Idle Hour Theatre
251 Jackson Avenue,
Long Island City,
NY
11101
251 Jackson Avenue,
Long Island City,
NY
11101
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The Idle Hour was one of the first movie houses in western Queens, and started by using the auditorium of the Masonic Building on Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, which is just across the East River from Manhattan.
By 1923, the operators had been able to save enough funds to build a real theatre and adjoining stores directly across the street. The new Idle Hour Theatre never became more than a late-run “nabe”, but operated into the 1950’s.
More information about its history and the current status of the site would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
The parcel at the corner of Jackson Ave and 45th Avenue is a 50x100 lot encompassing addresses from 24-25 through 24-29 Jackson. I found a build date of 1931, but that is not Building Dept info so it could very well be in error.
Here is a local.live view of the structure – with wraparound yellow awning – which stands in the shadow of the Citibank skyscraper across 45th Ave (to the right in this image). Jackson Ave is actually the main thoroughfare depicted here. The theater actually sat on a short access lane formed by the triangle at the acute intersection of Jackson and 45th. The small vintage photo that Warren posted on Feb 6, 2006, shows the row of brownstones in the background that once lined the blockfront now occupied by the Citibank tower.
The building depicted is situated on two lots. The triangular portion of the storefronts on the left are situated on an adjacent lot. I imagine these are separate structures that have had their facades “unified” over time through renovation.
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 671 style 135 was installed in the Idle Hour Theater on 7/31/1923.
A very interesting thread on a very old theater. Wherever the Idle Hour was situared, and Ed Selero’s 7/12/07 post makes a compelling case, the theater’s zip code is definitely 11101, and this should be added to the introduction. If a comment by Warren in another LIC theater page had not mentioned the Idle Hour, I would never have come across this page.
One other point. I was struck by the Idle Hour’s quaint title and assumed that it would be about the only so named theater when I conducted the search. But fully 10 Idle Hour’s came up. So I guess this was a more popular name than I thought, in a very different era.
As a lark, I visited the nine other sites named Idle Hour. They were scattered throughout the USA – with one showing up in Toronto. All of them began operations in the early years of the last century, and only one of them, situated in rural Virginia, is still operating. This theater is actually the successor of the original Idle Hour, which was a wooden structure that opened in 1912. They say that Tom Mix and his horse once paid a visit to the old theater.
I attached the CT page of the last existing Idle Hour below. I hope you find it interesting. Enjoy.
/theaters/17086/
Another gentle reminder to the site manager: Please add the 11101 zip code to the title. Since will make this page far more accessable to a larger number of readers.
Wow that was quick, site manager. Thanks for the change!
Just wondering if there should be a way of using an original (even if antiquated) address for a movie theater, while also displaying the modern address equivalent in the heading. Interesting that the obsolete address of 251 Jackson Ave has Google mapped to the exact spot where we believe this theater to have existed (now known as 24-29 Jackson Ave). Perhaps the site administrator did some hard-coding behind the scenes? I still think displaying both addresses where appropriate (and where known) would be very helpful. The modern address would map the location correctly, while listing the old address as well would provide some historic integrity.
The “Sunny-Side” needs to be removed from the address bar at the top of the listing. There is an area in Queens called “Sunnyside,” but it is east of Long Island City. The Idle Hour was in Long Island City, not Sunnyside. Sunnyside had three theatres of its own— the Bliss, Center, and 43rd Street. There was also the Sunnyside Theatre, just over the border in Woodside.
Ed, I entirely agree with your point about retaining, in some way, the original addresses of Queens based theaters like the Idle Hour. Beyond providing some historic integrity, the original addresses will be of value to researchers who wish to review old newspaper articles and theater digests that only refer to the old addresses.
I just noticed the wonderful vintage picture of this old theater that was recently posted at the top of the page. What a terrific addition – and thanks to whoever made this contribution.