Belle Harbor Twin
150 Beach 116th Street,
Rockaway Park,
NY
11694
150 Beach 116th Street,
Rockaway Park,
NY
11694
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Showing 26 - 41 of 41 comments
RJ, I didn’t see your message until now…
I am still confused now. Which theater is the Park Theater? The one in the aerial photo, or the one in the forgotten-NY photo?
The aerial photo at 150 Beach 116th shows a theater with three stores in front.
The forgotten NY photo, which you say is the Park Theater, only has two.
I meant Beach 116th St, sorry.
Anyway, that theater is not the theater in the photo from forgotten ny, because in the aerial photo of that theater at 150 Beach 116th, there are three stores in the old theater. The forgotten ny photo shows only two stores, side by side, the Curves, and the Deli.
Well, I did a little more research into this….and there is definitely a theater at 150 Beach 115th St…
Here’s an aerial view of the old building:
View link
That is the Park theater. The upstairs – where the windows are served as a pool hall until the 60’s. Somehow numbers are confused. The theater looks dramatically different without the marquee. Note the second residence on 114th and 115th streets is number 150 same side of the street. The theater would be the second also from the beach and was more than likely 150 also. The arcade befoe the theater I remember having fractured numbers.
Wait a minute, is this even the same theater as the Park? The opening address has 150 as the number, and the two businesses in the photo are 239 and 240? These aren’t like your normal mis-conception of addresses, these addresses aren’t even on the same side of the street as the theater is listed as an even number, and the businesses in the photo of the theater are odd numbers.
So which is wrong here, or does this photo belong in a different theater section?
Here’s the photo from forgotten-ny:
View link
Dear BrooklynJim. Sorry your on the other ocean. How is it out there? I posted some things on the Met Site so go to it. I went to the site red dot maps of Coney Island. The coaster ride in the movie the Beast looks like the Thunderbolt, bit it was probably some Coaster ride out West Ha Ha. Don’t you just miss old Brooklyn. Thank God for CT so we can reminisce. Or maybe the Park Theater in Rockaway was to scare us kids to think that the Beast was goimg to go to Rockaway’s Playland Coaster ride that night and we would think it would appear in the Rockaway’s and destroy the Coaster. Could Be???????? Anyway take care and hope to hear from you soon.Anniegirl
The Park Theater was still open in March of 1962. It was showing at that time the re-release of “Gone With The Wind”.
Thx for getting back to me, micheleandanniegirl. If you don’t click on many other Brooklyn/Queens theaters listed on CT, then you’re probably unaware that I’ve been out here on the “left” coast for about 28 years. (Had to be near an ocean. Go figure.)
A new guy named Silvio dropped a neat Coney Island link on a Glendale movie theater page the other day. It’s a good one, so I’ll drop it in here where it’s a bit more appropriate for the beach and amusement park crowd:
View link
The map contains some colorful old postcards and B&W photos which you can access by clicking on the red dots. It’s a real time trip, and I mailed my mom a floppy as part of her “Memory Lane” birthday gift. You can judge for yourself whether the coaster in “Beast…” was based on the Thunderbolt or the Cyclone. Ciao for now.
Dear Brooklyn Jim, sorry about the arithmetic. 20,000 fathoms is correct. I even have the DVD now and I watch it from time to time. It’s not scary anymore. I loved living my summers down in Rockaway Beach. Us kids even became junior lifeguards. Jack and Pete were the lifeguards on Beach 101 street in 1952 and 1953.. We tied towels around our necks and made like superman flying. We even sat in the lifeguard boat and sat in the lifeguard chair after 6 P.M. when they went home. The Park theater was the place to go on Saturday Afternoon. It was a small house but big to us kids. As far as the movie the beast was seen at Manhattan Beach I guess he it the Roller Coaster at coney Island. The roller coaster looked likt the Thunderbolt right?. Talk to you soon about more Rockaway Memories. Anniegirl.
The staircase to the nonexistant balcony went to the Rooftop Garden Theater. This was a summer movie house. Full screen, many seats, and massive blacken windows that would be opened on summer nights before air cooled or air conditioning. The last film to play in the second theater was either “A Star is Born” (Garland), or Dial M For Murder
P.S. to micheleandanniegirl: At least the roller coaster destroyed by the Rhedosaurus during the finale of “Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” was in Coney Island, not Rockaway Park’s Playland, a bit less to fear by Queens kids.
Micheleandanniegirl, both author Ray Bradbury and the late oceanographer Jean Jacques Costeau would be tickled over the 5-fold increase in fathoms. “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” scared ALL of us 7 year olds back in ‘53 – or at any subsequent time in the future. A true classic, along with “THEM!” the following year.
Thanks for posting your memories out there in Rockaway. BTW, the last time I visited Rockaway Park a few year ago, I think I found a decaying salami sandwich under the boardwalk at 108th St., a leftover from 1963! :)
As a kid, we had a bungalow on Beach 101 Street and we went to see “The Beast from 100,000 fathoms. I was 7 years old and was scared out of my wits. My older sister took me and my cousins to that movie theater. I do not remember any other moviehouse near that one. We had the summer place on Beach 101 street and we did not venture past the police precient on Beach 96th Street anniegirl
Theatre operated into late 1960’s. I attended as late as 1967. I’m going to need some help here- theatre was reopened under a different name for a short period somewhere between 1974 and 1976. No matinees just evening shows. Building is still standing. Lobby area is used for seasonal retail. Boardwalk is just feet from the theatre entrance.
I believe that this theater building is still standing. At least it was at the end of December, 2003 when I saw it.