Regent Theatre
41 E. Third Street,
Dunkirk,
NY
14048
41 E. Third Street,
Dunkirk,
NY
14048
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 79 comments
Paul: Do you or Tim know if the clock is for sale and still in the Dunkirk area?
It was in the auditorium, to the left hand side, near the rear exit.
Was the clock lighted in an art deco style and hung in the lobby?
Is the Leeds Jewelers clock for sale? If so, please let me know where it is located as I’d love to see it and meet the current owner. My email is
I USED TO WORK AT THE THEATERS IN DUNKIRK. THE REGENT, CINE AND VAN BUREN DRIVE-IN. I KNOW WHO HAS THE LEEDS JEWLERS CLOCK THAT WAS IN THE REGENT THEATER.
Paul, maybe the theatre in Fredonia was the one that had the balcony after all (at least when I was seeing films in the 70’s). Either way, it scared me a bit as a kid.
Martin (whose name I remember from a few years behind me in school):
The Theater in Fredonia (Cinema One at the time?) had a balcony. The Regent that had the balcony went up in smoke in the late 20’s.
Leeds was between Penney’s and Sidey’s on Central. View link 6th photo up from the bottom, a parade involving unusual garb. I wasn’t the one who brought it up, but agreed it was there. Nice clock, the numbers and arms lit up, but you couldn’t see the background.
I know a Reed who used to run a garage, and his wife used to own (maybe still does) a carpet store on LSDE.
Paul, I think it might have been you who posted a comment on the Van Buren Drive-In page asking “does anyone remember the neon blue Leeds Jewelers sign at the Regent?”. I do remember a neon blue diamond now that you mention it. But I don’t know if it was Leeds Jewelers or Reeds Jewelers. I remember Reeds Jewelers in Dunkirk. I went with my father there a few times growing up in the 70’s when he went out to buy my mother presents. The Reed family was also members of Shorewood Country Club which is how my father would have known them.
I vaguely remember the balcony at the Regent. By the time I saw my first films there (most likely Disney releases in 1969 or 1970), the balcony was surely closed off to public access (I don’t recall anyone sitting there). But, having read mention of it, I seem to recall it – if nothing else as a kid you’d look up there to see if anyone was spying down on you.
And Tim does post on the above obervertoday.com site though I haven’t found any posts, yet, by him mentioning local theatres and drive-ins. In fact, someone in the area is trying to promote interest in restoring a drive-in on Route 5…can’t recall the name at the moment.
Paul: I’ve contacted Tim and the dhsclassof70 site should have a section marked Theatre Memories so they are all together on one page.
If you go to View link you can post your comments as I just did concerning theatre information/memories.
Yes, kleenex is most needed!
If this works, bring some kleenex.
http://dhsclassof70.yearbookhigh.com/photo3_3.html
Yes, that is the Tim. I have been looking through the site, but haven’t found it yet. He has some new pictures on here that I hadn’t seen before.
http://dhsclassof70.yearbookhigh.com/photo2.html
If the above link works, you can see the train wreck that may have had a hand in the collapse of the roof of the Capitol. (My mom and siblings were able to out run the wreck, mom driving and seeing the wreck happening behind her.)
Also, in the background upper left of the bootom photo you can see McClenethans. It was an office supply store by 1989. (And may have been back then.) All that paper and ink, and a source of ignition. Fire companies from Westfield helped fight the fire. The rail traffic was stopped for hours. And now the area is, well, a parking lot. I’ve heard that they can’t rebuild because the lot is too close to the tracks. SUNY Fredonia is building a “high tech incubator” across the street. We’ll see how close to the tracks they get. (I thought that spot would have been great for a new cinema. :)
Back to looking.
Paul: I brought up the site, but where do I find the photo(s)? I’ve seen Regent photos showing the marquee and the crowd of kids, but where or where were they? Is the Tim you speak of the man who now lives in San Diego, but who grew up in the Dunkirk area?
Here’s the basic page, the pic you want should be on here somewhere.
http://dunkirk.yearbookhigh.com/
Don’t tell Tim I sent you, he won’t talk to me anymore. :)
On August of 2005 I posted a site and mentioned interior and exterior photos of the Regent, but I can’t seem to find them now. If anyone can help provide a photo(s) that would be great!
ken mc: Very interesting to read about this theatre’s opening. I’ve been passed this former theatre and the building still stands though the marquee is long gone. The framed areas where the movie posters were viewed are still there though. At the present time a local Catholic church owns the building and uses it for storage.
Here is an article dated 11/25/42 from the Dunkirk Evening Observer:
REGENT THEATRE WILL HOLD ITS PREMIERE ON THANKSGIVING DAY
The Regent Theatre, Dunkirk’s newest moving picture house, will have its premiere Thanksgiving Day. The initial program will start at 1 p.m. and will run continuously until 11 p.m. The new theater, built on the southwest corner at Washington Avenue and East Third street, has a seating capacity of 762 persons, all on the ground floor. It was constructed by Dalton B. Burgeit for a syndicate headed by Clyde R. Lathrop of Brocton.
The ceiling and walls are constructed of celetex which is painted in a rose-tan, grey and cream color scheme. Drapes at the exits are of rust colored velour. The outer stage curtain is rust velour and the inner curtain green and gold silk. Carpeting is of a brown and
marooned figured design.
The interior of the building was constructed along a streamlined plan with curves replacing sharp angles in the wall structure. Indirect lighting is in use. A commodious lobby faces on the East Third street side of the building. The ticket office is in the
center of the lobby’s south wall with entrances to the theater on either side. Upstairs over the lobby are the projection room, offices, ushers' dressing room and storage room.
Besides the two exits into the lobby there are three others in the theater. Two of these lead directly into Washington Avenue. The other is at the southwest corner of the building and leads to a roadway connecting with Lynx street. The theater is equipped with a ventilating and heating system which changes the air in the amusement center every two minutes. A blower in the cellar forces the heated fresh air out through two large vents in the ceiling while the spent air is sucked out through louvers beneath the stage.
The latest model RCA Photophone sound system has been installed at the theater. Arrangements have been made for showing of pictures released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Columbia, RKO, and United Artists.
Paul: Keep digging as what you are posting is most interesting! It’s just a shame that the Regent can’t be brought back as the brick building still stands today, but without the marquee and probably without any seats as the nearby Catholic church owns it now and uses it for storage according to a lady I spoke with last summer in one of the church offices. At the time I did’t meet with anyone who had THE KEYS so a return visit is on my theatre agenda, still.
I’ve saw another reference to Dalton later on. Donald could have been an error. Or there were two generations in movies,followed by the next generation in a more honorable business.
The Observer was slamming the group that owned the Regent over their slow path to rebuilding.
After WWII started, there were some delays in the construction due to concern over whether building supplies were being misdirected from the war effort.
I think the son was named Dalton and was the man I met who said his father once owned 3 theatres in Dunkirk. Dalton is an “ambulance chaser” attorney.
Always finding out something new. Apparently the manager of the Regent at the time of the 1929 fire was Donald Burgett, not Dalton as I had thought I read.
To give the history as I know it.
Opened in late 1910 as the Drohen theater.
Closed June 22, 1920.
Reopened March 21, 1921 as the Regent.
Closed October 1929 due to devastating fire.
Reopened Thanksgiving 1942 in its current form.
Closed November 1992.