Suffolk Theater
118 E. Main Street,
Riverhead,
NY
11901
118 E. Main Street,
Riverhead,
NY
11901
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 89 comments
According to the marquee, the Suffolk will reopen on March 2nd as a performance space.
The owners of the Suffolk have been granted tax abatements for ten years to help defray the several million dollar renovation cost of the premises. Work is being delayed by additional work so the targeted opening of December 2012 may be pushed to the spring of 2013.
Great I have been in many Carmike Theatres when I lived in GA. Good company…
From what I’ve seen on CT Carmike is an agressive company and, currently, they are not in the northeast.
You’re right about Islip…Cable V who owns Clearview Theatres is selling them off..I hope at least someone from this country buys them…have you heard anything? Thanks
It’s independent. Clearview wouldn’t want it. They deal with multiple screens. They are supposedly looking for other LI locations. Shame the Islip needs major remediation work for some sort of problem. That would be a good site.
Thanks Ed, that is what I was talking about. I don’t get confused, I know both theatres very well..Back to the utube video that started this conversation…pitch or slope what ever you want to call it, is there..again watch the floor where it meets the wall and follow it down…More important..who do ya’ll think will buy Clearview Cinemas?
But the upward slope was only for the first seven or so rows so the people wouldn’t have to crane their necks up to see the screen.
I think that Wally was merely pointing out that there have been cinemas known to operate without the usual downward slope of seating towards the screen. I might add that there have even been theaters where the seats sloped UP towards the screen!
The Squire was a car dealer show room before it was a theatre…The main floor was and is flat even after they diced it up…That being said…if you look at the youtube again, and look at where the floor and wall meet you can see the floor pitch down…Also some isles are not the same pitch as the seating area, you can see on the clip where they are standing..I don’t think you rule out movies ever being played there..
As you can see from the youtube video, the main floor is now level, as I mentioned previously. I really think they are limiting their options by taking this action since the building is long and sight lines could be problematic. Obviously, movies will not longer be an option. And there is talk of constructing a movie theatre in town.
Click on the Photos tab above.
Where are the pictures…
I have just posted 5 pictures of the Suffolk Theatre. These were taken in January of 1995 not long after the town acquired the house with plans to restore it. It has been too many years since I spoke with someone from the town so my facts may be somewhat sketchy. I remember being told that, in order to create a full stage, they were planning on moving the proscenium arch into the auditorium some 20 or 30 feet which, in my opinion would have ruined everything. Apparently that was easier at the time than acquiring the land behind the house. For its years the house was in very good shape with very little damage. Only the upper level lounge had severe water damage from a leaking roof. The town did fix that and the front wall of the building.
Atlantis is attracting great crowds in Riverhead. They even built a hotel next to it. In the redevelopment of town there is also the plan for a multiplex. Restaurants are doing well, some because of Atlantis but most, I would think, because of the courts. Something by the expressway would be ideal. There was originally supposed to be one up by Riverhead Centre. It’s all such a crap shot. Certain areas, despite high population density can’t seem to support a movie theatre. Patchogue immediately comes to mind. Then, in other areas, they overbuild, two theatres in Coram and one in Port Jeff only a short distance away.
I too have wondered just how many performing arts theaters Long Island needs. Perhaps it’s true that they rely entirely on their local community rather than the Island in general (clearly nobody is going from Yaphank to see a show at the Engmann in Northport, for example) but I live smack in between the Patchogue and the Gateway Playhouse (less than 5 from minutes from both) and I’ve never been to either. CM and Boulton are both also easily accessible to me on the south shore.
Four theaters and I’ve never been to any of them. Five if you count WHB. They just never seem to have any performances that interest me. I did once try to buy tickets to see Colin Hay at the Boulton but it was already sold out.
The Suffolk will make 6 theaters within less than a 30-minute drive and will be about equally as far from me as the Boulton. Assuming they ever have a performance that interests me, the cabaret-style seating would make it the most appealing to me of any of the six theaters within range (though the sheer proximity of the Patchogue -and the ability to walk to any of 6 or 7 bars after a show- would probably still trump it for me).
But I would have much rather seen it restored as a movie theater. The Suffolk was probably in a bad location for it because Riverhead is a bit remote, but I continue to believe that in the right location a single-screen show palace type of theater could work, even out here in suburbia.
Forgot to mention Patchogue which is large and has been up and running for many years. I think the setup of a space is also going to be a factor. The Suffolk will be the only one with cabaret seating of all the performance spaces. Will that appeal to people? Where I live the runs to Riverhead, Westhampton, Patchogue and Port Jefferson are not significantly different. Riverhead, because of the seating, would be my last pick.
Robboehm… with traffic conditions what they are on this island of ours (which is to say, miserable!), I think there is ample room for multiple performance spaces. I think most people on the Island prefer to remain local for their entertainment, unless they are making a special trip to NYC for a show. The question really comes down to a matter of location. Will the local and neighboring communities be able/willing to support each theater? Of all the venues on Long Island (both large and small), I think only Nassau Coliseum, NYCB Theater at Westbury (the former Music Fair) and the ampitheater at Jones Beach really draw from the entirety of the Island (Brooklyn to Suffolk). Most of the others, I believe, draw largely from their immediate surrounding communities.
He didn’t even have knowledge of Studio 54. I explained my reference to him to clarify what I meant. For a time Hollyrock, at the former Regent, now Boulton Center in Bay Shore had removed the theatre seats and operated in a cabaret setting. I really question whether something of this nature will work out here. I like Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center. It’s an intimate space. If they are expanding the stage area at the Suffolk that will give some flexibility. Just how many of these venues can Long Island support? Smithtown, CM in Oakdale, Westbury, both the old renovating theatre and whatever the Music Fair is now called, Theatre 3, WHB, Boulton Center, Engemann in Northport, Landmark in Port Washington, plus the well established Arena Player, etc., etc..
The only reason I brought it up, you said in Sept. “The Studio 54 reference was lost on him.” I do understand what you mean…But, if it was my theatre and I told someone about cabaret seating, I would not like anyone saying it will be like Studio 54…When anyone hears Studio 54 they don’t think about the seating. They think the disco and coke era..not the way it is today…I don’t think it was lost on him,it was the image that came to mind. All in all, you were right about the seating and life is a cabaret..
The Studio 54 reference still holds. The developer specifically indicated to me that there would be cabaret seating on the main floor with theatre seating in the balcony. If that’s not Studio 54 what is?
PS: I was reading an old post…Studio 54 ref. When you do a big make over, you have to take out all the seats til' it is safe [for the seats] to put them back..This will be a live show prof. arts center ie: Northport and Patchogue..
Ed and company…was at Riverhead Country Fair Sunday.. I also got a tour of THE SUFFOLK THEATRE…They will be giving updates and photos to CT soon…looking to ad 30 feet to the stage through the back stage wall..if you are in the area and the doors are open stop in..
Ed, don’t know if this helps…WRIV radio is 40 West Main in the Landmark Bank Build….and I know the Suffolk is east of WRIV on the same side of the road and could not have an odd number address…
You are correct. The address of the Suffolk Theater is 118 East Main St. in Riverhead. At one time the theater had offices at 11 West Main over the Science Center. I will have them correct this.
Thank you