Loew's Pitkin Theatre

This listing should be changed to Loew’s Pitkin.

This is the information on the Brownsville and East New York theatres that I toured this past Wednesday with a resident of the area. The Hopkinson Theatre was razed and is now a lot. It did play movies in the 1940’s & 1950’s (check the New York Times for the weekly ads during this period. The Stadium met the same fate and is now a park according to the street address. (I think the entance to theatre is there and only the auditorium is the small park). The remaining part of the building has no address, but follows the numbers on the other side of the street. The Loew’s Palace, the Supreme, the Ambassador, the People’s Cinema (nee Bluebird), the Livonia, The Lyric (Hendrix), Elite (Euclid), Kinema, Biltmore, Premier, Embassy, Warwick, Adelphi (Gem), Gotham, have ALL been demolished. Those that remain as churches include The Parkway, New Prospect (Ralph Ave.), the Montauk Arcade (Montauk) and Brair’s Theatre (Powell) both on Pitkin Ave, the Penn, Sutter, Miller
(Jehovah’s Witness on site) all on Sutter Avenue.
For the retail spaces, the Stone (supermarket), Reo (New Singer) a .99 store, the Sheffield (storage area) as well as the early Select (Chester) at 1671 Pitkin Ave. I had no address for the Brownsville Theatre but there are a few buildings that look that they were theatres. On Fulton Street, the Norwood, a 1920’s and early 1930’s “Negro” Christmas house, still rertains its' unique theatre entrance. If I have omitted any theatre it is because I couldn’t locate the buildings or had wrong addresses. Not bad for a 5 hour sweep. Let me hear from you if you have lived or went to any of the buildings listed above.

Thank you, bryanb. My father, who remembers this theater, will enjoy this also. The interior appears similar to Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica Queens in an image I saw a few eeeks ago.

Warren, I don’t know if the building still exists. Thanks for this background info on the Yiddish Theater. The only two names I knew prior to your comment were Leo Fuchs and Molly Picon. My father, born 1919, remembers the Brooklyn Eagle. He remembers the intersection of Pitkin and Rockaway Avenues as a busy clothing retail area. His mother took him there in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s to shop for Easter suits, and he remembers clothiers grabbing his mother’s sleeve to get her attention as they stepped off the Rockaway Avenue trolley. They bought from stores, not pushcarts.

Yes, 1619 Broadway is the Brill Building. Thats where my office is located in Manhattan.

The Hopkinson Theater once stood five short blocks to the east of the Pitkin at Hopkinson and Rockaway Avenues. I do not know its size.

I know of no theater that once stood at the once-busy intersection of Pitkin and Rockaway Avenues in Brownsville.

The first movie at Loew’s Pitkin was “So This Is College” (MGM) with Elliott Nugent, Robert Montgomery and Sally Starr, all-talking and singing. There was a stage revue (if you want that info, let me know)as well, from the Capitol Theatre. Four De Luxe shows daily at 1:30-3:45-7:00-9:00. It was heralded as LOEW’S AMAZING NEW! PITKIN on Sat. Nov. 9, 1929 at 11 A.M.. Opening Day Prices were 11 a.m.-1 p.m. .35 cents, 1-5 p.m. .50 cents, 5 p.m. to closing .75 cents. Note (Loges slightly higher) Any wages, I say .90 or $1. ?

Even though not considered a “Wonder Theatre”, the Pitkin was advertised as such in many ads in the Brooklyn Eagle when it first opened. When I spoke to a original Loew executive, he told me the “Wonder Theatre” was an advertising tool of the then in-house publicity team that were employed at the Loew’s State building in New York. Seeing the building while it was open and many times since closed, I was able to get in two years ago, and it is now truly an atmospheric theatre now that the ceiling has collapsed into the orchestra. In addition, the auditorium looked like the “Titanic” that had risen with the water damage intense. It is beyond saving except for the original four exterior walls that still look majestic. It is safe to assume that this theatre was also “extremely vandalized” and not buy locals but people who knew the value of the treasures within. All that was left of the grand staircase was the steel frame, minus the marble steps, bannisters, light fixtures and the lions on the staircase levels leading to the balcony. It was a sad sight to see. The Parkway Theatre (aka Ronley) nearby is in much better shape.

The Pitkin Theatre was not one of the five Wonder theatres that Loew’s built. The real five wonder theatres were:
Loew’s 175th Street (Manhattan)
Loew’s Paradise (Bronx)
Loew’s Kings (Brooklyn)
Loew’s Valencia (Queens)
Loew’s Jersey (Jersey City)