Oyster Bay Theatre

6 SAVED AS THEATRE IN OYSTER BAY BURNS; Five Firemen Overcome of 200 Fighting the Blaze That Threatens Whole Town. FIVE VILLLAGES SEND HELP Families in Apartments Above Three-Story Lyric building Escape on Scaling Ladders. Flames Fill Interior of Theatre. Five Firemen Are Injured.

NY Times December 18, 1931

OYSTER BAY, L.I. Dec. 17.—Six persons, two of them children, were rescued this afternoon and five firemen were overcome or injured when fire destroyed the Lyric Theatre building. The fire, which occurred on the site of the Oyster Bay Opera House fire just twenty five years ago, started from some unknown cause in the basement of the theatre building. The three story brick structure was modernized four years ago, and six apartments were erected above the playhouse.

Obviously the Lyric was rebuilt.

I remember the Oyster Bay Theatre where I paid 25 cents to see House on the Haunted Hill, and, I rember very well the Pine Hollow Theatre where I was employed beginning August of 1966, my first job. I worked on the very first reserved seat engagement of “The Blue Max” starring George Peppard and Ursla Andress. I became the manager of the Pine Hollow when I was 17 years old. I have very fond memories and I have photos, although I don’t know where to put my hands on them at the moment. The Pine Hollow Theatre was in the same building that is now the BMW dealership. Many of Oyster Bay’s alumini worked along side of me at that theatre and we had lots of good times. It is sad that the town nolonger has a movie theatre. I ran across this site today by accident while I was searching for a 1966 graduate of Saint Dominic’s who used to be a good friend of mine and who also worked with me at the Pine Hollow. This was a pleasant surprise on a dreary day.
Thanksforthememories.

The photo of the Lyric Theater was also known as the Oyster Bay Theater, not the Pine Hollow Theater where BMW of Oyster Bay is now. The building in the photo of the Lyric Theater/Oyster Bay Theater currently is an annex to the Oyster Bay Town Hall.

I just started working at BMW of Oyster Bay yesterday at 145 Pine Hollow Rd. It was the Pine Hollow Movie Theatre. The Oyster Bay Movie Theatre was down town near Town Hall. Coincidentally,the service manager, Steve, and I were reminiscing about the changes in Oyster Bay just today. He has been working at BMW of Oyster Bay for I believe 26 years, and I was born, raised and still live in Oyster Bay, 48 years later. The old Carvel, Foodtown, Lizza Sand Pits, Rumrunners and of course Pine Hollow Theatre were mentioned. He told me today that in the current building you can see where the stage was, the projection room window is still intact, and one of the owners has the phone from the lobby in his basement at home. I will see what else I can find out.

Perhaps your elusive Pine Hollow theatre had undergone name changes thru the years. I have found a listing for a Pine Hollow Theatre listed at 145 Pine Hollow Road. At this same address I find a Movies Theatre. Could the Pine Hollow and the Movies Theatre be one in the same? That is all the information I have right now.

I cannot find any listing for a theater on Pine Hollow Rd. But, on a message board that I found someone else remembers a theater being on Pine Hollow Rd and they claim that it is the current site of the BMW dealership. They also say that years ago when the theater was located there, across the street from the theater was the Fahr Sand and Gravel Co.

I’d like to follow up on the comment of Nova, Oct 3. As a kid in Queens NY, 1967, I went several times to the Midway Theater to see the latest James Bond Film over and over again. At each show there was a trailer for the big prestige flick at the time, “The Sand Pebbles”, and after the trailer a still ad was projected on the screen saying the the film’s exclusive reserved-seat Long Island engagement was at — I think — The Pine Hollow Theater — and I think it’s location was listed as Oyster Bay. As a child in a congested Queens neighborhood who saw snatches of suburbia on rare trips to Jones Beach, the trailer and ad got me day-dreaming at odd moments about what a big, luxurious theater this Pine Hollow must be, and how fine life would be in this Oyster Bay.

This was one of those odd kid fantasies that keeps coming to mind every now and then, and when I discovered the Cinema Treasures web site I thought I could finally attach a concrete image to the fantasy. I was surprised that there was no Pine Hollow Theater listed on the site — and none found in a Google search. I figured that my 1967 memory had simply become blurred. After all, someone would have remembered a theater big and important enough to host road show engagements of important films. But now Nova too has a memory of a Pine Hollow theater. Can anyone enlighten us?!

Was it ever called the Oyster Bay Theatre? If not, the heading should be changed to Lyric Theatre.

This was called the Lyric theater in Oyster Bay. If you want to find the address, look up the address for the new Town Hall in Oyster Bay since I read that it is the former site of the Lyric theater.

Here is a quote from a website that I found:
“Richard Downing called to say it was the back of Town Hall in Oyster Bay. He remembers Town Hall when it was the old Lyric Theater and it cost 25 cents to get in. Pete was the ticket taker”.

I recall a theater on Pine Hollow Rd, might have even been called the Pine Hollow, that is now a BMW dealership. Would that be this listing or are you referring to the Lyric Theater that was on Audrey Avenue?