Garden Theatre
130-35 Merrick Boulevard,
Springfield Gardens,
NY
11434
130-35 Merrick Boulevard,
Springfield Gardens,
NY
11434
1 person
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This small, late-run theatre in the Springfield Gardens section of Queens first opened in November, 1925, under “indie” ownership, but eventually became part of the Interboro Circuit.
It was demolished in the 1950’s in conjunction with a Long Island Rail Road grade crossing elimination project.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
If you are driving from Jamaica, it would have been on the left side of the road. I am sure there has been a lot of new developement going on there since I was last in the area. When I grew up there, we had no movie theater in Springfield Gardens. I had been in touch with a girl whose father owned the roller rink but not sure when he sold it. Would love to see some pictures. I do have one of the Laurelton taken in 2000 with the cross visible as it is a church as is the Cambria and Community Theater off the Cross Island. Do you recall Community Gardens?
It is now a Western Beef supermarket but like was said I remember when it was a TSS store in the 70’s and 80’s. I am only 41 and never knew it was once a movie theatre. Does anyone remember when the drive in Burger joint was on the corner of Merrick and Farmers. The name escapes me, but I do believe at one point it used to be a Jack In the Box?
A Moller theater organ opus 3119 size 2/6 was installed in the Garden Theater in 1925 at a cost of $3000.
I think that area used to be the Springfield Gardens Roller Rink. I used to skate there as a young girl in the early 50s….
I was recently informed that my grandfather, Frederick Huebner, once owned the Garden Theater and later bought the Electra Theater in Brooklyn and also built the Dyker Theater in Brooklyn. Thanks for all the info you’ve provided.
A skating rink, a Merrick Mart, and a Times Square Store all had an address of 130-35 Merrick Boulevard. The Department of Buildings gives a secondary address of 127-08 Farmers Boulevard. Does either address sound right to anyone?
There was a skating rink in this same building in the early 50s. I was in contact wit the girl whose father operated the place some time ago. After that it became TSS and whatever after that I am not sure till it became Western Beef. There has been an enrance on the Farmers Boulevard side, I recall a parking lot in the rear and an entrance to TSS on Farmers Boulevard with th main entrance being on Merrick Boulevard, that would explain two addresses. As for the hamberger place across the street, if I recall it was a Burger and Shake when it first opened. They had built another on Sunrise Highway ust before the county line and the Sunrise Drive-in. I believe it opened either in late 50s or early 60s, but those are the years I remember it being there and know it turned into something else later on. Are here any graduaed from PS 52 out there?
Western Beef also has an address of 130-35 Merrick Blvd, Springfield Gdns, NY 11434. Thats the address that I would use since Google won’t map the current address above.
Here’s the final word on the Garden, folks. My parents both grew up in Springfield Gardens in the 20s and 30s, and my father worked as an usher at the Garden Theater, which was known as “The Itch”. The building can’t be found because it was torn down in the late 50s, when the LIRR tracks were raised. It was just north of the grade crossing at Farmers Blvd. when the trackes were at street level. The huge building at Farmers and Merrick was indeed a roller rink, and NEVER a theater. It was converted into a TSS in the 50s, and the building still stands, now operated as a meat market.
Always found it interesting that the Garden wasn’t Prudential since everything in the surrounding towns was: Cambria (Cambria Heights), St. Albans, Hollis, Island (Hollis), Bellaire, Laurelton, Carlton (Jamaica). Then when you got to Queens Village the majority of the theatres to the East in Nassau County were Century. Prudential then had Suffolk pretty much tied up.