Comments about Eagle Theater in Brooklyn, NY

Bway on October 16, 2008 at 9:10 am

I don’t know what they are doing to this building. While the middle has been removed, the whole building gutted, and the roof removed, why would they keep the side walls? Perhaps that is all they are taking down at this time?

Here’s a photo I took yesterday of the at least partial demolition of the theater. Compare to a 2004 photo I took:

Eagle Theater 2004

Here are the photos from Yesterday:

Eagle Theater 2008

PeterKoch on October 14, 2008 at 7:25 am

Thanks, John D. and Bway.

Bway on October 14, 2008 at 4:43 am

John, thanks so much for the heads up! Ironically, when I went back I TOO didn’t have my camera. It hasn’t changed then since my Aug 21st post above….that’s what it looked like when I saw it back in August too…..
I wonder what they are doing to it….

johndereszewski on October 13, 2008 at 4:23 pm

My journey today took me to this site, and I have a lot to report.

Although it has been partially demolished, the iron beams that supported the Eagle’s roof and its entire side and rear brick shell have been retained. This strongly suggests that the new use will not entirely replace what previously existed but will build upon the old structure’s shell.

In any event, what now exists makes a terrific picture – which the lack of a camera prevented me from taking. So get out there before it’s too late – and snap away!

PeterKoch on August 21, 2008 at 7:07 am

Thanks for letting us know, Bway, but I’m sorry to read the sad news about both the Eagle Theatre and your forgetting your memory card for your camera.

I wonder what will be built in the Eagle Theater’s place ?

Bway on August 21, 2008 at 6:50 am

I regret to have to say this, but I drove by the Eagle/Luxor Theater yesterday, and the theater is currently being demolished. It’s just about half gone. Of ALL the times, I forgot my memory card for my camera, so couldn’t take any photos when I was in the area yesterday, but take my word, the theater will be history soon. The entire middle section is gone, only the two outside side walls remain. I WISH I had a photo, but I regretably forgot my memory card for my camera yesterday, so couldn’t take any photos.

Bway on March 25, 2008 at 7:24 am

Warren, are you using the right links for us to see the photos you use on Photobucket? Recently, I can’t access any of your links. However, the links to mine still appear to work (see my Sept 23, 2004 post above with a link to a photo).
I am mentioning this, because I have noticed it at most of your recent links, they don’t seem to be working, but it doesn’t appear to be a universal problem, as I am not having any trouble accessing anyone else’s photobucket links.

PKoch on December 17, 2007 at 9:25 am

Thanks, metz. It reads like you had lots of fun at those movies !

Thanks for the link to the ad, Warren !

billmetz on February 28, 2007 at 2:19 pm

HI PETER AT THE EAGLE I REMEMBER YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU
..HI PETE I SAW YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU AT THE EAGLE .
AND THE LOST JUNGLE SERIALS WITH CLYDE BEATTY AND A FILM CALLED LITTLE PAL WITH MICKEY ROONEY(MONOGRAM) AND ABOUT A HUNDRED COWBOY MOVIES W / KEN MAYNARD, TEX RITTER, TIM MC COY..ETC ETC…………at the MONROE I REMEMBER A TRIPLE OF THE GHOUL and" FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE “ and FRANKENSTEIN … MUST HAVE BEEN IN OCTOBER NEAR HALLOWEEN…AS I REMEMBER THE MONROE AND EAGLE CHANGED THEIR BILL TWO OR THREE TIMES A WEEK….. ONE DAY IN 1942 I SAW A DOUBLE WITH MY MOTHER AT THE BUSHWICK!!!…..BAMBI AND BERLIN CORRESPONDENT WITH DANA ANDREWS BIG SPLURGE!!

PKoch on February 28, 2007 at 5:55 am

Thank you, metz. What movies in particular at the Eagle / Luxor and the Monroe made a movie freak out of you ? I’d like to know. Thanks.

billmetz on February 28, 2007 at 4:49 am

The eagle was formerly the luxor but that was before my time as a kid of ten in 1938 the eagle (or monroe) was paradise for a dime…cant understand how the management could make a profit at tyen cents evenn in those days…a good projectionist would command a 80 dollar weekly
salary those were the days and those 2 theatres made me a movie freak!

PKoch on June 6, 2006 at 7:56 am

That is likely, Bway, given the large number of knitting mills in Bushwick and Ridgewood, both past and present.

Bway on June 6, 2006 at 7:43 am

The building looks like it was used as a knitting mill after it’s theater days.

billmetz on October 13, 2005 at 8:40 am

lost memory ….any luck in finding the original records for the original theatre?? and the date it was constructed ??

billmetz on October 11, 2005 at 10:04 am

wonder if someone can check the records to find out exactly when the luxor name was changed to the Eagle

billmetz on October 7, 2005 at 4:55 pm

i went to the eagle many times because they showed three features, a short, a serial and cartoons all for TEN CENTS //we walked from fresh oond road to central avenue to sve 5 centson the trolley…what the heck it was 1938 and i was only a ten year old kid…happy memories…i understand the area has deteriorated badly if anyone remembers this theatre please feel free to communicate many thanks bill metz email ….

GaryParks on December 22, 2004 at 4:37 pm

Just for fun, here’s an explanation of the name “Luxor.” It is an anglicization of “Al Uqsor,” which in Arabic basically means “The Castle,” referring to the ruins of the temple of the god Amun in what is now the heart of Luxor, Egypt. In the Roman Period, the temple had been surrounded by a fortress wall and converted to a Legion outpost, with the innermost parts of the temple converted into a cult center for the reigning Emperor. By the time of the Arab Conquest in the 600s AD, both the ancient Egyptian and Roman ruins inspired the Arabs to name the place after the buildings they saw.

[Deleted] on December 22, 2004 at 4:30 pm

The Luxor Theatre opened as the Eagle Theatre with seating for 656.

Bway on September 23, 2004 at 12:17 pm

Peter, it was on the northeast side of Central, facing south.

The type of architecture all these neighborhood movie theaters were made me very suprised when I drove by the site of the Irving Theater. In the Irving’s (Mozart) section, you will notice I posted link to a photo of a building there that “may” be the old Irving Theater, even though we thought it was demolished (see link above for the Irving section).

The reason I say this is because the Luxor, the Wyckoff Theater, the Imperial, the Wagner, etc were all built in a similar style like this.

See the Irving Theater for more on this. I really believe the building in the photo I linked to in that could be the Irving/Mozart theater (as it looks like these theaters), even though we all thought it was the gas station site. Or then maybe it could be a coincidence that that theater-looking building would be right next to the site we “thought” was the Irving/Mozart. Let me know what you guys think in the Irving section.

PeterKoch on September 23, 2004 at 11:58 am

Thanks, Chris. Do you recall what side of Central Avenue it is on ?

Bway on September 23, 2004 at 11:42 am

Ooops, I messed up the link:

Try again:

Click here for photo

Bway on September 23, 2004 at 11:39 am

The Luxor Theater building still exists.
Here’s a current view of the Luxor Theater building taken yesterday:

[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/GP36Chris/Old%20Theaters/LuxorTheater431CentralAvecopy.jpg]Click here for photo[url]

The Luxor Theater is now the “Trinity Tabernacle Pentecostal”. The building is not was well maintained as some of the other small theaters that were converted to churches.

PeterKoch on September 2, 2004 at 7:39 am

The Luxor was, apparently, also once known as the Eagle Theater, based on a Cinema Tour listing I have of Brooklyn theaters.

PeterKoch on August 31, 2004 at 1:06 pm

More likely it had a German or Jewish flair, given what the neighborhood was like when films were last shown there.

Yet another reason for us to mount a field trip to Bushwick !

Bway on August 31, 2004 at 12:15 pm

Did this theater have an Egyptian flair to it? I’m just gathering that from the name of the theater.

Eagle Theater

431 Central Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221

431 Central Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11221