Hi Vito, to my knowledge the only two Paramounts in Manhattan were the ones in Times Square and the one at the base of the old Gulf and Western HQ’s at Columbus Circle. Both were long closed before MSG started calling their theater the Paramount. I don’t know who would have complained. I do know that the ridiculous WaMu is strictly a corporate naming for money. Same as Ford Center and American Airlines Theater. WaMu is such an ugly name.
So this theater was opened in 1927 and is still open but there is no description of its interior or how much of the original interior remains after it was turned into a multiplex. The outside looks quite handsome. Have any CT members been inside this theater? Utica’s main palace, The Stanley, has a great intro desciption and beautiful interior photos.
I spent Labor Day weekend in Lake Placid and was so pleasantly surprised when I saw the marquee of this theater lighting up the main street. It’s truly amazing what impact an operating theater has on the “liveliness” of a streetscape. Though time did not allow me to visit the theater (I was hoping for a rainy afternoon/didn’t get it) it appeared that the theater was doing well. It was great to see.
George, nobody WANTS to have this theater turned into a drug store! What we’re saying is we would rather that than have it be gutted or torn down altogether.
This site doesn’t work as a concert hall or performance space. It is a residential neighborhood (lower middle/middle class) with a low end retail strip on Jamaica Avenue; mediocre mass transit (J Train) and no real parking. To add insult to injury, 100 year old Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour next door was closed and then gutted just a few months ago.
No one in their right mind would invest millions into the Keiths to turn it into a concert hall/performance space.
Hence our desire to at least save the architecture in whatever use it ultimately is used for. We don’t want it torn down.
The conversion of the Brooklyn Paramount into an athletic facility was inelegant at best. The orchestra and stage were removed and the lower side walls stripped (I beieve) leaving the top of the theater relatively intact. The balconies, I believe were converted into class/office space. This kind of renovation will make its conversion back into an actual theater much easier. It’s just unlikely that this would become an athletic facility especially when not attached to a school and there are no colleges nearby.
In terms of a school conversion, the latest example of this is the RKO Bushwick where the beautiful exterior was restored, but the interior was totally gutted. A school for the Keiths would, at best, meet a similar fate and, unlike the Bushwick, the Keiths doesn’t have a spectacuar facade, just a handsome marquee.
Another option is conversion to apartments which was the fate of Loews Pitkin, a stunning palace that was left to decay in Brooklyn. Again, the beautiful facade is supposed to be preserved but the interior totally gutted.
If it worked financially, the best kind of conversion could be to a health club where the equipment is installed and the architecture is essentially left alone. I know this has been done in other theaters. I just don’t know if the market is there for a higher end gym, but it’s a thought.
I’m officially apologizing to the reporter for my prior comments.
I just re-read the article and it now looks like the point of the article WAS a history lesson. The title of the article is “On This Day In History! Yikes! It is only towards the end that he throws in the little tidbit that LIU is making the Paramount a theater again. It was not the point of his article.
What threw me was the title that CT put over the actual article: “The Brooklyn Paramount Returns after 46 years!”
That’s not what the article was about at all! It really was a history lesson! :–)
Anyway, more questions have indeed been raised than we have answers for. If any CT readers have any insight please share. It would be wonderful to have this theater back in the public realm.
A church would have to buy this building from the new owner. No church is going to lease this building and make renovations on rented property. Also, a church is no guarantee of preservation. While many palaces have been beautifully preserved and/or restored by religious institutions (wonderful examples include Loews Valencia, Loews 175th Street, The Stanley and The Elmwood) some have been destroyed. One of the worst “renovations” was the Prospect Theater in the Bronx (also known as Olympic Theater Concert Hall). In my opinion, the church destoyed this handsome theater. We’ll just have to cross our fingers.
I’m officially apologizing to the reporter for my prior comments.
I just re-read the article and it now looks like the point of the article WAS a history lesson. The title of the article is “On This Day In History! Yikes! It is only towards the end that he throws in the little tidbit that LIU is making the Paramount a theater again. It was not the point of his article.
What threw me was the title that CT put over the actual article: “The Brooklyn Paramount Returns after 46 years!”
That’s not what the article was about at all! It really was a history lesson! :–)
Anyway, more questions have indeed been raised than we have answers for. If any CT readers have any insight please share. It would be wonderful to have this theater back in the public realm.
With all due respect ShoeShoe14 this was a POOR article. He didn’t just “miss” a question, he didn’t ask ANY questions. It wasn’t just a gap, all of the important information was totally missing! If the focal (main) point of your story is that the theater is returning to theatrical use, then you should at least have a sentence that talks about that. This article was nothing but a short history lesson of The Brooklyn Paramount and created many more questions than answers.
To recap: What is LIU doing exactly? When are they going to do it? What kind of renovation will be done? Will seating be restored? Do they plan on making it capable of showing films again? He didn’t ask any of these questions and as a result, this reporter gets a big F!
Maybe that’s what any petition should say. The owner should make every effort to preserve the interior and exterior integrity of any resuse of the property.
What kind of a reporter is this? While this might appear to be great news, this story doesn’t go far enough. When LIU says that it will resuse the space as a theater, what exactly does that mean? Will the seating be restored? Will the theater be refurbished? Will it be used for films, live theater, concerts or all three? What is the timetable? In my opinion, the reporter did a poor job. If you’re going to announce the return of one of Brooklyn’s most treasured and storied theaters you should provide actual news and not just a history lesson. Hopefully someone on CT who has some inside info will fill us in on what’s really happening.
I don’t mean to be gloomy, but I honestly don’t see how a petition helps this theater. If I’m the new owner, I’m going to say “Keep your signatures! How am I going to get a return on my $2MM investment while still keeping this structure as a theater?”
Unless he has an answer to that question then this theater doesn’t have much hope of surviving. The best we can hope for is that a subsequent use preserves most of the interior.
As I’ve expressed before, this theater is not landmarked, there is NO interest in any organization to utilize this theater as a performing arts space and no City or Corporate entity has offered any grants or subsidies to restore and operate this theater. What is a petition going to do?
At Loew’s Kings, the city is the owner (thank goodness) and the city has offered substantial grants to potential developers. Today, I saw that the Brooklyn Paramount, which has been out of commission as a theater for 42 years is being brought back into service as a theater by its current owner, Long Island Universtity. LIU is a substantial owner with potential big pockets. Sadly, we couldn’t be further from that situation with the Keiths. It seems to me that this Keiths will meet the same sad fate as it’s sister Keiths in Flushing. I just don’t see how this will have a happy ending and I am an optomist.
This article just recently appeared in a local Brooklyn periodical “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle”:
On This Day in History: August 22
Paramountâ€\s Last Picture Show
by Brooklyn Eagle (), published online 08-22-2008
BROOKLYN â€" As the curtains closed over the screen on August 22, 1962, the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre at Flatbush & DeKalb Avenues was history. The last feature film at the famous movie palace was John Wayne in Hatari. Attendance on closing night in the 4,126 seat theatre was about 300. Its grand opening as the first movie theater built in America expressly for sound pictures was on November 24, 1928, with the feature Manhattan Cocktail starring Nancy Carroll and Richard Arlen.
Over 4,000 patrons came to gaze in awe at the theaterâ€\s vastness and baroque splendor; its $3 million collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques; and the assemblage of theatrical and political personalities who attended the opening. Gracing its ornate stage during its reign as the mecca of Brooklyn entertainment were such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Rudy Vallee, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Mae West and most of the big band era orchestras. In later years the Paramountâ€\s stage was the site of rock & roll shows such as Little Richard and Bill Haley and the Comets, emceed by popular disc jockey Alan Freed.
Long Island University took over the building and in 1950 converted the office tower to classrooms and administrative offices. When the theatre itself closed 12 years later, the grand lobby, a copy of the famous Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, became LIUâ€\s student cafeteria; the orchestra seating area became a gymnasium where the LIU basketball team plays with spectators seated in bleachers where the balcony patrons once sat. The “Mighty Wurlitzer†pipe organ, second in size and sound only to the two in the Radio City Music Hall, has been lovingly restored by the Theatre Organ Enthusiasts group and was still played at the basketball games until recently. Now, with the opening of its new athletic center, LIU announced plans to use the space as a theater once again.
The sunburst proscenium, the side bays representing visions into the formal gardens of French royal palaces of the late 18th century, and the ornate ceiling are still visible and worth a look.
This story doesn’t go far enough. When LIU says that it will resuse the space as a theater, what exactly does that mean? Will the seating be restored? Will the theater be refurbished? Will it be used for films, live theater, concerts or all three? What is the timetable? In my opinion, the reporter did a poor job. If you’re going to announce the return of one of Brooklyn’s most treasured and storied theaters you should provide actual news and not just a history lesson.
Hi Ron, I agree wholeheartedly. It amazes me how many theaters have been razed and then sit as parking lots for decades. In today’s economic environment, cities and small towns need to focus on quality of life issues more than ever before to retain business and draw new ones. Adaptive reuse has been used successfully in many cities; especially in New York where there are strong preservation laws.
I don’t know if the Roosevelt is structurally unsound, but I believe it would make more sense to stabilize and mothball it until an alternate use can be found. When I said that not all theaters can be saved I was referring more to the difficulty of preserving them as entertainment venues. Many theater structures have been saved from the wrecking ball by converting them to retail stores, churches, night clubs, restaurants, etc. I don’t know what would work best in Kenosha. I just know that if there is one thing the midwest has a lot of, it’s empty land. We don’t need another vacant lot. :–)
Per the theater’s own web site, the architectural style of the exterior is “Western Classic Revival” whatever that is. It also states that its interior recieved an Art Deco renovation in 1930. Therefore, the intro needs to be amended. I assume that the architectural style field usually refers to the interior and this theater is most definitely not the Mission Revival that it currently shows.
Although some disagree I believe that it is a tremendously clever reuse of the space. The old theater serving as the lobby to the new allows people to really look at the detail of the old theater as they rise on the escalators up through just under the procenium.
In an ideal world, this theater would have been one of the “screens” in the multiplex. I’m not privy to the complexities of multiplex economics so I can’t say why this didn’t happen but this theater appeared intimate enough to have accomodated that.
Nonetheless, I’m glad that the theater survived because, for me, what makes a theater a treasure, is the architecture and this one is beautiful and worth preserving. What’s even better is that the multitudes of youth who come through its entry have a glimpse of what a true theater was like and not the interchangable multiplex boxes we tend to have today.
p.s. The intro should be changed. The last line about the Times Square Cafe should be deleted as the balcony hasn’t served that purpose for many years.
In this day and age, unless the government steps in with grants and/or tax exemptions or a corporate or individual white knight comes in with the funds, a theater restoration has to pay for itself with a business plan that allows the theater to operate in the black once a renovation is completed. This is very difficult to do; especially when there is already another theater in town that has the same idea. Kenosha is a small town and it is unlikely the could support more than one renovated theater.
It’s very easy for people to say that theaters have to be saved, but the money has to come from somewhere. A plan to use the Roosevelt as a Studio to produce commecials and pilots sounds ridiculous. TV Pilots? In Kenosha? Who’s filming pilots in Kenosha? Or commercials for that matter. The point is, this scheme will not provide the income stream a bank would want to see to provide a loan for a restoration.
Unfortunately, not all theaters can be saved. We should focus on those with the best odds of success which appears to be the Kenosha theater.
Almost three years ago I posted above that Rockaway Blvd would have been a terrible location for a movie theater in reponse to a query about a possible theater located at Lefferts and Rockaway.
Now that I have been exposed to CT and have done immersed myself into many of the theaters posted, I have come to realize how much a part of the fabric movie theaters were in past generations. In the era before televisions and certainly before air conditioning was available in homes, theaters represented a wonderful night out, the perfect date and there certainly wasn’t much competition for the entertainment dollar.
As a result, areas like Rockaway Blvd, which had no main retail strip and no Subway access could still support not just one, but three movie theaters during the first half of the 20th century.
If you wanted to splurge, you went to the palaces and you had you choice of scores of them, I would almost say hundreds in New York City when they were at their height of popularity.
Truth be told, one multiplex isn’t usually much different than any other, but back in the day you could go from the Art Deco Speldor of Radio City to the Spanish Roxy, to the Italian Paradise, the Mexican Keiths, the Asian Loews 175th Street, and so on.
Hi Colmack, Welcome to CT! I moved to South Ozone Park in 1970 (when I was 11) and I too went to PS 100 but just for the 6th grade. OLPH was my parish until I was old enough for my parents to be unable to force me to keep going to mass. :–) And I graduated from John Adams High School in 1977 before going on to college in Manhattan.
I loved growing up in South Ozone Park. (117th St. and 111th Avenue). In the 70’s New York was falling apart, crime was out of control and many neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn were burning. I remember being fearful of even going to Jamaica. But in our neighborhood, it was totally safe, many people didn’t lock their doors. It was a great place to raise a family and I feel grateful for the experience.
I ate many a meal at St. Johns. It was open 24 hours and served great diner food. The waiters were wonderful. Across the street was a Stop & Shop (kind of a drug store/small appliance store) where I got my first part time job delivering circulars. There were two supermarkets on Liberty Avenue between 117th and 118th Street. One was an A&P and the other was an independent with an Italian name that I can’t think of right now. Between the two markets was a Carter’s store which sold Children’s clothing.
I remember the big Richmond Hill Savings Bank Building on Lefferts next to the Bank of New York. In the era before ATM’s, if you wanted cash for the weekend, you had to physically go to the bank and stand on long lines to get cash from an actual teller. And you had to go early because the banks usually closed by 1PM. I also remember most of the retail stores were closed on Sundays due to the blue laws still in effect in the early 70’s.
Liberty Avenue has changed alot since I grew up there. Very few of the old stores remain. I think Karps is now a McDonalds, The Lefferts is a Drug Store, The Casino is some other kind of retail.
Nonetheless, it appears to still be a thriving lower middle class area offering an entry level into the American Dream as it was for us way back when. We’ve moved on up and out, but I will always cherish the life and lifestyle that Richmond Hill/South Ozone Park gave to me and my family.
Thanks Bway. Now it makes total sense. With the sale, we ARE dealing with a new owner. As a result, he is going to want a return on his investment that is probably greater than what is coming in now. That’s probably going to mean a new use for this building and it probably won’t entail a theater renovation. If anything, it will probably be just the opposite. This theater is not landmarked and if the owner wants to make sure that that doesn’t happen, he is more likely to make non theatrical alterations sooner rather than later. The marquee desecration is probably only the beginning. I hope that I’m wrong.
Bway, I totally agree with you that the removal of the lettering is very disturbing especially since we do not yet know why! The reporter didn’t ask and no one else has provided a credible explanation.
The fact is that the current owner has maintained this theater more or less in its current state of benign neglect for the last few decades. It is unlikely that a new owner would be as kind. I don’t see much hope for this theater if it is sold, but unfortunately, I don’t see much hope for it under the current owner either. How much can a flea market/bingo hall possibly bring in. Certainly not enough for any kind of a restoration and he would only do it if it increased his business which leads us to the issue that renovations (unless materially covered by government grants or subsidies) have to be financially viable and pay for themselves in new business income. Sadly, I don’t see that for this theater.
Al…What news? Please share. Thanks!
Hi Vito, to my knowledge the only two Paramounts in Manhattan were the ones in Times Square and the one at the base of the old Gulf and Western HQ’s at Columbus Circle. Both were long closed before MSG started calling their theater the Paramount. I don’t know who would have complained. I do know that the ridiculous WaMu is strictly a corporate naming for money. Same as Ford Center and American Airlines Theater. WaMu is such an ugly name.
So this theater was opened in 1927 and is still open but there is no description of its interior or how much of the original interior remains after it was turned into a multiplex. The outside looks quite handsome. Have any CT members been inside this theater? Utica’s main palace, The Stanley, has a great intro desciption and beautiful interior photos.
I spent Labor Day weekend in Lake Placid and was so pleasantly surprised when I saw the marquee of this theater lighting up the main street. It’s truly amazing what impact an operating theater has on the “liveliness” of a streetscape. Though time did not allow me to visit the theater (I was hoping for a rainy afternoon/didn’t get it) it appeared that the theater was doing well. It was great to see.
George, nobody WANTS to have this theater turned into a drug store! What we’re saying is we would rather that than have it be gutted or torn down altogether.
This site doesn’t work as a concert hall or performance space. It is a residential neighborhood (lower middle/middle class) with a low end retail strip on Jamaica Avenue; mediocre mass transit (J Train) and no real parking. To add insult to injury, 100 year old Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour next door was closed and then gutted just a few months ago.
No one in their right mind would invest millions into the Keiths to turn it into a concert hall/performance space.
Hence our desire to at least save the architecture in whatever use it ultimately is used for. We don’t want it torn down.
Hey GabeDF, I appreciate you’re enthusiasm and I’m looking forward to your post once you’ve had an opportunity to the check out “the book”.
The conversion of the Brooklyn Paramount into an athletic facility was inelegant at best. The orchestra and stage were removed and the lower side walls stripped (I beieve) leaving the top of the theater relatively intact. The balconies, I believe were converted into class/office space. This kind of renovation will make its conversion back into an actual theater much easier. It’s just unlikely that this would become an athletic facility especially when not attached to a school and there are no colleges nearby.
In terms of a school conversion, the latest example of this is the RKO Bushwick where the beautiful exterior was restored, but the interior was totally gutted. A school for the Keiths would, at best, meet a similar fate and, unlike the Bushwick, the Keiths doesn’t have a spectacuar facade, just a handsome marquee.
Another option is conversion to apartments which was the fate of Loews Pitkin, a stunning palace that was left to decay in Brooklyn. Again, the beautiful facade is supposed to be preserved but the interior totally gutted.
If it worked financially, the best kind of conversion could be to a health club where the equipment is installed and the architecture is essentially left alone. I know this has been done in other theaters. I just don’t know if the market is there for a higher end gym, but it’s a thought.
I’m officially apologizing to the reporter for my prior comments.
I just re-read the article and it now looks like the point of the article WAS a history lesson. The title of the article is “On This Day In History! Yikes! It is only towards the end that he throws in the little tidbit that LIU is making the Paramount a theater again. It was not the point of his article.
What threw me was the title that CT put over the actual article: “The Brooklyn Paramount Returns after 46 years!”
That’s not what the article was about at all! It really was a history lesson! :–)
Anyway, more questions have indeed been raised than we have answers for. If any CT readers have any insight please share. It would be wonderful to have this theater back in the public realm.
Again, my apologies to the reporter.
A church would have to buy this building from the new owner. No church is going to lease this building and make renovations on rented property. Also, a church is no guarantee of preservation. While many palaces have been beautifully preserved and/or restored by religious institutions (wonderful examples include Loews Valencia, Loews 175th Street, The Stanley and The Elmwood) some have been destroyed. One of the worst “renovations” was the Prospect Theater in the Bronx (also known as Olympic Theater Concert Hall). In my opinion, the church destoyed this handsome theater. We’ll just have to cross our fingers.
I’m officially apologizing to the reporter for my prior comments.
I just re-read the article and it now looks like the point of the article WAS a history lesson. The title of the article is “On This Day In History! Yikes! It is only towards the end that he throws in the little tidbit that LIU is making the Paramount a theater again. It was not the point of his article.
What threw me was the title that CT put over the actual article: “The Brooklyn Paramount Returns after 46 years!”
That’s not what the article was about at all! It really was a history lesson! :–)
Anyway, more questions have indeed been raised than we have answers for. If any CT readers have any insight please share. It would be wonderful to have this theater back in the public realm.
Again, my apologies to the reporter.
With all due respect ShoeShoe14 this was a POOR article. He didn’t just “miss” a question, he didn’t ask ANY questions. It wasn’t just a gap, all of the important information was totally missing! If the focal (main) point of your story is that the theater is returning to theatrical use, then you should at least have a sentence that talks about that. This article was nothing but a short history lesson of The Brooklyn Paramount and created many more questions than answers.
To recap: What is LIU doing exactly? When are they going to do it? What kind of renovation will be done? Will seating be restored? Do they plan on making it capable of showing films again? He didn’t ask any of these questions and as a result, this reporter gets a big F!
Maybe that’s what any petition should say. The owner should make every effort to preserve the interior and exterior integrity of any resuse of the property.
Agreed, Peter K and Panzer65! I would rather see a bank or a CVS that keeps the architecture that have it all torn down or gutted.
What kind of a reporter is this? While this might appear to be great news, this story doesn’t go far enough. When LIU says that it will resuse the space as a theater, what exactly does that mean? Will the seating be restored? Will the theater be refurbished? Will it be used for films, live theater, concerts or all three? What is the timetable? In my opinion, the reporter did a poor job. If you’re going to announce the return of one of Brooklyn’s most treasured and storied theaters you should provide actual news and not just a history lesson. Hopefully someone on CT who has some inside info will fill us in on what’s really happening.
I don’t mean to be gloomy, but I honestly don’t see how a petition helps this theater. If I’m the new owner, I’m going to say “Keep your signatures! How am I going to get a return on my $2MM investment while still keeping this structure as a theater?”
Unless he has an answer to that question then this theater doesn’t have much hope of surviving. The best we can hope for is that a subsequent use preserves most of the interior.
As I’ve expressed before, this theater is not landmarked, there is NO interest in any organization to utilize this theater as a performing arts space and no City or Corporate entity has offered any grants or subsidies to restore and operate this theater. What is a petition going to do?
At Loew’s Kings, the city is the owner (thank goodness) and the city has offered substantial grants to potential developers. Today, I saw that the Brooklyn Paramount, which has been out of commission as a theater for 42 years is being brought back into service as a theater by its current owner, Long Island Universtity. LIU is a substantial owner with potential big pockets. Sadly, we couldn’t be further from that situation with the Keiths. It seems to me that this Keiths will meet the same sad fate as it’s sister Keiths in Flushing. I just don’t see how this will have a happy ending and I am an optomist.
This article just recently appeared in a local Brooklyn periodical “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle”:
On This Day in History: August 22
Paramountâ€\s Last Picture Show
by Brooklyn Eagle (), published online 08-22-2008
BROOKLYN â€" As the curtains closed over the screen on August 22, 1962, the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre at Flatbush & DeKalb Avenues was history. The last feature film at the famous movie palace was John Wayne in Hatari. Attendance on closing night in the 4,126 seat theatre was about 300. Its grand opening as the first movie theater built in America expressly for sound pictures was on November 24, 1928, with the feature Manhattan Cocktail starring Nancy Carroll and Richard Arlen.
Over 4,000 patrons came to gaze in awe at the theaterâ€\s vastness and baroque splendor; its $3 million collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques; and the assemblage of theatrical and political personalities who attended the opening. Gracing its ornate stage during its reign as the mecca of Brooklyn entertainment were such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Rudy Vallee, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Mae West and most of the big band era orchestras. In later years the Paramountâ€\s stage was the site of rock & roll shows such as Little Richard and Bill Haley and the Comets, emceed by popular disc jockey Alan Freed.
Long Island University took over the building and in 1950 converted the office tower to classrooms and administrative offices. When the theatre itself closed 12 years later, the grand lobby, a copy of the famous Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, became LIUâ€\s student cafeteria; the orchestra seating area became a gymnasium where the LIU basketball team plays with spectators seated in bleachers where the balcony patrons once sat. The “Mighty Wurlitzer†pipe organ, second in size and sound only to the two in the Radio City Music Hall, has been lovingly restored by the Theatre Organ Enthusiasts group and was still played at the basketball games until recently. Now, with the opening of its new athletic center, LIU announced plans to use the space as a theater once again.
The sunburst proscenium, the side bays representing visions into the formal gardens of French royal palaces of the late 18th century, and the ornate ceiling are still visible and worth a look.
This story doesn’t go far enough. When LIU says that it will resuse the space as a theater, what exactly does that mean? Will the seating be restored? Will the theater be refurbished? Will it be used for films, live theater, concerts or all three? What is the timetable? In my opinion, the reporter did a poor job. If you’re going to announce the return of one of Brooklyn’s most treasured and storied theaters you should provide actual news and not just a history lesson.
Hi Ron, I agree wholeheartedly. It amazes me how many theaters have been razed and then sit as parking lots for decades. In today’s economic environment, cities and small towns need to focus on quality of life issues more than ever before to retain business and draw new ones. Adaptive reuse has been used successfully in many cities; especially in New York where there are strong preservation laws.
I don’t know if the Roosevelt is structurally unsound, but I believe it would make more sense to stabilize and mothball it until an alternate use can be found. When I said that not all theaters can be saved I was referring more to the difficulty of preserving them as entertainment venues. Many theater structures have been saved from the wrecking ball by converting them to retail stores, churches, night clubs, restaurants, etc. I don’t know what would work best in Kenosha. I just know that if there is one thing the midwest has a lot of, it’s empty land. We don’t need another vacant lot. :–)
Wow! The CT guys are fast! The intro about the Cafe has been reworded to reflect the fact that its no longer in operation. Grat work guys!
Per the theater’s own web site, the architectural style of the exterior is “Western Classic Revival” whatever that is. It also states that its interior recieved an Art Deco renovation in 1930. Therefore, the intro needs to be amended. I assume that the architectural style field usually refers to the interior and this theater is most definitely not the Mission Revival that it currently shows.
Although some disagree I believe that it is a tremendously clever reuse of the space. The old theater serving as the lobby to the new allows people to really look at the detail of the old theater as they rise on the escalators up through just under the procenium.
In an ideal world, this theater would have been one of the “screens” in the multiplex. I’m not privy to the complexities of multiplex economics so I can’t say why this didn’t happen but this theater appeared intimate enough to have accomodated that.
Nonetheless, I’m glad that the theater survived because, for me, what makes a theater a treasure, is the architecture and this one is beautiful and worth preserving. What’s even better is that the multitudes of youth who come through its entry have a glimpse of what a true theater was like and not the interchangable multiplex boxes we tend to have today.
p.s. The intro should be changed. The last line about the Times Square Cafe should be deleted as the balcony hasn’t served that purpose for many years.
In this day and age, unless the government steps in with grants and/or tax exemptions or a corporate or individual white knight comes in with the funds, a theater restoration has to pay for itself with a business plan that allows the theater to operate in the black once a renovation is completed. This is very difficult to do; especially when there is already another theater in town that has the same idea. Kenosha is a small town and it is unlikely the could support more than one renovated theater.
It’s very easy for people to say that theaters have to be saved, but the money has to come from somewhere. A plan to use the Roosevelt as a Studio to produce commecials and pilots sounds ridiculous. TV Pilots? In Kenosha? Who’s filming pilots in Kenosha? Or commercials for that matter. The point is, this scheme will not provide the income stream a bank would want to see to provide a loan for a restoration.
Unfortunately, not all theaters can be saved. We should focus on those with the best odds of success which appears to be the Kenosha theater.
Almost three years ago I posted above that Rockaway Blvd would have been a terrible location for a movie theater in reponse to a query about a possible theater located at Lefferts and Rockaway.
Now that I have been exposed to CT and have done immersed myself into many of the theaters posted, I have come to realize how much a part of the fabric movie theaters were in past generations. In the era before televisions and certainly before air conditioning was available in homes, theaters represented a wonderful night out, the perfect date and there certainly wasn’t much competition for the entertainment dollar.
As a result, areas like Rockaway Blvd, which had no main retail strip and no Subway access could still support not just one, but three movie theaters during the first half of the 20th century.
If you wanted to splurge, you went to the palaces and you had you choice of scores of them, I would almost say hundreds in New York City when they were at their height of popularity.
Truth be told, one multiplex isn’t usually much different than any other, but back in the day you could go from the Art Deco Speldor of Radio City to the Spanish Roxy, to the Italian Paradise, the Mexican Keiths, the Asian Loews 175th Street, and so on.
Hi Colmack, Welcome to CT! I moved to South Ozone Park in 1970 (when I was 11) and I too went to PS 100 but just for the 6th grade. OLPH was my parish until I was old enough for my parents to be unable to force me to keep going to mass. :–) And I graduated from John Adams High School in 1977 before going on to college in Manhattan.
I loved growing up in South Ozone Park. (117th St. and 111th Avenue). In the 70’s New York was falling apart, crime was out of control and many neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn were burning. I remember being fearful of even going to Jamaica. But in our neighborhood, it was totally safe, many people didn’t lock their doors. It was a great place to raise a family and I feel grateful for the experience.
I ate many a meal at St. Johns. It was open 24 hours and served great diner food. The waiters were wonderful. Across the street was a Stop & Shop (kind of a drug store/small appliance store) where I got my first part time job delivering circulars. There were two supermarkets on Liberty Avenue between 117th and 118th Street. One was an A&P and the other was an independent with an Italian name that I can’t think of right now. Between the two markets was a Carter’s store which sold Children’s clothing.
I remember the big Richmond Hill Savings Bank Building on Lefferts next to the Bank of New York. In the era before ATM’s, if you wanted cash for the weekend, you had to physically go to the bank and stand on long lines to get cash from an actual teller. And you had to go early because the banks usually closed by 1PM. I also remember most of the retail stores were closed on Sundays due to the blue laws still in effect in the early 70’s.
Liberty Avenue has changed alot since I grew up there. Very few of the old stores remain. I think Karps is now a McDonalds, The Lefferts is a Drug Store, The Casino is some other kind of retail.
Nonetheless, it appears to still be a thriving lower middle class area offering an entry level into the American Dream as it was for us way back when. We’ve moved on up and out, but I will always cherish the life and lifestyle that Richmond Hill/South Ozone Park gave to me and my family.
Thanks Bway. Now it makes total sense. With the sale, we ARE dealing with a new owner. As a result, he is going to want a return on his investment that is probably greater than what is coming in now. That’s probably going to mean a new use for this building and it probably won’t entail a theater renovation. If anything, it will probably be just the opposite. This theater is not landmarked and if the owner wants to make sure that that doesn’t happen, he is more likely to make non theatrical alterations sooner rather than later. The marquee desecration is probably only the beginning. I hope that I’m wrong.
Bway, I totally agree with you that the removal of the lettering is very disturbing especially since we do not yet know why! The reporter didn’t ask and no one else has provided a credible explanation.
The fact is that the current owner has maintained this theater more or less in its current state of benign neglect for the last few decades. It is unlikely that a new owner would be as kind. I don’t see much hope for this theater if it is sold, but unfortunately, I don’t see much hope for it under the current owner either. How much can a flea market/bingo hall possibly bring in. Certainly not enough for any kind of a restoration and he would only do it if it increased his business which leads us to the issue that renovations (unless materially covered by government grants or subsidies) have to be financially viable and pay for themselves in new business income. Sadly, I don’t see that for this theater.