Loew's Valencia Theatre
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
36 people
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I also worked as an usher at this beautiful theatre at the age of fourteen I remember the manager known as Mr. “Z”. I then worked at the Astor theatre in New York City for the remaining period of my High School days. I remember as it was yesterday the magic that theatre had for everyone who entered that massive lobby. The box office always made me feel that you were entering a new world. Great theatre!
Roy Barry
The address for Loew’s Valencia Theatre is 165-11 Jamaica Ave..
The Valencia opened in September of 1929 in Jamaica, Long Island. Architect John Eberson based his design on Spanish architecture motifs. Extensive use of wrought iron railings, ornate tile work, sculpture and murals created a Latin illusion. Eberson deigned the auditorium to resemble a moonlit Spanish garden in festival regalia. Loews closed the Valencia in 1977 and donated it to the Tabernacle of Prayer for All People
The former Loew’s Valencia (one of the 5 Loew’s “Wonder” theaters in NYC) is now known as the Tabernacle of Prayer. The church has done a great job of keeping the interior in immaculate condition (although, I believe some of the nudity and more risque depictions in it’s statuary and ornamentation have been discretely concealed). The intricately detailed exterior facade of the theater was obscured by the elevated tracks of the J train for just about it’s entire existence as a movie theater. Around the time of it’s closing, the tracks along Jamaica Avenue were removed and the glory of the theater’s exterior architecture revealed.
The location is Jamaica Ave just West of Merrick Blvd. The last movie to play here was “The Greatest” starring Muhammad Ali.
This was a truly magnificent theater! Designed in Moorish architecture,it was long acclaimed as one of the most beautiful theaters in the five boroughs of New York. The Valencia’s ticket booth was under the marquee outside the theater. After buying a ticket, one walked through a long wide hallway, lined with one sheets of coming films. The uniformed ticket taker took your ticket at a bank of doors that opened onto a huge and magnificent lobby. The concession counter was on the left (looking into the theater ) with goldfish pools dotted around the lobby. Inside, the theater was designed to look like Valencia, Spain. On either side of the orchestra section, shadowy silhouettes lined the proscenium, and, best of all, clouds floated slowly across a ceiling sky dotted with twinkling stars. There was a loge and a huge balcony that seemed to go on forever. (If I am not mistaken, the Valencia was the twin to the Paradise Theater in the Bronx.)
The theater offered many sneak previews (at least in the 50’s and 60’s when I knew it), such as FRIENDLY PERSUASION in July of 1955, four months before the film opened its regular run, and hosted personal appearances by such stars as Joan Crawford (with STRAIT JACKET) and Paula Prentiss with THE HORIZONTAL LIEUTENANT.
Many times, when a double feature that had been booked in for a week wasn’t doing well enough, the management would change the show on Saturday afternoon, meaning that if you came for the first movie you could stay for all four!!! (I remember one Saturday in particular when we were treated to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER with Robert Mitchum, DESERT SANDS starring Ralph Meeker, GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES with Jane Russell and a western!!
The Valencia is now a church, but it will remain always in my memory as one of the magic places.