Crest Theater
244 Main Street,
Binghamton,
NY
13905
244 Main Street,
Binghamton,
NY
13905
3 people
favorited this theater
Operating by 1941 as the 1,015-seat Suburban Theatre, a name it retained until at least 1950. This big old classic movie theatre was destroyed to make room for a drug store which never opened. It was the site of the world premiere of “The Twilight Zone” movie.
Contributed by
H Rahner
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
jkoffman: Great post and a great family theatre legacy!
The Crest had the best movie theatre sound system in the Binghamton area. I saw Earthquake, Midway and Rollercoaster, all in SENSURROUND here. I also saw Halloween on opening weekend in 1978. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Many others, too. Great memories!
Never knew that Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame was originally from Binghamton.
Rod Serling was BCHS’s most famous alumnus. Around 1977-1978, the auditorium in Binghamton Central High School had a major electrical fire one night. My homeroom was on the 2nd floor, right across the hall from the doors to the balcony. Over the years, everyone who was ever on stage crew carved their names into the wood trim backstage. The auditorium took over a year to renovate and when it was finished, all of the names were painted over with white paint EXCEPT Rod Serling’s! I know the school underwent a major renovation in the early 1980’s. Don’t know if they saved it.
Sure hope they did, if they had regard for….history!
…..or any degree of regard for…history! Let us know if you can!
1986 Photo
1986 Photo
1987 Photo
Was this theatre previously known as the Suburban ? I have aquired some movie flyers from 1938 “West Side Famuly Theatre” W. H. Manny- Manager. There is no address on this
Yes, jeffret … The Crest Theatre was originally The Suburban Theatre. I am unclear as to when the name changed. I am currently working on a Triple Cities theatres history project involving going through the microfilms of the newspaper in the Broome County Library to gradually gather all this information. But it is a very long slow process. It takes me about 3 hours to look through each month of microfilm !!! When I come across the definitive information, I will let you know !!
My grandfather, Charles F. Davis managed this theater until his death in 1975. When he played El Cid in the 1960s, the lobby was decked out like the fight scene. They did things with class back then. He demanded all male employees wear a Tuxedo and all female employees wear dresses. In the ticke booth he had a sign that said Admission 5 Cents. My father managed The Jarvis down the street on Main Street.