Granada Theatre
2819 Church Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
2819 Church Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
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Showing 51 - 59 of 59 comments
Something no one has mentioned but when I was a kid in the 50’s they had an small kiddie asmusement park owned by the same people who owned the Granada. I remember having a birthday party there in late 50’s
This former kid from Brooklyn remembers that neon sign. I don’t know about its later years, but the tubing was exposed in the 1960s. To me that looked glorious.
As a former employee of this theatre (1969-1974), I have several of the one sheets of movies that played there. While I was there, the Binn’s Driving School was near the left side and a real estate office on the right. I’ll never forget the theatre name in neon pink above a opaque glass covered marquee (flourescent backlit) with a “baby blue” border around the entire marquee. The pink neon name reflected off the copper-stoned building at night giving it it’s neighborhood charm. The “blue noen” was removed in 1971. How I miss this place and yet it will live on within me forever. Remember the Bickford’s on the same street closer to Nostrand Avenue.
The Granada was in the middle of the block with Abruzzo’s Luncheonette and The Pickwick Book Shop to it’s right and a photography store to it’s left. An alley ran down the left side at an incline and was used for sledding by us kids in the late 30s and 40s. My first movie was Bambi. I remember every Saturday going to the movies to see many cartoons in a row, a serial and a double feature. A colored sheet of heavy paper with the porogram printed on it was passed out as you turned in your ticket. At the end of the afternoon a color was anounced and anyone holding that color won a prize. If anyone has memorabilia from the Granada I would like to purchase it. Herb Fayer zert-fm.com
When “The Jungle Book” opened Christmas 1967 at the Granada it became the theatre’s longest running booking. It played a then unheard of 7 weeks. The co-feature was “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar”. The only other theatre in the borough playing the duo was Century’s Marine. The grosses lead Walt Disney to book both “The Happiest Millionaire” (3 Weeks) in Feb. and “Blackbeard’s Ghost” in March, both of which I saw here and hooked me on moviegoing weekly at the age of 11. The Granada also played “Mary Poppins” (3 or 4 weeks) on first run with the Brooklyn Fox in 1965 prior to the Oscars. After it won Oscars that following year, “Mary Poppins” returned in 1966 and played at the Loew’s Kings and then at the Century’s Rialto for a couple of runs during its' reissues.
Hello;
I decided to say that the theater was not at the corner of Nostrand and Church, but in the middle of the block on Church Avenue. I remember the first show I saw there was the Jungle Book. I recall the theater had these red, circular lights on the walls after the houselights dimmed. IF YOU ASK ME THEY SHOULD’VE RESTORED THE PLACE. Too bad many Brooklyn Movie Palaces went to their reward. Why did they have to do it?
Sincerely
Alan G. Wasenius
The Granada Theatre was located at 2819 Church Ave. and it seated 1563 people.
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.
Worked at the “GRANADA THEATRE” Brooklyn, NY in 1972. Your listing incorrectly says it did not have a balcony, it did. Before it was taken over by Golden Theatres, it was run for years by Max Scheiring. I believe it was built by “Cinema 5” Theatres.