Casino Theatre

Bway, that’s what I thought you meant !

So the Ridgewood-bound B-38 bus, after leaving DeKalb Avenue and crossing Broadway, must go northeast on Kosciuszko, then left on Bushwick for a short block, then right back onto DeKalb (two-way northeast of Bushwick Avenue) to continue northeast to Ridgewood.

Thanks, Bway !

Hehe. After all this, now I can’t remember if that was DeKalb or Kosciuszko St! You are absolutely correct about the odd number thing. See, I was so confused yesterday when I was looking for the Casino, and now I still am! One of the biggest theaters I took photos of yesterday, seemingly the hardest to miss, and the most confusion! I think it’s because I thought it was on the other side of DeKalb that confused me at first, and why I am still confused even after being there! I really felt like a fool when I rode through there, and then only noticed it from like four blocks away after going in circles!

And after all that, I forgot to even look for “Bargain Town”!

I would have to walk around those blocks again to be sure. My inital thought was that was the railing around the library just out of view to the left in your first photo.

It’s such a beautiful day, I’m tempted to leave my office and zoom out there on the J or Z or M just to check !

Thanks Bway for confirming that. I realized after posting that it had to be Kosciuszko, because it’s one way southwest, and DeKalb there is two-way, to permit the B-38 bus route there. It’s also consistent with what my quad sheet shows : a big school building on the block bounded by DeKalb, Kosciuszko, Bway, and Bushwick Avenue.

I remember well the library at the south corner of Bushwick and DeKalb Avenues. I think it’s the DeKalb branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Your experience of at first missing the DeKalb reminds me of my April 30 2004 attempt to observe the Colonial Theater from the rear of the Manhattan bound J train I was on. Just west of the Chauncey Street station, all I could see was the former entrance, adjacent to the Rockaway Avenue exit of the Jamaica-bound platform. As I got further away, the Colonial Theater building stood out more and more from adjacent buildings, and became more obvious, particularly the roof.

I think the original entrances were on Broadway and DeKalb Avenue. I will ask my father when I see him next Sunday.

Thanks, Bway. “Link” looks like a view towards Broadway from Bushwick Avenue and Kosciuszko Street. “Link2” looks like a view northeast on Kosciuszko from Bway to Bushwick. Correct ?

Okay, I feel like a fool now. Obviously, this is the Casino near the Kosciuszko St station.
Now I am still confused. What was the name of the Casino in Downtown Brooklyn that I can’t find it? Was that “Inmann’s Casino”.
Also, I believe the proper name for this theater is the “New Casino” rather than Casino. Warren should be able to help us whether it should be “New Casino” or “Casino”, or even “DeKalb” as he suggested. It’s a tough call as I believe when it closed it’s doors it was simply “Casino”. It’s hard to find some theaters here when you look for them under their former names.

I agree with Warren that there should be a listing for the DeKalb,so one can search for it by that name on this site. On the other hand, there should be a cross reference for people looking for the Casino name.

I am the one who listed the Casino because that was the only name that I knew it by and that was from afar. I used to see the theater and its name painted on the rear wall from the Myrtle Avenue el as the train went from the Knickerbocker Avenue station to the Myrtle Avenue station and on down to Bridge & Jay Street in downtown
Brooklyn.

Is there any reason why the listing cannot be Casino / Loew’s DeKalb?
Some other Theaters that come to mind, which are badly in need of cross referencing are:

Adonis / Tivoli
Adonis / Cameo / Squire / Ideal
Cinemart Cinemas / Inwood / Metropolis
Embassy Five / Victoria / Gaiety

With all names listed, wouldn’t the search engine be able to find the theater under either name an individual would be looking for?

I am a teacher at EBC High School, which currently resides in the building I think you all have been discussing. As far as I know, the building stood vacant for a number of years, and 6 or 7 years ago was gutted by the board of ed and turned into a high school. the original facade, i think, has been maintained. here’s a link to the school’s website, with a clear photo of the building http://www.altschools.org/schools/ebcb/
the address is 1155 dekalb ave.

Dear Fernando, thank you for talking to your brother yesterday, and for providing all this detail. I very much appreciate it. Do you think you might try to scan and post your 1980 photo of the Casino Theater ? It would be better than no photo at all, and the only other available image would be the one of the Kosciuszko St. el station from nycsubway.org that “Bway” posted the link to.

Thank you also for the info on Bud Abbott and where he once worked as a cashier. “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” is one of my all-time favorite films, and now, my son (age 9)has known it for several years as well.

Thank you, Fernando and Bway ! The “huge three-towered rusty steel look ” hospital is Woodhull Hospital, which was still under construction in July 1972, as one can see from images of Flushing Avenue el station on the BMT Broadway el on www.nycsubway.org

I rode by on the J last Friday about noon and glimpsed the roof line
of what once may have been the New (now so old !) Casino Theater. It’s hard to be sure. One has to literally “get down” into the street, walk around, and look up !

On that same ride I caught glimpses of the old Colonial Theater, Loews Gates, and RKO Bushwick.

Wow! I never could imagine how my starting information on The Casino would bring out all you great people who have brought back memories of my old neighborhood! Well, Peter and Bwdy, first, the striped building with the arched windows is indeed Bargain Town later known as Buy Rite. Notice off to the distance, that’s the Myrtle Avenue El station. Also judging from this photo, it was certainly taken about 1965/66. I know because that’s exactly how it was painted at the time. Also, notice that to the left of the station area on the old photo you don’t see that “three identical rusty brown colored building” that is visible on the more recent photo of the area, where the old Bargain Town/Buy Rite building is now light grey. The “rusty steel buiding” was the huge hospital which began to be built around 1967/68. I remember because that building took years to finish, We left the area around 1971 and I remember it still hadn’t been fully completed. No, the building to the right of the train is not the Casino. Just a block before that building, on Dekalb, was the Casino. I talked to my brother on the phone about a month ago in Brooklyn. From what I understood the Casino was being used by the Board of Ed, just like the Bushwick now. I wish I was there to show you. I think the Casino’s ads may have been whitewashed already I don’t know. If you walk up Dekalb, on the left side of the street, walking towards Bushwick, the high building to your left, or what’s left of it, just before you get to Bushwick, is the Casino.