Loew's Pitkin Theatre

Thanks, Denpiano. Around 1940 or so my dad worked at National Biscuit Company at 1000 Pacific Street near Classon Avenue. He took the then-new A train Independent Subway from Bway – East NY to Franklin Avenue. The Fulton Street el had just stopped running in 1940, between downtown Bklyn and Rockaway Avenue.

My dad’s mom bought him new suits for Easter every year in the thriving garment district centering around Rockaway and Pitkin Avenues. They would go on Sundays after church, circa 1930, taking the Wilson – Rockaway Avenue trolley from Bushwick. Some merchants would start grabbing my dad’s mom’s sleeve as she was getting off the trolley :

“New suit for the boy ?”

“Take your hands off me, or I’ll go to your brother’s pushcart down the street !”

-PKoch (Peter)

PKoch, I lived on Pacific Street between Saratoga & Hopkinson until I was 11 yrs.old. My family went shopping on Pitkin Ave. many times.
They would buy all my suits accross from the Pitkin Theatre & I also recall a guy on the corner who sold coconut drinks. He was easy to remember because he had fake heads with faces & sticks in the noses that scared the heck out of me! (ha,ha)Funny Now! I went to the Pitkin many times and as I said previously ,I was quite impressed even as a young man. It was a very nice area up until we moved in 1963. I don’t remember what a bad area looked like at the age of 11,
to me the Theatre was all I could think about. A couple of years ago, my friend claimed he found the Morton organ console at a guys house that was selling organ parts, he wanted to buy it for me but said it was in bad condition. I guess the “mystery” of these great houses is what kept me interested in theatres till this day.

PKoch- I don’t usually give my age away, however, what the heck! I’m 53.. Thanks for your description of the 3-D banner and the “movie theatre smell” you describe. I remember it well, I went to the Pitkin quite a few times between 1959-1961. As I described in an earlier comment, I really never looked at the movie, I would look around at everything else that the eye could see in the dark. I remember asking to see the orchestra pit, but the usher would'nt let me “Down There” !! I was quite upset to say the least, but, after all, I was a little kid with no clout. I wish I could have heard the Morton pipe organ, that would have been neat. I understand it was quite powerful for its size due to larger scaling of the pipework.
An older friend of mine described it as sounding really good.

It really saddens me to see this old childhood friend in such poor condition. I was a little fellow in the late 50’s but do remember this theatre as a beautiful ( and incredibly cold in summer) theatre.
We would walk up to the box office on a summer day to see Jerry Lewis as the Bellboy and the cold air coming from inside was simply incredible! In to the theatre we would go , my parents would buy me a mellow roll? ice cream, and into the auditorium we would go.
I remember missing a lot of the film because I was looking at all the
statues on the sides and the blue ceiling. Do I recall a blue lit cove under the balcony when sitting in the back of the orchestra section? What a great place, I feel honored to have seen such great architecture and design!

Jack McCarthy… of course. Good point about the lobby, PKoch. Of course, better still that the whole building be preserved and used as originally intended, but those days are gone. While a few of these magnificent showplaces might have been successfully saved and returned to theatrical use – or at least public space – the days are long gone when one can expect every abandoned 2800 seat theater be restored to former glory. Particularly those situated in residential neighborhoods. If there is no church in need of a space that large, what else can be done with such a structure, unless it is in a viable “downtown” area? This City has already pounded into dust all the viable old palaces it had in the Times Square and mid-town area. Those that remain on the fringes that are not already occupied and cared for by one church or another (Loew’s Valencia, Regent, Loew’s 175th Street, etc) hang on thin threads of hope. So far, the Loew’s Paradise in The Bronx seems to be the only one to break from that paradigm. Only time will tell what kind of a run the Paradise will have in the 21st Century. My fingers are crossed.

I remember watching Officer Joe Bolton on Channel 11 when I was a boy. And who was it that hosted Popeye on WNEW, Eugene McCarthy? I remember years later he was the Grand Marshall of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on 5th Avenue. Does anyone remember the episode of The Honeymooners where Ralph and Norton are in the house of a deceased rich dowager who has just left “her fortune” to Ralph… and Norton comments that the place is “even nicer than the lobby at the Loew’s Pitkin!”

What a pity to think that lobby has been gutted for retail space!

Look on the side of the Loew’s block ad. The Three Stooges were playing a childrens matinee along with WPIX’s Officer Joe Bolton. New Yorkers will remember his character as the host of the Three Stooges show on channel 11. They also had shorts and cartoons on the bill. When the Stooges started making movies again and appeared in person at theatres Officer Joe was with them many times.
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In response to Muray’s 4/19 comment regarding Irvcohen’s posting of 3/24, the theatre in question was the Palace not the Premier. Click Palace theatre in the index to see some ineresting posts, also one about the Parkway theatre which I was writing about ealier today.

irvcohen, the Loew’s Premier (without the “e” at the end), was not behind the Pitkin, but located about a mile away in the East New York section of Brooklyn at Sutter and Snediker Aves. It was a good size place with a balcony and showed films one week after it played the Pitkin. Joey Adams was the Emcee at some of their stage presentations since he lived in the neighborhood. I remember a catering establishment in the same building. I would like to hear from others who can give information regarding the Premier.

As a kid, I was always fascinated with this theatre even though it closed long before I was born. I do remember the skeleton of the marquee was still up until the early 80’s

There is a reference to this theatre in Billy Crystal’s “Mr. Saturday Night” (1992). I wasn’t sure if the Pitkin reference was fictional or real when mentioned, but this where Crystal and his brother in the film, David Paymer, got their start.

Check this one out
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