 10:16 pm

From the NYT on January 27, 1968:

JUDGE VIEWS FILMS IN OBSCENITY CASE

Judge Irving I. Schreckinger of the Bronx Criminal Court spent most of yesterday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan screening room viewing two allegedly obscene films, “Infidelity, American-Style” and “Housewives on Call.” The films had been seized by the police at the Square Theater in the Bronx on Dec. 9.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on June 3, 2008 at 7:41 pm

I was there snooping around a while back, and I could see that at one time there was a 2-story structure in the empty space behind that facade, marks from the tar roof on the adjoining windowless walls were evident. An auditorium could have fit in the parking lot in the rear and on the site of that 1960s-style post office behind the parking lot.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on June 3, 2008 at 3:42 pm

The link below (from my post of 03/14/2005) shows the remains of the theatre I have been referring to, scroll to the bottom of the page to the group of 4 pictures. That website, forgotten-ny.com, mis-identified it.
View link

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on June 3, 2008 at 1:34 pm

OK, apparently this theatre I posted is not the Square Theatre. The place I have been referring to was in the 3-story building in the next block, visible beyond the Square marquee in Lost’s photo, in the center of the building under that gable part of the roof. It explains the previous confusion over the address. Do any old-time Bronx boys or girls remember what the theatre at 49 Westchester Sq. was called?

RobertR
RobertR on October 4, 2006 at 7:31 am

“Behind the Green Door” made Marilyn Chambers a star. Here is that film paired with “The Resurrection of Eve” on a showcase run.
View link

navist
navist on July 25, 2005 at 12:40 am

Dave,
The SQUARE THEATER was demolished in 1981 along with the Greek Diner and two adjoining stores to make way for the 30,000 sq.ft. Con Edison Customer Service Center now occupied by a Duane Reade Drug Store. The SQUARE was built in the mid-1930s when theater promoter/developers would erect signs on differant neighborhood corners advertising the arrival of a new theater that would never be built – so that the SQUARE THEATER, for example, could/would be built.I know this, because that promoter/developer was my father who subsequently purchased and renovated the SQUARE property in 1948 and operated it until his untimely death at the age of 42 in 1953.

aalberti
aalberti on April 27, 2005 at 9:00 am

Dave,

The link you have sent is the old opera theatre on Tremont Ave and Frisby Avenues. The Square Theatre was located on Tremont Ave. beteen Fink and Westchester Avenues. The Square ran XXX movies until 1981 and has now been converted into small shops. The pictures in the link are between Ponton and St. Peters Ave. The old courthouse is on the same side within a block of each other. That courthouse was built in 1926 and is still being used to this day. The old opera house was erected at the turn of the century and is in remarkable condition for its age, the marquee is still in excellent condition.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on March 14, 2005 at 1:53 pm

A current photo of the facade of the former Square Theatre can be seen here – scroll to the bottom of the page…
View link

ccozic
ccozic on March 1, 2005 at 7:47 am

I lived a few blocks from the Square Theatre from age 3 to 21 (1960-1978). I remember seeing “Ben-Hur” there, and several forgotten movies. I am almost positive that X-rated movies played there well into the 1970s. The theatre was still intact when I moved out of the area in 1978. There was a great late-night Greek diner right across the street. A shame it’s gone…

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on December 18, 2004 at 6:47 am

The entire theatre, both the auditorium and lobby was demolished here. Around the back of the building, which I mentioned above is 3-stories taking up the whole blockfront, it is really 2 3-story buildings and there is a space btwn the sections where the theatre lobby was – you can see marks on the walls where it was attached, and the back of the facade is visable.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on December 18, 2004 at 5:46 am

There apparently has been re-numbering. 58 Westchester Sq. is in the same building but is the store-front at the far end on the corner of Ponton Ave. The theatre entrance is in the center of the of the building.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on November 15, 2004 at 10:06 am

dave-bronx:

Film Daily Yearbooks only give seating capacities and sometimes adresses. Opening and closing dates can only be determined by having the complete run of them and researching year by year for a particular theatre.

Regarding the Square Theatre, a seating capacity of 568 is given. The address given is 58 Westchester Square (has there been a re-numbering since the 1940’s-50’s?)

Bronxboy147
Bronxboy147 on November 15, 2004 at 9:41 am

This theater was showing XXX Adult movies until 1969. Moved away after that.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on November 6, 2004 at 9:50 am

The address here should be changed to 49 Westchester Square.

The 3 story glazed white brick building, taking up the whole block btwn Roberts and Ponton Avenues looks to be from the 1920s. The storefront at #49, in the center of the block has an archway above the first-floor level. above that is a white and blue tile facade with a single ‘tragedy’ mask. in the center. The stubs of the severed marquee supports are evident. Inside the storefront (a para-legal office) about the first 15 feet, is an arched white tile ceiling with many empty light sockets and appears to be the area where the box office would have been. This is all that remains to indicate that there was once a theatre there. The lady working there said she thought it had been a theatre. They had tried to put bulbs in the sockets, but the old wiring was no good and they couldn’t get at it without ripping up the tile work, and they are just tenants there. Around the back of the building where the auditorium once was is a parking lot and a circa-1950s Post Office.

Can anybody with one of those old film business books provide the opening and closing dates and number of seats?