Sorry to report that the former New Progress/Progress Theatre is not there. Currently at that address 1892-1894 Third Avenue is a single storey Rite Aid store which was built in 1957.
The Atlas Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 and is in the Film Daily Yearbook, 1926 edition with a seating capacity listed as 450.
The status of the Atlas Theatre need to be changed to Closed/Demolished as a new building was errected on the site in 1929.
The former New Progress/Progress Theatre was located adjacent to the north of the Atlas Theatre at 1892-1894 Third Avenue (demolished around 1957).
mikemovies;Regarding the costing of C.T.A. visits (tours) of theatres.
There is no registration fee to be paid for a CTA visit, so in reality the visit is free! Visits are arranged as a benefit of membership for members of the Cinema Theatre Association.
What is payable and built into the cost of a visit is the air travel (booked as a reduced group rate from the UK), the hotel (usually a centrally located 2*(or equivalent) hotel (again booked as a reduced group rate)and sharing a room comes out cheaper than having a single occupancy, a comprehensive visit notes booklet which is illustrated and fees/donations paid to the theatre buildings who ask for them (tour guides, caretaker fees, donations to churches etc). Most theatres allow tours for no charge at all.
Allowances are made for non-UK residents to make their own travel arrangements to to country to be visited, or if it’s in the USA, then own arrangements to the city to be visited. Of course if a visit happens to be coming to your own city of residence, then you get to do the visit for practically nothing!
Not included in the costings of a visit are travel insurance, transportation by public transport (ie. a 7 days travel pass) we do most of our visits using public transport (metro and rail) and only hire a coach when absolutely neccessary and this would be included in the visit cost. Meals and spending money are of course not included.
To give you an idea, our most ambitious visit to date was the recent February/March 2006 visit I organised to Australia for 3 weeks(20 nights accomodation), including international air travel and internal travel Melbourne to Sydney, visit notes and hire of a vintage bus on a couple of days and payment of fees for an Australian Visa entry came to US$3,000 per person sharing and US$4,000 person in single occupancy. Total number in the group was 54 persons and we visited over 70 theatres/cinemas including the first ever visit by the CTA to a Drive-in Theatre, which was a triple screen and where we got to see the movie of personal choice, free popcorn, drinks and hotdogs provided by the owner! What more could you ask for! LOL
The duration of most International visits varies from 7, 10 or 14 days depending on the number of theatres a city or area can offer.
A $25.00 Annual Fee is very reasonable. Hopefully that would provide enough income for an expansion to a larger capacity server for the site.
Many members of the site have now added a great ammount of invaluable information to the site, that it would be sad to loose it all, just for the sake of a few $ input.
Guests should not only be unable to post to listings, but should only have a limited number of ‘hits’ to pages of the site per day. To facilitate this, the ‘guest’ list would be suspended and non-paid up ‘members’ would then log in as a named user, but with limited capabilities. Fully paid up members get it all facilities (unlimited). That would be a fair way of operating the site and raising money to keep it going.
I do hope that Patrick and Ross (administrators of the site) are reading this discussion. If they are, then a quick posting as to what is going on would be a nice gesture to make, just to keep us informed as to what’s happening (or going to happen) to the site.
Thanks.
Parker;Let me know when ever you next plan a trip to the UK
EdSolero;I ‘adopt’ local cinema enthusiasts in all city’s I visit! LOL A local guide is essential to getting the best information on theatres and how to get around. Feel free to contact me on e-mail.
I am the International Visit Co-ordinator of the Cinema Theatre Association (CTA) based in England (UK). Monthly tours are organised for members within the UK and there is usually at least one International tour a year.
Currently I am in New York City setting up a 10 days tour of N.Y.C. theatres (and former movie houses/theatres) which will take place in late October/early November 2007. Future CTA International visits are also being planned to Denmark (Copenhagen), Cuba (Havana) and our 2nd visit to India.
Recent CTA International visits in the past 3 years have been to Australia (Sydney & Melbourne), USA (Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA), Russia (St Peterburg) and India.
More information on the Cinema Theatre Association (which has an International membership) can be found on the website:–
Interestingly there is an Eden Theatre listed at Atlantic Avenue (no number given) in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915.
In the 1926 Film Daily Yearbook the Eden Theatre is listed at 201 Atlantic Avenue with 500 seats (no Flora Theatre listed). As I stated in my previous post above, the Flora Theatre is listed at this address in the 1927 F.D.Y. with 550 seats. with no listing for an Eden Theatre in that edition. Was the former Eden Theatre modified or partially rebuilt as the Flora?
LostMemory;The building bounds two streets Richards Street & Pioneer Street (I am presuming the entrance was on the corner). There is actually more of the building running along Richards (the length of the auditorium) than Pioneer (the width of the theatre). So it must be the same theatre building which opened on your 1921 date.
There has been a new finish given to the exterior, but at the top of the building above what I presume to be the corner entrance, there are just faint traces of original decorative detail to be seen.
Film Daily Yearbook’s editions 1926 & 1927 give a seating capacity of 600. The 1930, 1941 & 1947 editions of F.D.Y. all give a seating capacity of 524.
Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1927 edition with a seating capacity of 550. It is last listed in the 1941 edition of F.D.Y. with a seating capacity of 500 (Closed) and is still listed as (Closed) in the 1947 edition!
As seen today (June 2006), the facade has a new brick cladding and the building is in use as a church.
The Gloria Theater has now been demolished. An apartment block has been recently built on the site. Construction work is not quite completed (as at June 2006) and it looks like the decorative stonework around the former theater’s entrance has been retained and will form the entrance to the apartments.
Currently as seen in June 2006, the Subway Theatre building still stands. The triangular site which contains several other small buildings is now totally closed up and awaiting imminent demolition.
The entrance to the Subway Theatre remains standing at 158 Myrtle Avenue, whilst around the corner was a subsidiary entrance/exit at 243 Flatbush Extension, that in recent years has been in use as Studio 243 Bar & Lounge. The auditorium of the Subway Theatre has been rendered over externally and actually looks like a recent building, but looking at the rear-side of it the brickwork is very old there there is some sort of old apperatus on the roof which looks like an ancient cooling sytem. The last use for the auditorium was as a 24 Hours Car Wash facility.
Just to the left of the 243 Bar & Lounge and to the right of the corner chicken eatery (which was never the theatre entrance), is the bricked up entrance to the abandoned Myrtle Avenue subway station.
As viewed in June 2006, the building has not quite been demolished, although derelict would be a correct description. The four walls still stand (including a modified facade), but there is no roof on the building.
BrooklynJim/LostMemory;
The Cumberland Theatre is listed in the 1926 F.D.Y. located at 327 Cumberland Street with a seating capacity given as 540. Same details in the 1927 and 1930 editions. The 1941 edition of F.D.Y. lists the same same details but it is (Closed).
‘The Chat’, Saturday December 23 1916…….
RIDGEWOOD’S NEW PLAYHOUSE WILL OPEN THIS AFTERNOON
Structure has been designed Along Lines of Modern Architecture
Involves Cost of $350,000
Decorations of Interior Very Pleasing—-To Give High Class Vaudeville and Moving Pictures
That Ridgewood, which was a farming section just a few years ago, has rapidly grown to a city in itself is evidenced from the fact that today will see opened a theatre that is as large as any of the Brooklyn playhouses and far more beautiful. The Ridgewood Theatre, as it has been named, is situated at Myrtle and Cypress avenues and extends through to Madison street. It has a seating capacity of 3,000 and involves an expenditure of $350,000.
The builders are well known Levy Bros. of 1-9 Montegue street, who also constructed the Bedford Theatre and the Fifth Avenue Theatre and scores of apartment houses in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The architecture is of the most modern type and the designs are simple yet pleasing to the eye. The front is made up of glased terra cotta and a spacious lobby is provided. The interior is decorated in marble and red silk moire tapestry. On the entrance to the mezzanine arcade is a large promenade and on both the orchestra and mezzanine floors are to be found lounging rooms for both ladies and men.
The building has been so designed that it is clear of all poles and the elevation of the seats is such that it permits a full view of the stage even to the last row. There are roomy loges on the balcony and two tiers of boxes.
The new theatre is readily accessible to all trolly lines leading into Ridgewood and those on the Myrtle avenue line from Richmond Hill and Jamaica.
The management will adopt a policy that will be in keeping with the beauty of the playhouse and will offer only the best grade of vaudeville numbers and high grade feature motion picture plays. The bill will be changed twice every week, this on Mondays and Fridays. There will be a matinee daily and the prices for the afternoon show will be 10 cents, while the evening shows will be 15 and 25 cents. For the opening week the management has secured an exceptionally interesting bill.
The Astoria Theatre building has been sold for nearly 24 Million Pounds sterling to Derwent Valley a specialist Central London property and investment outfit. It has been rumoured that the developer plans to turn the concert/club venue into shops and flats.
The famous G-A-Y gay nightclub which has operated within the building for the past 20 years is owned by the Mean Fiddler Group, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Entertainment U.K. Recent acts to appear on G-A-Y club nights have been Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud and Sugar Babes.
It remains unclear how long G-A-Y will continue to operate at the Astoria.
The Lincoln Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 so I would imagine that it had some movie theatre use from opening. It is listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1926 edition as having a seating capacity of 1,370. It has gone from F.D.Y. listings in the 1930 edition (live show use?). In the 1941 edition of F.D.Y. it is listed with 830 seats(Closed). It is listed as ‘Open’ again in the 1947 F.D.Y. with 830 seats.
A plaque on the front of the building states that the current Metropolitan AME Church have operated in the building since 1952.
I have been to re-visit the former Renaissance Theatre again today. I can now confirm that the former Renaissance Ballroom is still extant (as mentioned by EdSolero on his June 17th posting) and the two seperate buildings are divided by a narrow alley. Both buildings are still in a poor condition and boarded up. In my posting of 7th May, I stated that the Renaissance Ballroom has been demolished (which is incorrect) and I apologies.
LostMemory; The photograph of the Renaissance Ballroom you posted a link to on your first posting on 7th May 2006 was a view looking down 138th Street from the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard(Seventh Avenue), which in my May 7th posting ,I mistakenly thought was a view along Seventh Avenue (again please accept my apologies). I took a photo today from the same position and will post it here soon, together with several more current views of the buildings.
EdSolero;
Yes, the church you saw further down Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard(Seventh Avenue) was the former Lafayette Theatre, listed here: cinematreasures.org/theater/12596/
The Sumner Theatre opened in early May 1914. On 20th June 1914 the Sumner Roof Garden Theatre opened with an all star revival of “The Prisoner of Zenda”. The Roof Garden occupied the entire roof space of the theatre proper and seating was provided for 1,100. These seats (not benches) were installed by the Haywood Bothers and Wakefield Co. and were built especially for comfort, with plenty of space between the rows and extra wide aisles. There were many wide entrances and exits to and from the roof which had been approved by the fire and buildings departments. The space was surrounded by many varicolored electric lights which made for a beautiful effect from within the space and when viewed from the street. The pictures were always accompanied by the Sumner Theatre Orchestra and if the weather was not appropriate to screenings on the roof, then the same performance would be held in the main theatre aditorium downstairs.
The Sumner Theatre opened in 1914 with a seating capacity given as 1,000. It also boasted a Sumner Roof Garden Theatre. The address given in the Film Daily Yearbook:1926 is 265-271 Sumner Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The seating capacity varied in later editions of Film Daily Yearbook;1930 edition=961, 1941 edition=802 and 1957 edition=930.
Today the building is in use as a children’s day care centre with an address of 265 Sumner Avenue (aka Marcus Garvey Boulevard). The former roof garden theatre space can still be seen on top of the theatre, now in use as a play area.
Sad news folks…
The arial view posted by bway on 12th June is a little out of date. I passed by the site of the former Van Buren/Marvin Theatre today and it has now been demolished. It must have happened earlier in 2006 as already foundations have been laid for constructing a new building on the site.
In the Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper edition dated 7th November 1915, this Midwood Theatre is listed as operating as the Midwout Theater under new management and with an entire change of policy. (Midwout is the old Dutch spelling for Midwood meaning middle of the wood). The location is given as Foster, Bedford and Flatbush Avenues.
The last sentence on the opening text for this theatre is incorrect as the other Midwood Theatre located at 1953 Avenue J was already advertising in the Brooklyn Eagle in November 1915. It originally opened in 1913 and was later enlarged to the current building which is seen today.
OK folks, Here’s the answer to all the confusion above…..
There were indeed two different Grace Theatre’s in Brooklyn. The opening statement made by Phillip Goldberg now needs to be changed as the Whipple Street Grace Theater/White House Theater has now ‘taken over’ this page.
The ‘other’ Grace Theatre, 1830 Coney Island Avenue needs to be added as a ‘New Theatre’ and to have a page to itself. For the record I have it opening as the Grace Theatre in 1917. It is listed in the 1926 and 1927 editions of Film Daily Yearbook as the Miriam Theatre with a seating capacity of 479. In the 1930 edition of F.D.Y. it has been re-named the Navarre Theatre with the same seating capacity. In the 1941 F.D.Y. it had been re-named yet again the to Fair Theatre with 420 seats(Closed). As Phillip stated, it has been in use for many years as a Youth Center.
Now back to the Grace Theater, 2 Whipple Street, Brooklyn…….
Sorry to report that the former New Progress/Progress Theatre is not there. Currently at that address 1892-1894 Third Avenue is a single storey Rite Aid store which was built in 1957.
The Atlas Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 and is in the Film Daily Yearbook, 1926 edition with a seating capacity listed as 450.
The status of the Atlas Theatre need to be changed to Closed/Demolished as a new building was errected on the site in 1929.
The former New Progress/Progress Theatre was located adjacent to the north of the Atlas Theatre at 1892-1894 Third Avenue (demolished around 1957).
mikemovies;Regarding the costing of C.T.A. visits (tours) of theatres.
There is no registration fee to be paid for a CTA visit, so in reality the visit is free! Visits are arranged as a benefit of membership for members of the Cinema Theatre Association.
What is payable and built into the cost of a visit is the air travel (booked as a reduced group rate from the UK), the hotel (usually a centrally located 2*(or equivalent) hotel (again booked as a reduced group rate)and sharing a room comes out cheaper than having a single occupancy, a comprehensive visit notes booklet which is illustrated and fees/donations paid to the theatre buildings who ask for them (tour guides, caretaker fees, donations to churches etc). Most theatres allow tours for no charge at all.
Allowances are made for non-UK residents to make their own travel arrangements to to country to be visited, or if it’s in the USA, then own arrangements to the city to be visited. Of course if a visit happens to be coming to your own city of residence, then you get to do the visit for practically nothing!
Not included in the costings of a visit are travel insurance, transportation by public transport (ie. a 7 days travel pass) we do most of our visits using public transport (metro and rail) and only hire a coach when absolutely neccessary and this would be included in the visit cost. Meals and spending money are of course not included.
To give you an idea, our most ambitious visit to date was the recent February/March 2006 visit I organised to Australia for 3 weeks(20 nights accomodation), including international air travel and internal travel Melbourne to Sydney, visit notes and hire of a vintage bus on a couple of days and payment of fees for an Australian Visa entry came to US$3,000 per person sharing and US$4,000 person in single occupancy. Total number in the group was 54 persons and we visited over 70 theatres/cinemas including the first ever visit by the CTA to a Drive-in Theatre, which was a triple screen and where we got to see the movie of personal choice, free popcorn, drinks and hotdogs provided by the owner! What more could you ask for! LOL
The duration of most International visits varies from 7, 10 or 14 days depending on the number of theatres a city or area can offer.
A $25.00 Annual Fee is very reasonable. Hopefully that would provide enough income for an expansion to a larger capacity server for the site.
Many members of the site have now added a great ammount of invaluable information to the site, that it would be sad to loose it all, just for the sake of a few $ input.
Guests should not only be unable to post to listings, but should only have a limited number of ‘hits’ to pages of the site per day. To facilitate this, the ‘guest’ list would be suspended and non-paid up ‘members’ would then log in as a named user, but with limited capabilities. Fully paid up members get it all facilities (unlimited). That would be a fair way of operating the site and raising money to keep it going.
I do hope that Patrick and Ross (administrators of the site) are reading this discussion. If they are, then a quick posting as to what is going on would be a nice gesture to make, just to keep us informed as to what’s happening (or going to happen) to the site.
Thanks.
Parker;Let me know when ever you next plan a trip to the UK
EdSolero;I ‘adopt’ local cinema enthusiasts in all city’s I visit! LOL A local guide is essential to getting the best information on theatres and how to get around. Feel free to contact me on e-mail.
I am the International Visit Co-ordinator of the Cinema Theatre Association (CTA) based in England (UK). Monthly tours are organised for members within the UK and there is usually at least one International tour a year.
Currently I am in New York City setting up a 10 days tour of N.Y.C. theatres (and former movie houses/theatres) which will take place in late October/early November 2007. Future CTA International visits are also being planned to Denmark (Copenhagen), Cuba (Havana) and our 2nd visit to India.
Recent CTA International visits in the past 3 years have been to Australia (Sydney & Melbourne), USA (Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA), Russia (St Peterburg) and India.
More information on the Cinema Theatre Association (which has an International membership) can be found on the website:–
www.cinema-theatre.org.uk
Interestingly there is an Eden Theatre listed at Atlantic Avenue (no number given) in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915.
In the 1926 Film Daily Yearbook the Eden Theatre is listed at 201 Atlantic Avenue with 500 seats (no Flora Theatre listed). As I stated in my previous post above, the Flora Theatre is listed at this address in the 1927 F.D.Y. with 550 seats. with no listing for an Eden Theatre in that edition. Was the former Eden Theatre modified or partially rebuilt as the Flora?
The Subway Theatre was re-named Ace Theatre from 1949 and closed in 1950.
Back in the 1920’s the currently closed up chicken take-a-way on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Flatbush Extension was an Oyster Restaurant.
LostMemory;The building bounds two streets Richards Street & Pioneer Street (I am presuming the entrance was on the corner). There is actually more of the building running along Richards (the length of the auditorium) than Pioneer (the width of the theatre). So it must be the same theatre building which opened on your 1921 date.
There has been a new finish given to the exterior, but at the top of the building above what I presume to be the corner entrance, there are just faint traces of original decorative detail to be seen.
Film Daily Yearbook’s editions 1926 & 1927 give a seating capacity of 600. The 1930, 1941 & 1947 editions of F.D.Y. all give a seating capacity of 524.
Listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1927 edition with a seating capacity of 550. It is last listed in the 1941 edition of F.D.Y. with a seating capacity of 500 (Closed) and is still listed as (Closed) in the 1947 edition!
As seen today (June 2006), the facade has a new brick cladding and the building is in use as a church.
The Gloria Theater has now been demolished. An apartment block has been recently built on the site. Construction work is not quite completed (as at June 2006) and it looks like the decorative stonework around the former theater’s entrance has been retained and will form the entrance to the apartments.
Currently as seen in June 2006, the Subway Theatre building still stands. The triangular site which contains several other small buildings is now totally closed up and awaiting imminent demolition.
The entrance to the Subway Theatre remains standing at 158 Myrtle Avenue, whilst around the corner was a subsidiary entrance/exit at 243 Flatbush Extension, that in recent years has been in use as Studio 243 Bar & Lounge. The auditorium of the Subway Theatre has been rendered over externally and actually looks like a recent building, but looking at the rear-side of it the brickwork is very old there there is some sort of old apperatus on the roof which looks like an ancient cooling sytem. The last use for the auditorium was as a 24 Hours Car Wash facility.
Just to the left of the 243 Bar & Lounge and to the right of the corner chicken eatery (which was never the theatre entrance), is the bricked up entrance to the abandoned Myrtle Avenue subway station.
The Pioneer Theatre building is currently (June 2006), in use as Health Centre.
As viewed in June 2006, the building has not quite been demolished, although derelict would be a correct description. The four walls still stand (including a modified facade), but there is no roof on the building.
BrooklynJim/LostMemory;
The Cumberland Theatre is listed in the 1926 F.D.Y. located at 327 Cumberland Street with a seating capacity given as 540. Same details in the 1927 and 1930 editions. The 1941 edition of F.D.Y. lists the same same details but it is (Closed).
‘The Chat’, Saturday December 23 1916…….
RIDGEWOOD’S NEW PLAYHOUSE WILL OPEN THIS AFTERNOON
Structure has been designed Along Lines of Modern Architecture
Involves Cost of $350,000
Decorations of Interior Very Pleasing—-To Give High Class Vaudeville and Moving Pictures
That Ridgewood, which was a farming section just a few years ago, has rapidly grown to a city in itself is evidenced from the fact that today will see opened a theatre that is as large as any of the Brooklyn playhouses and far more beautiful. The Ridgewood Theatre, as it has been named, is situated at Myrtle and Cypress avenues and extends through to Madison street. It has a seating capacity of 3,000 and involves an expenditure of $350,000.
The builders are well known Levy Bros. of 1-9 Montegue street, who also constructed the Bedford Theatre and the Fifth Avenue Theatre and scores of apartment houses in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The architecture is of the most modern type and the designs are simple yet pleasing to the eye. The front is made up of glased terra cotta and a spacious lobby is provided. The interior is decorated in marble and red silk moire tapestry. On the entrance to the mezzanine arcade is a large promenade and on both the orchestra and mezzanine floors are to be found lounging rooms for both ladies and men.
The building has been so designed that it is clear of all poles and the elevation of the seats is such that it permits a full view of the stage even to the last row. There are roomy loges on the balcony and two tiers of boxes.
The new theatre is readily accessible to all trolly lines leading into Ridgewood and those on the Myrtle avenue line from Richmond Hill and Jamaica.
The management will adopt a policy that will be in keeping with the beauty of the playhouse and will offer only the best grade of vaudeville numbers and high grade feature motion picture plays. The bill will be changed twice every week, this on Mondays and Fridays. There will be a matinee daily and the prices for the afternoon show will be 10 cents, while the evening shows will be 15 and 25 cents. For the opening week the management has secured an exceptionally interesting bill.
The Astoria Theatre building has been sold for nearly 24 Million Pounds sterling to Derwent Valley a specialist Central London property and investment outfit. It has been rumoured that the developer plans to turn the concert/club venue into shops and flats.
The famous G-A-Y gay nightclub which has operated within the building for the past 20 years is owned by the Mean Fiddler Group, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Entertainment U.K. Recent acts to appear on G-A-Y club nights have been Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud and Sugar Babes.
It remains unclear how long G-A-Y will continue to operate at the Astoria.
The Lincoln Theatre is listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 so I would imagine that it had some movie theatre use from opening. It is listed in the Film Daily Yearbook;1926 edition as having a seating capacity of 1,370. It has gone from F.D.Y. listings in the 1930 edition (live show use?). In the 1941 edition of F.D.Y. it is listed with 830 seats(Closed). It is listed as ‘Open’ again in the 1947 F.D.Y. with 830 seats.
A plaque on the front of the building states that the current Metropolitan AME Church have operated in the building since 1952.
I have been to re-visit the former Renaissance Theatre again today. I can now confirm that the former Renaissance Ballroom is still extant (as mentioned by EdSolero on his June 17th posting) and the two seperate buildings are divided by a narrow alley. Both buildings are still in a poor condition and boarded up. In my posting of 7th May, I stated that the Renaissance Ballroom has been demolished (which is incorrect) and I apologies.
LostMemory; The photograph of the Renaissance Ballroom you posted a link to on your first posting on 7th May 2006 was a view looking down 138th Street from the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard(Seventh Avenue), which in my May 7th posting ,I mistakenly thought was a view along Seventh Avenue (again please accept my apologies). I took a photo today from the same position and will post it here soon, together with several more current views of the buildings.
EdSolero;
Yes, the church you saw further down Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard(Seventh Avenue) was the former Lafayette Theatre, listed here:
cinematreasures.org/theater/12596/
The Sumner Theatre opened in early May 1914. On 20th June 1914 the Sumner Roof Garden Theatre opened with an all star revival of “The Prisoner of Zenda”. The Roof Garden occupied the entire roof space of the theatre proper and seating was provided for 1,100. These seats (not benches) were installed by the Haywood Bothers and Wakefield Co. and were built especially for comfort, with plenty of space between the rows and extra wide aisles. There were many wide entrances and exits to and from the roof which had been approved by the fire and buildings departments. The space was surrounded by many varicolored electric lights which made for a beautiful effect from within the space and when viewed from the street. The pictures were always accompanied by the Sumner Theatre Orchestra and if the weather was not appropriate to screenings on the roof, then the same performance would be held in the main theatre aditorium downstairs.
The Sumner Theatre opened in 1914 with a seating capacity given as 1,000. It also boasted a Sumner Roof Garden Theatre. The address given in the Film Daily Yearbook:1926 is 265-271 Sumner Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The seating capacity varied in later editions of Film Daily Yearbook;1930 edition=961, 1941 edition=802 and 1957 edition=930.
Today the building is in use as a children’s day care centre with an address of 265 Sumner Avenue (aka Marcus Garvey Boulevard). The former roof garden theatre space can still be seen on top of the theatre, now in use as a play area.
Sad news folks…
The arial view posted by bway on 12th June is a little out of date. I passed by the site of the former Van Buren/Marvin Theatre today and it has now been demolished. It must have happened earlier in 2006 as already foundations have been laid for constructing a new building on the site.
In the Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper edition dated 7th November 1915, this Midwood Theatre is listed as operating as the Midwout Theater under new management and with an entire change of policy. (Midwout is the old Dutch spelling for Midwood meaning middle of the wood). The location is given as Foster, Bedford and Flatbush Avenues.
The last sentence on the opening text for this theatre is incorrect as the other Midwood Theatre located at 1953 Avenue J was already advertising in the Brooklyn Eagle in November 1915. It originally opened in 1913 and was later enlarged to the current building which is seen today.
OK folks, Here’s the answer to all the confusion above…..
There were indeed two different Grace Theatre’s in Brooklyn. The opening statement made by Phillip Goldberg now needs to be changed as the Whipple Street Grace Theater/White House Theater has now ‘taken over’ this page.
The ‘other’ Grace Theatre, 1830 Coney Island Avenue needs to be added as a ‘New Theatre’ and to have a page to itself. For the record I have it opening as the Grace Theatre in 1917. It is listed in the 1926 and 1927 editions of Film Daily Yearbook as the Miriam Theatre with a seating capacity of 479. In the 1930 edition of F.D.Y. it has been re-named the Navarre Theatre with the same seating capacity. In the 1941 F.D.Y. it had been re-named yet again the to Fair Theatre with 420 seats(Closed). As Phillip stated, it has been in use for many years as a Youth Center.
Now back to the Grace Theater, 2 Whipple Street, Brooklyn…….