Loew's Valencia Theatre
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
30 people
favorited this theater
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The address ribbon across the top of the listing has one Jamaica too many. It should read “New York>Jamaica>Loew’s Valencia Theatre.” Also, the list of nearby theatres should include the Merrick Theatre. The Main Street Cinemas could be deleted because it’s in Flushing, not Jamaica.
Click here for an exterior view of the Loew’s Valencia Theatre in 1930.
The tragedy was reported in The New York Times of April 3rd, 1943, page 17, and gave a specific name and address for both the victim and her son. A copy can be obtained by e-mailing .
“lynnjav,” I’m sorry to hear of your personal connection to the tragedy. It was reported in the press at the time, but I don’t recall which paper. But I’m sure it was correct about the downstairs “lounge,” which was two flights of stairs below ground level. The “loge” was the plush section of seats at the front of the balcony. If a gun had gone off in the loge, it would have been heard immediately all over the auditorium. If I can find the news report, I’ll send it to you.
That suicide-committing patron was my grandmother (the gun owner was my dad). I was told that she’d shot herself in the Loge. Tinseltoes, what is the source of your information?
The address ribbon at the top of the introduction has one “Jamaica” too many. The first is all that’s needed. Doesn’t anyone in authority ever proofread these listings?
At least one patron committed suicide at Loew’s Valencia during its cinema history. On April 2nd, 1943, a 70-year-old widow from Bellaire, Queens, killed herself with a pistol in the downstairs ladies' lounge. Apparently, no one heard the shot. The body was discovered by two young women when they went down to the lounge around 5:00pm. The Jamaica police traced ownership of the gun to the victim’s son, who said that his mother had been despondent since the death of her husband two years ago. The Valencia was then in the second day of a week’s engagement of “The Crystal Ball” (Paulette Goodard-Ray Milland) and “Silver Queen” (Priscilla Lane-George Brent).
Marcus Loew was born on this date in 1870.
Thanks again Tinesletoes!
Sixty-two years ago today, Loew’s Valencia opened a week’s engagement of MGM’s B&W “Command Decision,” starring Clark Gable, Van Johnson, and Walter Pidgeon, and the Monogram B&W programmer, “Henry the Rainmaker,” both exclusive first-run for Queens. The same conditions had prevailed the previous week with Paramount’s Technicolor “Whispering Smith,” with Alan Ladd, and Paramount’s B&W “My Own True Love,” which had now moved on to an exclusive-for-Queens week at Loew’s Triboro in Astoria.
Well Bway,lets see it this theatre gets anymore hits!LOL.
LOL! I just saw the Valencia name, and said, “Wow, it’s a long time since I saw that one come up in my email updates!”
Relinking,just to stur up some interest.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1953, Loew’s Valencia attracted large crowds and lobby “lock-outs” with MGM’s Technioolor adventure, “Mogambo,” starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Grace Kelly, and presented on its wide-vision screen with stereophonic sound. The supporting feature was MGM’s B&W collegiate musicomedy, “The Affairs of Dobie Gillis,” with Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van. As had been the policy since the Valencia first opened in 1929, the engagement was exclusive first-run for the borough of Queens. That held true until the mid-1960s, when the “Premiere Showcase” concept became common practice in the Greater New York territory.
Little known fact about the Valencia Theater in Jamaica, NY:
Charlie Parker performed there live in 1952. Hear him again here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYg0wQ5Th4w
Jamaica was also home to Illinois Jacquet. A church in the old Prospect Cemetery in Jamaica, now part of York College, is dedicated to Illinois Jacquet with jazz concerts from time to time
John Signorelli
Nice photo jwballer.
View link
To get an idea of what the very first patrons to the Valencia may have seen on the screen is a 3 minute introduction of the first movie shown: White Shadows in the South Seas 1928 Youtube. Try it.
Lots of great pictures in this site.Will have to check it out if I ever go to Queens
Very cool theater, glad its still there,some things were meant to last.
Thanks Kong1911,I thought it was also Kangaroo meat.My mom would send me to the New York Blvd.Store for ham and sausages,back around 1946
My father had a butcher and grocery store in east new york brooklyn and sold merkel products for years. I thought there bacon was the best. Merkel’s building could be seen from the Long Island Railroad platforms at the Jamaica station. The Merkel Big sign above the building has been gone for many years but the building was there until about a year ago. One of the reasons Merkel closed down was that government inspectors found that to save money they were mixing horse meat into their products. If you go back that far you would have read that in the Long Island Press.
Doe’s anyone remember MERKEL’S MEATS located at New York Blvd.And Archer Ave.I think it closed in the late 50s
“Private entrance to what was arguably New York’s grandest theater, meticulously restored” will be part of four FREE Saturday afternoon walking tours being conducted by the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District. The dates are June 13, July 11, September 26, and October 10. All tours start from the front porch of King Manor Museum at Rufus King Park. Advance reservations are required. More details at http://www.jamaicacenter.org/newsevents09.htm
The Valencia closed as a theatre in 1977. “The Greatest Show on Earth” first played there in 1952, but if “Cecil” is the first word on the marquee, DeMille’s remakes of “The Ten Commandments” and “The Buccaneer” were shown at the Valencia in later years, as well as resissues of “Samson and Delilah” and “Reap the Wild Wind.”