The Lindenhurst Theatre will be a major concern for voters on March 16, 2004 in the Village of Lindenhurst. The Babylon Beacon will be running a story this coming first week in March.
The Bayshore Sunrise Drive In opened in early 1962 by the Prudential Theatre Ciruit as the second Indoor/Outdoor theatre built in the U.S., the first being the Johnny All-Weather in Copaigue. In addition to the indoor screen on the drive-in property, there was also a free-standing theatre called the Cinema next door. This whole area of entertainment was called Prudential’s Cinema City. That company’s Fifth Avenue Drive In on Fifth Avenue was closed shortly after the opening of the Bayshore Sunrise Drive In. The Indoor theatre on the Drive-In property was demolished to add an additional screen to the Drive-In in 1979 by United Artists, who absorbed the Prudential Circuit empire in 1968. The Drive-In lasted until the late 1980’s and the Cinema Bayhore (as it was known as and not to be confused with the Bayshore Theatre on Main Street) closed in 1990. The Cinema hosted “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for many years on Friday and Saturday evenings. The grosses for the two midnight shows
were more than the totals of the Cinema and Drive-In grosses for the WEEK! I am sure without “Rocky Horror”, the Cinema would have folded much sooner. When both were closed, I photographed the sites and soon after the entire “Cinema City” was reduced to rubble. The Cinema had a golden curtain which was working until the end. It also a facade of glass that enabled people to see the inside lobby of the theatre. A Pier-1 Imports occupies the Cinema site and a Waldbaum’s Supermarket sits on the Drive-In property.
The current Babylon Theatre was built in 1946 to replace the original Capitol Theatre ( aka Babylon Theatre) whick was destroyed by fire in 1945. It was built for the Prudential Circuit, then a leading exhibitor in Suffolk County. The Main Street moviehouse has the only vertical neon sign (still working) in all of Long Island and the five boroughs. I worked the theatre briefly under the UA regime in 1990 and at the time the grosses were so low that you could blow off a cannon in the lobby and not disrupt the combined total of six patrons in the three auditoriums. The balcony is the best of the three auditoruiums since it is un-altered. The 2 orchestra screens suffer from poor sound-proofing as on can hear not onlt the next door film, but the film upstairs as well. I don’t like to nit-pick on surviving theatres, but the reason they won’t survive is because of lack of caring and the exhorbitant amounts charged at the concession stands (especially Clearview). The South Bay Theatre about a mile away (now five screens) charges $4.00 for matinees and has reasonable concession prices. They also get the better of the bookings of the two theatres. If a multiplex should be built in this area (one was already defeated), these two houses will bite the dust.
Loew’s Victoria survived until 1975 or there abouts and when Loew’s departed the theatre closed. Brandt’s never operated this one. Most of the theatre survives with four boxes on the main floor and the balcony split in half (if my memory serves me correctly). The second level retains a lounge area with an oval ceiling of a painted goddess whose hand is reaching out, almost a 3-D effect. I was on the same tour as Warren and snapped a picture of the goddess before I heard someone downstairs bellow that no photographs were allowed. It would be nice if this jewel was polished and incorporated into the Apollo Theatre plan, but it will take a lot of money. The makeover from the Victoria to the Harlem Six was a hack job and that’s why it lasted a short while. I am assuming that because of the area, those owners felt any conversion was better than no movies at all. They were wrong and that’s why Magic Johnson’s Harlem Multiplex is doing well.
Century’s Kings Plaza opened in 1970. Kings Plaza North was the larger of the two and was done in blue and Kings Plaza South was in red. A concession stand served both theatres and there was no sneaking in since both theatres were seperated and had their own restrooms. This was a popular theatre when it opened in conjunction with the mall. I remember abandoning my Flatbush Avenue movie palaces that I attended regularly to go to the new Century theatres.
This theatre as it is today is a LEASED property which Onex (Loew’s-
Cineplex) operates. They don’t own it. I wish the once proud Loew's
name didn’t apply to the altered theatres and multiplexes Onex operates. They aren’t worthy of the name.
Thanks to the Save the Lindenhurst Theatre Committee which I founded, this theatre will not become a Walgreen’s Drugstore! Hooray for us! Over 7,500 local signatures presented to the Village of Lindenhurst, where the theatre is located forced officials to reconsider. The mostly Republican board states the building has no historical value along with the Lindenhurst Historical Society, so the building is still on the endangered list. An election on March 16, 2004 for mayor, Raymond Doran, the lone Democrat and theatre supporter through the fight to save it will be running. Hopefully he will win and forge ahead with his plan to save the theatre. Should the Republican nominee for mayor win, the theatre will be lost because he and his board have already thwarted Mr. Doran’s efforts to save the Lindenhurst Theatre. (Tne drugstores have not given up as they’re eyeing the Lindenhurst Bowling Alley opposite the theatre for their pill-popping enterprise). The owner who closed his Northport Theatre in retaliance to the Lindenhurst Theatre furor will wait out the community until he gets his way. (He has a long wait as long as I am alive and breathing). The Republican nominee for mayor has ties to the bowling alley owner and that owner has applied for the downgrading of the bowling alley property and all of this is to be resolved after the electoin which is 3 weeks away. I as a Lindenhurst resident outside the village border, will campaign for Raymond Doran, because I can’t vote in the village election. I will be in front of the theatre for the two weekends and week prior to the election to insure that Raymond Doran gets elected mayor. I will respond to any inquires on the theatre via this site.
The ornate ticket booth is a place where keys are made and I believe the box office has keys adhered to it the last time I saw it about three years ago.
I have just arrived from London, and saw the exterior of this building. This theatre looks a lot larger than the 388 seats that the statement makes above. I did photograph the exterior. Since I see no mention of seating capacity above, where was the 388 figure obtained from?
Mr. Goldberg must check his facts before submitting information on theatres that are incorrect. The Cobble Hill Cinemas was originally the Lido Theatre on Court Street. The Rio Piedras Theatre was the new name of Loew’s Broadway at Broadway & Stockton Street in the 1970’s. The Lido was a few blocks from the Paras Court, which was on the opposite side of the street. The Paras Court facade is still intact. The Lido had a number of operaters in the 1950/60’s and became the Rex Cinema in early 1970’s. After the Rex, it became the Cobble Hill Cinemas. The Paras Court and the Gloria Theatres also on Court Street closed in the 1950’s.
Just a note, Loew’s did not open or build the Premier Theatre. The Grand Opening ads in the Brooklyn Eagle prove this. Loew’s acquired the theatre in it’s third or fourth year of operation. It already had the Palace, then acquired the Premier (a lovely ornate movie palace) and then built and opened the Pitkin. All three house are fairly close to one another. P.S. The Pitkin and the Premier played date and date while under the Loew’s banner. The Pitkin closed in 1971 (after a 3 week of “Shaft”) and the Premier in 1977 after the big blackout. The riots and looting caused many theatres in impoverished areas of the borough to close. I have some photos of the interior.
RKO did operate this theatre after A.I.T. from 1977/8 until it closed in 1980. It was 80 cents to get in along with the Mineola
and Hempstead Theatres (which RKO also ran). The opening of the Sunrise Multiplex on Sunrise Highway did close this house in 1980. This information is accurate, I worked at Sunrise Multiplex in 1979/80 and drove by the Valley Stream Theatre daily at the time.
I graduated from Shallow Junior High School at the Walker Theatre in 1970. At the time, we had a G.O. card that enabled us access to all Randforce Theatres in Brooklyn for 50 cents. The card had a list of all the theatres on it. That June of 1970, the double bill at the Walker was “Cactus Flower” and “The Ambushers” which I and a friend saw the day before the graduation excercises. It was a $1.00 house at the time. Fifty cents is what children and G.O. students paid. There was a poster for the reserved seat engagement of “Hello Dolly!” at the N.Y. Rivoli in the lobby. The United Artists takeover of all the Randforce Theatres occured some months later. I do not remember the stars in the ceiling, but it was a beautiful neighborhood theatre.
The Kent Theatre opened in 1938-9. It only had 596 seats, so each of the screens now seat less than 170 allowing for the loss of seats during the “tri-plexing”. From the outside, only the box-office and very small lobby are the only unmaintained remnants of this always independently run house. It only hangs on by being the remaining screens for the nearby Midwood section. This theatre was not used in “Purple Rose Of Cairo” for the interior or the exterior shots.
That film’s “JEWEL” Theatre was inspired by the actual Jewel Theatre on Kings Highway where Woody Allen went to the movies in his Brooklyn days. The Jewel became the Cinema Kings Highway in 1965.
The Bay Terrace Theatre opened in 1962-3 by the Fabian Theatre Circuit and became a Loew’s Theatre in 1966-7. Loew’s did not open the house. At the time, Fabian operated the Brooklyn Fox, the Paramount and Ritz Theatres on Staten Island and many in New Jersey.
Soon after the Brooklyn Fox closed in February 1966, the Bay Terrace Theatre passed hands from Fabian to Loew’s.
The Cotillion Terrace was originally the Senate Theatre, one of Fox-Metropolitan’s 42 Brooklyn Theatres in 1931. The Senate was 9 blocks away from the same company’s Walker Theatre. I believe the theatres' screen wall was on 74th St. The marquee frame is now the name and canopy of the catering hall. All the seats were on the orchestra level. The ceiling and sidewalls maybe intact in the hall if no major alterations occured when movies ceased in 1957. The neighborhood movie house opened in the early 1930’s.
The Loew’s Palace opened in 1918 and was on East New York Avenue and Strauss Street. Once the Loew’s Pitkin opened it continued as a second run film house for Loew’s until 1954. It was then operated by Island Theatres until 1969 or 1970 when it closed. I remember seeing “Planet Of The Apes” on the marquee at this time. The Pitkin Theatre went to the Island Circuit in 1964 when Loew’s gave up on it. The Palace Theatre was demolished in the 1980’s when the roof caved in and was in a derelict state (I have photos of interior and exterior). The theatre on Eastern Parkway is not the Palace Theatre but the Parkway Theatre also known as the Ronley and other names. This was a prime “Yiddish” vaudeville and playhouse and never showed movies (there is no projection booth). The Yiddish men’s and ladies room signs are still in place, as is the theatre, mostly intact except for the pews that have replaced the orchestra seats only. To this day there is no air-conditioning as there never was any at any time of it’s tenure as a “Yiddish” playhouse. It closed during the summer months in it’s earlier days. The last “Yiddish” program was in the early 1950’s. The Palace Theatre as of two years ago was an empty fenced in lot.
I also worked at the Granada from 1960-
1974. There was a balcony and a loge. It opened in 1924 as the Filmland replacing an open-air theatre. It then became the Crescent and the Acova Village in late ‘20’s and early '30’s. It became the Granada in 1932. It also had a stagehouse with dressing rooms. It became $1.00 house in late 1968 as it was my local moviehouse when Mr. Schiering was leasing from Cinema V. The Golden"s followed in late 1974 and made the theatre more successful by booking films that were more popular with the everchanging neighborhood. By
1981, Cinema V took the building back and RKO/Century were the final lessee’s when it closed in 1983. The building then became a C-TOWN Supermarket and then an eletronics and bargain store. The building is still STANDING today as the RiteAid Drugstore (what else?). The building is on Church between Rogers and Nostrand Avenues. The balcony and the backstage may still be intact since the were covered over that last time I was in the building some ten years ago.
Three window arches are still visible from the street and the fire escapes have been removed. There are alleyways on each side of the building.
The Lindenhurst Theatre will be a major concern for voters on March 16, 2004 in the Village of Lindenhurst. The Babylon Beacon will be running a story this coming first week in March.
The Bayshore Sunrise Drive In opened in early 1962 by the Prudential Theatre Ciruit as the second Indoor/Outdoor theatre built in the U.S., the first being the Johnny All-Weather in Copaigue. In addition to the indoor screen on the drive-in property, there was also a free-standing theatre called the Cinema next door. This whole area of entertainment was called Prudential’s Cinema City. That company’s Fifth Avenue Drive In on Fifth Avenue was closed shortly after the opening of the Bayshore Sunrise Drive In. The Indoor theatre on the Drive-In property was demolished to add an additional screen to the Drive-In in 1979 by United Artists, who absorbed the Prudential Circuit empire in 1968. The Drive-In lasted until the late 1980’s and the Cinema Bayhore (as it was known as and not to be confused with the Bayshore Theatre on Main Street) closed in 1990. The Cinema hosted “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for many years on Friday and Saturday evenings. The grosses for the two midnight shows
were more than the totals of the Cinema and Drive-In grosses for the WEEK! I am sure without “Rocky Horror”, the Cinema would have folded much sooner. When both were closed, I photographed the sites and soon after the entire “Cinema City” was reduced to rubble. The Cinema had a golden curtain which was working until the end. It also a facade of glass that enabled people to see the inside lobby of the theatre. A Pier-1 Imports occupies the Cinema site and a Waldbaum’s Supermarket sits on the Drive-In property.
The current Babylon Theatre was built in 1946 to replace the original Capitol Theatre ( aka Babylon Theatre) whick was destroyed by fire in 1945. It was built for the Prudential Circuit, then a leading exhibitor in Suffolk County. The Main Street moviehouse has the only vertical neon sign (still working) in all of Long Island and the five boroughs. I worked the theatre briefly under the UA regime in 1990 and at the time the grosses were so low that you could blow off a cannon in the lobby and not disrupt the combined total of six patrons in the three auditoriums. The balcony is the best of the three auditoruiums since it is un-altered. The 2 orchestra screens suffer from poor sound-proofing as on can hear not onlt the next door film, but the film upstairs as well. I don’t like to nit-pick on surviving theatres, but the reason they won’t survive is because of lack of caring and the exhorbitant amounts charged at the concession stands (especially Clearview). The South Bay Theatre about a mile away (now five screens) charges $4.00 for matinees and has reasonable concession prices. They also get the better of the bookings of the two theatres. If a multiplex should be built in this area (one was already defeated), these two houses will bite the dust.
Loew’s Victoria survived until 1975 or there abouts and when Loew’s departed the theatre closed. Brandt’s never operated this one. Most of the theatre survives with four boxes on the main floor and the balcony split in half (if my memory serves me correctly). The second level retains a lounge area with an oval ceiling of a painted goddess whose hand is reaching out, almost a 3-D effect. I was on the same tour as Warren and snapped a picture of the goddess before I heard someone downstairs bellow that no photographs were allowed. It would be nice if this jewel was polished and incorporated into the Apollo Theatre plan, but it will take a lot of money. The makeover from the Victoria to the Harlem Six was a hack job and that’s why it lasted a short while. I am assuming that because of the area, those owners felt any conversion was better than no movies at all. They were wrong and that’s why Magic Johnson’s Harlem Multiplex is doing well.
Century’s Kings Plaza opened in 1970. Kings Plaza North was the larger of the two and was done in blue and Kings Plaza South was in red. A concession stand served both theatres and there was no sneaking in since both theatres were seperated and had their own restrooms. This was a popular theatre when it opened in conjunction with the mall. I remember abandoning my Flatbush Avenue movie palaces that I attended regularly to go to the new Century theatres.
This theatre as it is today is a LEASED property which Onex (Loew’s-
Cineplex) operates. They don’t own it. I wish the once proud Loew's
name didn’t apply to the altered theatres and multiplexes Onex operates. They aren’t worthy of the name.
Thanks to the Save the Lindenhurst Theatre Committee which I founded, this theatre will not become a Walgreen’s Drugstore! Hooray for us! Over 7,500 local signatures presented to the Village of Lindenhurst, where the theatre is located forced officials to reconsider. The mostly Republican board states the building has no historical value along with the Lindenhurst Historical Society, so the building is still on the endangered list. An election on March 16, 2004 for mayor, Raymond Doran, the lone Democrat and theatre supporter through the fight to save it will be running. Hopefully he will win and forge ahead with his plan to save the theatre. Should the Republican nominee for mayor win, the theatre will be lost because he and his board have already thwarted Mr. Doran’s efforts to save the Lindenhurst Theatre. (Tne drugstores have not given up as they’re eyeing the Lindenhurst Bowling Alley opposite the theatre for their pill-popping enterprise). The owner who closed his Northport Theatre in retaliance to the Lindenhurst Theatre furor will wait out the community until he gets his way. (He has a long wait as long as I am alive and breathing). The Republican nominee for mayor has ties to the bowling alley owner and that owner has applied for the downgrading of the bowling alley property and all of this is to be resolved after the electoin which is 3 weeks away. I as a Lindenhurst resident outside the village border, will campaign for Raymond Doran, because I can’t vote in the village election. I will be in front of the theatre for the two weekends and week prior to the election to insure that Raymond Doran gets elected mayor. I will respond to any inquires on the theatre via this site.
The ornate ticket booth is a place where keys are made and I believe the box office has keys adhered to it the last time I saw it about three years ago.
I have just arrived from London, and saw the exterior of this building. This theatre looks a lot larger than the 388 seats that the statement makes above. I did photograph the exterior. Since I see no mention of seating capacity above, where was the 388 figure obtained from?
Mr. Goldberg must check his facts before submitting information on theatres that are incorrect. The Cobble Hill Cinemas was originally the Lido Theatre on Court Street. The Rio Piedras Theatre was the new name of Loew’s Broadway at Broadway & Stockton Street in the 1970’s. The Lido was a few blocks from the Paras Court, which was on the opposite side of the street. The Paras Court facade is still intact. The Lido had a number of operaters in the 1950/60’s and became the Rex Cinema in early 1970’s. After the Rex, it became the Cobble Hill Cinemas. The Paras Court and the Gloria Theatres also on Court Street closed in the 1950’s.
Just a note, Loew’s did not open or build the Premier Theatre. The Grand Opening ads in the Brooklyn Eagle prove this. Loew’s acquired the theatre in it’s third or fourth year of operation. It already had the Palace, then acquired the Premier (a lovely ornate movie palace) and then built and opened the Pitkin. All three house are fairly close to one another. P.S. The Pitkin and the Premier played date and date while under the Loew’s banner. The Pitkin closed in 1971 (after a 3 week of “Shaft”) and the Premier in 1977 after the big blackout. The riots and looting caused many theatres in impoverished areas of the borough to close. I have some photos of the interior.
RKO did operate this theatre after A.I.T. from 1977/8 until it closed in 1980. It was 80 cents to get in along with the Mineola
and Hempstead Theatres (which RKO also ran). The opening of the Sunrise Multiplex on Sunrise Highway did close this house in 1980. This information is accurate, I worked at Sunrise Multiplex in 1979/80 and drove by the Valley Stream Theatre daily at the time.
I graduated from Shallow Junior High School at the Walker Theatre in 1970. At the time, we had a G.O. card that enabled us access to all Randforce Theatres in Brooklyn for 50 cents. The card had a list of all the theatres on it. That June of 1970, the double bill at the Walker was “Cactus Flower” and “The Ambushers” which I and a friend saw the day before the graduation excercises. It was a $1.00 house at the time. Fifty cents is what children and G.O. students paid. There was a poster for the reserved seat engagement of “Hello Dolly!” at the N.Y. Rivoli in the lobby. The United Artists takeover of all the Randforce Theatres occured some months later. I do not remember the stars in the ceiling, but it was a beautiful neighborhood theatre.
The Kent Theatre opened in 1938-9. It only had 596 seats, so each of the screens now seat less than 170 allowing for the loss of seats during the “tri-plexing”. From the outside, only the box-office and very small lobby are the only unmaintained remnants of this always independently run house. It only hangs on by being the remaining screens for the nearby Midwood section. This theatre was not used in “Purple Rose Of Cairo” for the interior or the exterior shots.
That film’s “JEWEL” Theatre was inspired by the actual Jewel Theatre on Kings Highway where Woody Allen went to the movies in his Brooklyn days. The Jewel became the Cinema Kings Highway in 1965.
The Bay Terrace Theatre opened in 1962-3 by the Fabian Theatre Circuit and became a Loew’s Theatre in 1966-7. Loew’s did not open the house. At the time, Fabian operated the Brooklyn Fox, the Paramount and Ritz Theatres on Staten Island and many in New Jersey.
Soon after the Brooklyn Fox closed in February 1966, the Bay Terrace Theatre passed hands from Fabian to Loew’s.
The Cotillion Terrace was originally the Senate Theatre, one of Fox-Metropolitan’s 42 Brooklyn Theatres in 1931. The Senate was 9 blocks away from the same company’s Walker Theatre. I believe the theatres' screen wall was on 74th St. The marquee frame is now the name and canopy of the catering hall. All the seats were on the orchestra level. The ceiling and sidewalls maybe intact in the hall if no major alterations occured when movies ceased in 1957. The neighborhood movie house opened in the early 1930’s.
The Loew’s Palace opened in 1918 and was on East New York Avenue and Strauss Street. Once the Loew’s Pitkin opened it continued as a second run film house for Loew’s until 1954. It was then operated by Island Theatres until 1969 or 1970 when it closed. I remember seeing “Planet Of The Apes” on the marquee at this time. The Pitkin Theatre went to the Island Circuit in 1964 when Loew’s gave up on it. The Palace Theatre was demolished in the 1980’s when the roof caved in and was in a derelict state (I have photos of interior and exterior). The theatre on Eastern Parkway is not the Palace Theatre but the Parkway Theatre also known as the Ronley and other names. This was a prime “Yiddish” vaudeville and playhouse and never showed movies (there is no projection booth). The Yiddish men’s and ladies room signs are still in place, as is the theatre, mostly intact except for the pews that have replaced the orchestra seats only. To this day there is no air-conditioning as there never was any at any time of it’s tenure as a “Yiddish” playhouse. It closed during the summer months in it’s earlier days. The last “Yiddish” program was in the early 1950’s. The Palace Theatre as of two years ago was an empty fenced in lot.
I also worked at the Granada from 1960-
1974. There was a balcony and a loge. It opened in 1924 as the Filmland replacing an open-air theatre. It then became the Crescent and the Acova Village in late ‘20’s and early '30’s. It became the Granada in 1932. It also had a stagehouse with dressing rooms. It became $1.00 house in late 1968 as it was my local moviehouse when Mr. Schiering was leasing from Cinema V. The Golden"s followed in late 1974 and made the theatre more successful by booking films that were more popular with the everchanging neighborhood. By
1981, Cinema V took the building back and RKO/Century were the final lessee’s when it closed in 1983. The building then became a C-TOWN Supermarket and then an eletronics and bargain store. The building is still STANDING today as the RiteAid Drugstore (what else?). The building is on Church between Rogers and Nostrand Avenues. The balcony and the backstage may still be intact since the were covered over that last time I was in the building some ten years ago.
Three window arches are still visible from the street and the fire escapes have been removed. There are alleyways on each side of the building.