Stone Theatre

389 Mother Gaston Boulevard,
Brownsville,
Brooklyn, NY 11212

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Fox Circuit, Randforce Amusement Corp.

Architects: Samuel Cohen

Functions: Supermarket

Nearby Theaters

Stone Theatre

Named for the avenue on which it was situated, the Stone Theatre was opened in 1920, and operated for most of its life by the Randforce Circuit, though it was briefly part of William Fox’s empire during his buying spree in the late-1920’s. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 2 manual 9 ranks organ.

It should be noted that Stone Avenue is now known as Mother Gaston Boulevard. The Stone Theatre is in the block between Pitkin Avenue and Belmont Avenue. That’s the Brownsville-East New York section of Brooklyn.

It was closed in 1966, and was converted into a supermarket in 1967, the the facade modified. It became a Pioneer supermarket and by 2017 is a Cherry Valley supermarket.

Contributed by Warren G. Harris

Recent comments (view all 17 comments)

FatMan1059
FatMan1059 on February 2, 2011 at 6:36 am

The Liberty Theater was located on Liberty Ave between Stone Avenue and and Watkins Street according to the picture I saw on the NYPL site. It was demolished in 1942 and the picture shown is during the demolished, here is the link: View link

shi725
shi725 on February 2, 2011 at 11:43 am

@ fatman saw the picture, was demolished before i was born ( 1944).
Family moved to brownsville in 1947, one of the first families in brownsville housing project, but i know the area.the Dr. Betty Shabazz public school( formly p.s 298) and a park is there now, it is surrounded by the Howard houses projects.

FatMan1059
FatMan1059 on February 3, 2011 at 7:05 am

@peetgirl I lived, worked or played in Brownsville, Ocean hill and ENY for many years. I love to learn and know about what was there before me. I remember bakers were bakers, grocers were grocers, etc. I went to JHS 64 and FK Lane. I am part of an FK LANE HS group on facebook, I maintain a JHS 64 page on MySpace and I belong to “Places in NYC and LI that are no more” group. I am sharing a photo of Belmont Avenue where my parents went to shop once a month, I am looking for photos of Blake Avenue pushcarts also. I know the area of the Howard houses well also since I had a sponsor a Carpet Store on Rockaway Avenue, lived on Pacific St and a friend of mind had a garage on Stone and ENY Ave. Take a look at:

View link

shi725
shi725 on February 3, 2011 at 2:42 pm

@Fatman, Have you ever went to brooklynpix.com they have pictures of brownsville up to 1952. I went to david marcus j.h.s 263 and Clara Barton h.s. was the blake ave market in E.N.Y.? I remember a carpet store on rockaway, lived on rockaway bet sutter and blake.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on February 3, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Thanks for the information Fatman and peetgirl.

priscianusjr
priscianusjr on February 26, 2011 at 10:20 pm

Thanks Fatman and peetgirl. Evidently the theatre I was looking for was the Liberty.
/theaters/27260/
They give the address as 61 Liberty Avenue. “It had a second entrance on Stone Avenue.”

Carminel
Carminel on June 12, 2012 at 6:35 am

I lived at 247 Stone Ave and remember the closed theater when I was a kid. My brothers would play inside the building. I would love to see an old photo of the theater itsellf

Carminel
Carminel on June 12, 2012 at 6:39 am

I also went to the school at Stone and Glenmore. In 1942 it was known as PS 84. My grandfather was the janitor at the school and I went to Kindergarten there

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 18, 2015 at 2:00 pm

At the lower right corner of this page of the July 3, 1922, issue of Exhibitors Trade Review is a photo of the auditorium of a Brooklyn house called the Stone Avenue Theatre. It doesn’t look quite large enough to have held the 1,552 seats we have listed for the Stone Theatre (I’d guess more like 1,100-1,200), so I’m wondering if it is the same house or not, or if perhaps the Stone was later expanded.

tapeshare
tapeshare on July 2, 2017 at 2:28 pm

For all you fans who frequented Brownsville’s theaters I am pleased to announce the release of Brooklyn’s Historic Brownsville, a 228-page hardcover photographic history of Brownsville including images of the Pitkin, Sutter, Ambassador, Stone and others, as well as the schools, synagogues and institutions that were the heart of this neighborhood. For more details visit www.tapeshare.com/BrownsvilleBook.html

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