New Boro Park Theatre
5102 New Utrecht Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11219
5102 New Utrecht Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11219
8 people
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Showing 26 - 50 of 81 comments
Thanks for the info, ERD! I have vague memory snippets of going into that drugstore with my mother. I remember an old man behind the counter who looked like the pepperidge farm man, and those big bottles with different colored liquids in them. Never knew what they represented/signified. Any plans to make public your aunt’s no-doubt fascinating photos?
Irwin Corey lived in the apartment building on 12th Avenue. There was a drugstore on the mainfloor called Rooservelt’s Pharmacy over 55 years ago. My aunt, who had a photography studio in the area, took many pictures for the vaudeville stars when they appeared at the Boro Park and 46th Street theatre.
See Garden theatre(Brooklyn) in Cinema Treasures for the outdoor theatre on New Utrecht avenue.(Roof opened). It was next to Loew’s 46th Street. Loew’s 46th Street building is now a furniture store, I think the Mosque you are referring to is in( or was in) a connecting building next to it. (Check it out in Cinema Treasures)
In response to Bway’s question of Jun 13-In the early 70s Boro Park was well on it’s way to being the bastion of religious conservatism it is today, but there were still a few bars in the area, even a nightclub of sorts in the basement of the building adjoing(and originally owned by) the old 46th street theater (now the site of the Mosque of the Crimean Turks). I don’t recall porn at the 46th, but just before closing for good, they had a series of concerts featuring the likes of Little Richard, jerry lee lewis, etc.
In regard to old theaters in Boro Park, I’ve heard tell of an outdoor theater on New Utrecht, maybe on the site of the old Bohack sumpermarket, now a hardware and lumber store. Any info?
Thanks, bkj !
Just a bit of trivia here. Professor Irwin Corey, the World’s Foremost Authority, grew up in an apartment facing the old Boro Park Theatre. Not sure if it was the 12th or New Utrecht ave. side. Anyone know? By the way, Prince & Sons shoe repair is still there.
ERD, thanks for your answer. My understanding is that the Willensky book is a good one. Willensky and I are both Cooper Union graduates.
The only picture (exterior front view) I ever saw of the Boro Park theatre was in the book “When Brooklyn Was The World” by Elliot Willensky. Unfortuantely, I do not know of any link that shows the
handsome interior. Perhaps C.T. member Warren knows of one.
Has anyone posted a link to an image of what it used to look like ?
A brick facade, I don’t personally feel it resembled the RKO Bushwick.
I wonder if there are any pictures of the interior of the Boro Park theatre.
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The ambiance of the Boro Park, Loew’s 46th Street and other beautiful movie theatres like it, enhanced and complimented the movie going experience for me. From what little I can remember of it, seeing a movie and then a stage show following it, was something very unique and special.
The neighborhood began turning “orthodox” in 1966. The Boro Park began showing XXX films in retaliation for the egg throwing riot
when the owner had live shows on Saturday. Loew’s 46th Street did not show XXX rated films as a continous policy.
I do not know, either.
It’s hard to believe that the 46th Street and the Boro Park both showed XXX in their final years. It’s such ha conservative neighborhood today, I don’t know if that was the case in the 70’s.
Or, ERD, as Jay Leno once said, a concrete bunker at the end of the shopping mall !
I know what you mean about movies as an escape from tough times.
Recently I went to a local Upstate NY multiplex where I now live. Compared to the Bough Park and Loew’s 46th Street, it is nothing more than an uncomfortable screening room.
How true! When I gave a background of the movie palaces to many of my young theatre arts students, they became angry that so many of these theatres were destroyed. Of course the modern young generation can not miss what they don’t know exsisted. That it is why it is important to save some of theatres that are left and use them in a positive way as centers of the arts. It usually enhances the community as well. Also,book,documentaries, lectures, and sites such as CINEMA TREASURES are important in educating the public in this subject all our members are so dedicated to.
EDR try comparing THAT to the ambience and atmosphere of a multiplex!
When I had some rough years as a teenager in the late 1950’s, the Boro Park and Loew’s 46th Street were the places that I could go to for a few hours and escape. It was not only the features they showed, but the atmosphere of the two theatres that comforted me.
Yes EDR, it was a beautiful theater.I really liked those box seats and was lucky to sit there a few times- after I asked the manager or someone if it was OK.No real comparison to this and the 46th. St, due to differing interior decorations and styles.Hard to believe it`s gone more than 30 years now!
If there would have not been that neighborhood dispute in the late 1960’s, perhaps the Boro Park could have at least survived in some form or other-as the West End on 52nd street. Ehile having 2,346 seats, the auditorium still had to me had a nice cozy, intimate feeling. The theatre was a real charmer!
Thank you,lostmemory. I am sure both theatre organs were not in workable condition when I was young, or perhaps removed by then.
Lostmemory, do you know if it fell into disrepair? I never heard it played, nor remember seeing the console. How I wish I could have tried it out when I lived near the theatre. What about Loew’s 46 Street theatre? I realizes that most fancy theatres had organs installed in those years.