Well, it makes sense that the SunWave, at least would have had no chance against the multiplex. It would have been virtually next door. However, the September 15, 1986 issue of New York has no listing for the SunWave (so maybe August 1986 was SunWave’s last month) or the Plaza but also no listing for the multiplex. Only the Patchogue is listed (as Patchogue Triplex). I think the Plaza closed a full year before the multiplex opened for business.
Anyway, the September 8, 1986 issue lists the SunWave as showing The Fly and Night of the Creeps, both “through Sept. 4.” Nothing is listed as beginning on Sept. 5. So it appears we’ve pinned the final official night of this theater down to September 4, 1986.
I also note that there are no listings in the August/Sept. 1986 issues for the drive-in, so clearly the multiplex was on the verge of opening.
The August 4, 1986 issue of New York Magazine lists the Sunwave as showing About Last Night and The Karate Kid Part II. The January 19, 1987 issue has no listing. So it looks like the latter part of 1986 was the last gasp for this place. Combined with Joe Vogel’s post from 12/8/09 indicating that a 1971 issue of Box Office described the Sunwave as “new” it seems this theater had a pretty short life of only 15 or 16 years.
Looks like by early 1985 Brentwood was getting films at the tail end of the first run. The January 28, 1985 issue of New York Magazine lists The Terminator (which hit theaters in October 1984) as playing there for a few more days with City Heat (which opened in early December) scheduled to be there as of January 25.
No problem, Leighton. Apparently a lot of back issues of New York Magazine are on google books. It’s fairly easy to just pick a year and scroll through an issue to the movie listings and just look at what theaters were listed for Suffolk County (the listing were broken down by county). Seems like a good way to pin down when a theater closed.
The January 28, 1985 issue still lists it as the RKO Plaza, showing The River and Walking the Edge, with Superstitious scheduled to replace The River on January 25 (the 1/28 issue must have hit news stands on the 24th or earlier).
Well as of today, the theater is completely gone. Just a pile of rubble now. In searching for pictures of a different theater I stumbled upon the movie listings for Suffolk County from the February 28, 1983 issue of New York Magazine. I would link to it, but I don’t know to post a clickable link.
The interesting thing to me was that the Plaza is listed as the RKO Plaza. There’s a lot of comments on this thread so maybe someone did mention it, but I didn’t notice any mention of this theater ever being operated by RKO.
The two films playing were Tootsie and The Sting II.
Well you could be right, but I don’t think so. I feel more confident about the fact that the name (whether it was Commack Cinemas or Commack Multiplex) was in green rather than blue, but I really do think it said multiplex. In any case, in searching for a pic to determine for certain one way or the other, I stumbled upon this FB group which indicates that the theater is closing on Sept. 25.
The very first post on this page noted that the correct name for this theater is Commack Multiplex Cinemas. I don’t think that’s true anymore but does anyone know when the word multiplex was dropped? I just uploaded a photo I took today and I’m sure that the front of the theater used to say Commack Multiplex rather than Commack Cinemas (and I’m pretty sure the lettering was green, not blue).
Does anyone know when they made the change? I have not been there once since the Regal opened in Ronkonkoma with stadium seating so I hadn’t noticed.
It’s been hanging around vacant for 26 years, I guess a few more weeks won’t matter. Due to the mobilization of personnnel necessitated bu Hurricane Irene, the demolition of the Plaza has been postponed. A new date has not been announced.
I just uploaded a couple of photos of the Brentwood Theatre from the late 1980s. The entire front is boarded up because it was all glass. Note the similarity of the building to that of the Bay Shore Cinema (the theater referred to on the road-side marquee of Brentwood).
I stopped by Howard’s Cafe yesterday to see whether there might be a picture on the wall somewhere from when it was a theater. No dice. I talked a bit to a bartender who said Howard’s didn’t move directly in after the theater closed. There were a few years in between before Howard’s moved from the corner to where the theater used to be.
The current picture doesn’t do justice to the theater location, by the way. If you look at an angle from either the side of Howard’s or the side of the liquor store it’s much easier to see that Howard’s, the restaurant and the liquor store are all in a two-story building where the rest of the strip is one story.
I saw Wyatt Earp here shortly after that picture was out of first run theaters. They actually showed it with an intermission and I recall the theater being quite packed for it.
I’ll second that. In fact, Jeff, now that the new photo submission system is working, it would be great if you’d upload a couple of your photos to the site.
I’ve seen a bunch of you responding to “moviegoer”’s comment from 12/19/06. I’m moviegoer and this is my first post on this theater. The 12/19/06 post that you guys have responded to seems to be attributed to someone called “stlogije.” Enough people have responded to “moviegoer” that I must assume that post was previously erroneously attributed to me due to some Cinema Treasures technical glitch.
As of August 15, 2011 the theater is still standing. I just uploaded a photo of it taken this evening. For the record, I think it closed in 1985. I believe the last film to play there was Back to the Future.
I was just in the mall the other day. I forget what store is where the theater was, but I did note a long exit hallway which I recall being next to the theater entrance. If I’m right, the location is on your right in the first corridor as you walk toward the center of the mall from the food court. I think it’s a very large womens' clothing store.
I was here several times but my favorite memory was when I went alone to see Heaven’s Prisoners. Had to have been pretty shortly before it closed. Once it was quadded the theaters were really small. I was the only person in the theater. Literally the only one. The size of the theater made it feel like a private screening in some really rich dude’s home.
I was fortunate enough to get to a film here just before it closed while I was in college. Saw El Cid. It’s demise at the hands of CVS (not that it’s their fault) is a real shame.
Apparently Jeana found some photos, because there’s one of the lobby, one of the screen and one of the building after it was closed all beginning on page 10 of her album. Link is in her 5/29/08 post. Here’s the link for the lobby photo:
Google mapping on this is not accurate. It was further north on 5th Ave where Hubbard Sand & Gravel now is. North of Southern State and nowhere near Sunrise Highway (the current Google street view).
Is there a way to suggest new info for the overview blurb? The theater was torn down a few years ago to make room for the new Sears building at that end of the mall. Incidentally, I never was in this when it was a single-screen. As a two-screener I can remember seeing Batman here in 1989 and I think I might have alos seen Start Trek III here.
The area isn’t horrible. It’s perfectly fine. It’s just heavily hispanic, particularly with many immigrants from El Salvador. The building now has new life as the Brentwood Soccer Academy.
I lived in DC during most of the 1990s and as far as I know, it was a Cineplex Odeon theater during that whole time.
To address your question from a couple of weeks ago, Giles, the only film festival I can remember there during the 90s was the Warner Brothers 75th Anniversary Film Festival which ran for about a week in 1998. It included all the WB classis, with each day devoted to a different decade (more or less). Obviously 2001 wasn’t a part of it, nor Lawrence of Arabia nor the Wizard of Oz, but I don’t remember any other film festivals, per se.
I believe the Wizard of Oz did play there for it’s 50th anniversary though. That is, it definitely played there because I saw it, and I think the occasion was the 50th anniversary of the film. At one point it closed for 6 months or so for renovations and it repoened with a showing of Vertigo. I think it was a restored version of the film and the whole evening was run by AFI. I was there for that also, and Kim Novak was there to introduce the film.
Well, I think they’re beyond the most agree it will happen stage, because I passed by the multiplex yesterday and there is a large banner hanging on it that says “Coming Soon, Cinema Deluxe 16, All Stadium Seating.”
No evidence of construction starting, but as far as I know this is the first public advertising that the project is a go.
Well, it makes sense that the SunWave, at least would have had no chance against the multiplex. It would have been virtually next door. However, the September 15, 1986 issue of New York has no listing for the SunWave (so maybe August 1986 was SunWave’s last month) or the Plaza but also no listing for the multiplex. Only the Patchogue is listed (as Patchogue Triplex). I think the Plaza closed a full year before the multiplex opened for business.
Anyway, the September 8, 1986 issue lists the SunWave as showing The Fly and Night of the Creeps, both “through Sept. 4.” Nothing is listed as beginning on Sept. 5. So it appears we’ve pinned the final official night of this theater down to September 4, 1986.
I also note that there are no listings in the August/Sept. 1986 issues for the drive-in, so clearly the multiplex was on the verge of opening.
The August 4, 1986 issue of New York Magazine lists the Sunwave as showing About Last Night and The Karate Kid Part II. The January 19, 1987 issue has no listing. So it looks like the latter part of 1986 was the last gasp for this place. Combined with Joe Vogel’s post from 12/8/09 indicating that a 1971 issue of Box Office described the Sunwave as “new” it seems this theater had a pretty short life of only 15 or 16 years.
Looks like by early 1985 Brentwood was getting films at the tail end of the first run. The January 28, 1985 issue of New York Magazine lists The Terminator (which hit theaters in October 1984) as playing there for a few more days with City Heat (which opened in early December) scheduled to be there as of January 25.
No problem, Leighton. Apparently a lot of back issues of New York Magazine are on google books. It’s fairly easy to just pick a year and scroll through an issue to the movie listings and just look at what theaters were listed for Suffolk County (the listing were broken down by county). Seems like a good way to pin down when a theater closed.
The January 28, 1985 issue still lists it as the RKO Plaza, showing The River and Walking the Edge, with Superstitious scheduled to replace The River on January 25 (the 1/28 issue must have hit news stands on the 24th or earlier).
Well as of today, the theater is completely gone. Just a pile of rubble now. In searching for pictures of a different theater I stumbled upon the movie listings for Suffolk County from the February 28, 1983 issue of New York Magazine. I would link to it, but I don’t know to post a clickable link.
The interesting thing to me was that the Plaza is listed as the RKO Plaza. There’s a lot of comments on this thread so maybe someone did mention it, but I didn’t notice any mention of this theater ever being operated by RKO.
The two films playing were Tootsie and The Sting II.
Well you could be right, but I don’t think so. I feel more confident about the fact that the name (whether it was Commack Cinemas or Commack Multiplex) was in green rather than blue, but I really do think it said multiplex. In any case, in searching for a pic to determine for certain one way or the other, I stumbled upon this FB group which indicates that the theater is closing on Sept. 25.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Commack-Multiplex-Cinemas-End-of-an-Era/233105553387833
The very first post on this page noted that the correct name for this theater is Commack Multiplex Cinemas. I don’t think that’s true anymore but does anyone know when the word multiplex was dropped? I just uploaded a photo I took today and I’m sure that the front of the theater used to say Commack Multiplex rather than Commack Cinemas (and I’m pretty sure the lettering was green, not blue).
Does anyone know when they made the change? I have not been there once since the Regal opened in Ronkonkoma with stadium seating so I hadn’t noticed.
Here’s an image of the Patchogue when it was still a movie house in 1983.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=22&ProductID=30379
For anyone interested, I uploaded a photo of the theatre cum soccer academy taken this past weekend just before Hurricane Irene.
It’s been hanging around vacant for 26 years, I guess a few more weeks won’t matter. Due to the mobilization of personnnel necessitated bu Hurricane Irene, the demolition of the Plaza has been postponed. A new date has not been announced.
I just uploaded a couple of photos of the Brentwood Theatre from the late 1980s. The entire front is boarded up because it was all glass. Note the similarity of the building to that of the Bay Shore Cinema (the theater referred to on the road-side marquee of Brentwood).
I stopped by Howard’s Cafe yesterday to see whether there might be a picture on the wall somewhere from when it was a theater. No dice. I talked a bit to a bartender who said Howard’s didn’t move directly in after the theater closed. There were a few years in between before Howard’s moved from the corner to where the theater used to be.
The current picture doesn’t do justice to the theater location, by the way. If you look at an angle from either the side of Howard’s or the side of the liquor store it’s much easier to see that Howard’s, the restaurant and the liquor store are all in a two-story building where the rest of the strip is one story.
I saw Wyatt Earp here shortly after that picture was out of first run theaters. They actually showed it with an intermission and I recall the theater being quite packed for it.
I’ll second that. In fact, Jeff, now that the new photo submission system is working, it would be great if you’d upload a couple of your photos to the site.
I’ve seen a bunch of you responding to “moviegoer”’s comment from 12/19/06. I’m moviegoer and this is my first post on this theater. The 12/19/06 post that you guys have responded to seems to be attributed to someone called “stlogije.” Enough people have responded to “moviegoer” that I must assume that post was previously erroneously attributed to me due to some Cinema Treasures technical glitch.
As of August 15, 2011 the theater is still standing. I just uploaded a photo of it taken this evening. For the record, I think it closed in 1985. I believe the last film to play there was Back to the Future.
I was just in the mall the other day. I forget what store is where the theater was, but I did note a long exit hallway which I recall being next to the theater entrance. If I’m right, the location is on your right in the first corridor as you walk toward the center of the mall from the food court. I think it’s a very large womens' clothing store.
I was here several times but my favorite memory was when I went alone to see Heaven’s Prisoners. Had to have been pretty shortly before it closed. Once it was quadded the theaters were really small. I was the only person in the theater. Literally the only one. The size of the theater made it feel like a private screening in some really rich dude’s home.
I was fortunate enough to get to a film here just before it closed while I was in college. Saw El Cid. It’s demise at the hands of CVS (not that it’s their fault) is a real shame.
Apparently Jeana found some photos, because there’s one of the lobby, one of the screen and one of the building after it was closed all beginning on page 10 of her album. Link is in her 5/29/08 post. Here’s the link for the lobby photo:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2846794510067676325xfgTOy
Google mapping on this is not accurate. It was further north on 5th Ave where Hubbard Sand & Gravel now is. North of Southern State and nowhere near Sunrise Highway (the current Google street view).
Is there a way to suggest new info for the overview blurb? The theater was torn down a few years ago to make room for the new Sears building at that end of the mall. Incidentally, I never was in this when it was a single-screen. As a two-screener I can remember seeing Batman here in 1989 and I think I might have alos seen Start Trek III here.
The area isn’t horrible. It’s perfectly fine. It’s just heavily hispanic, particularly with many immigrants from El Salvador. The building now has new life as the Brentwood Soccer Academy.
I lived in DC during most of the 1990s and as far as I know, it was a Cineplex Odeon theater during that whole time.
To address your question from a couple of weeks ago, Giles, the only film festival I can remember there during the 90s was the Warner Brothers 75th Anniversary Film Festival which ran for about a week in 1998. It included all the WB classis, with each day devoted to a different decade (more or less). Obviously 2001 wasn’t a part of it, nor Lawrence of Arabia nor the Wizard of Oz, but I don’t remember any other film festivals, per se.
I believe the Wizard of Oz did play there for it’s 50th anniversary though. That is, it definitely played there because I saw it, and I think the occasion was the 50th anniversary of the film. At one point it closed for 6 months or so for renovations and it repoened with a showing of Vertigo. I think it was a restored version of the film and the whole evening was run by AFI. I was there for that also, and Kim Novak was there to introduce the film.
Yeah, that’s what I said on June 16. Scroll up.
Well, I think they’re beyond the most agree it will happen stage, because I passed by the multiplex yesterday and there is a large banner hanging on it that says “Coming Soon, Cinema Deluxe 16, All Stadium Seating.”
No evidence of construction starting, but as far as I know this is the first public advertising that the project is a go.