Brentwood per se could not support it but if it were to be spruced up and billed as the only single-screen showplace on all of Long Island it could draw traffic from all over. People would be camped outside it right now if the next Star Wars was opening there. That’s an extreme example but with the right marketing I think it could be successful that way.
I saw one film at this theater, Tombstone. It was about as bad a time as I’ve ever had at the movies. The tiniest screens you can imagine and no slope to the theater. It’s not surprising that it didn’t last long.
After finishing up its run as an X-rated house, this theater became the Holly Rock, showing second run movies while serving food and drinks at tables. That didn’t last very long and it closed for years. It is now open as the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts. The Boulton Center is separately listed on this site.
This is a pretty nice place to see a movie. Espcially now that Island 16 has opened, it’s not such a madhouse there. And 9 seems like a nice number of screens. Keeps the crowds reasonable.
I live about 3 minutes away from the Commack Multiplex but since I got my driver’s license in 1991 I have only been there once. It’s a pit. Now I drive 20 minutes to get to the Island 16 or sometimes Regal Ronkonkoma or Loews Stony Brook. If NA is going to tear it down and open another De Luxe, that would be a welcome change indeed.
Mr. K., you’re talking about the Bay Shore Theater (Bay Shore is 2 words, people). It is a YMCA and it is across the street from St. Patrick’s. It’s listed on this site if you want to check it out.
As for the precise location of the old Smithtown Drive-In, the lines at that intersection are so fuzzy that just because Cue had it listed as Nesconset does not mean for sure it wasn’t Lake Grove. The Pep Boys property doesn’t really seem like it would be big enough.
I live in Brentwood and miss this old theater very much. It basically died a slow death once the Commack Multiplex opened. Before that it had been a first run theater and I recall lines out to the parking lot for films like Superman. But when Commack opened in 1983 Brentwood became a discount/2nd run huse and then closed altogether in the late 80s. It was vacant for several years and then briefly revived again as discount house and I went there to see an Schwarzengger picture, Eraser, I think, solely because I wanted to see what the sinde looked like because it had been closed for so long.
It had a very nice balcony but they never let people sit up there unless the floor filled, which it never did.
There’s a stage in front of the screen so it has occasionally been reopened as a performing arts type place but nothing has worked very well. The building is still there and looks to be in good shape and I think someone with enough money could probably do some business reopening it as a nostalgia, movie-palace type theater.
I have many fond memories of the Bay Shore Drive-In. The indoor theater on the property was before my time (the first film I saw there was Star Wars in 1978). I never knew there had been an indoor theater there other than the Cinema just outside the property. Incidentally, after the Bay Shore Theater on Main St. closed, I think they started just calling the Cinema UA Bay Shore. That’s how it was listed in Newsday, anyway. The only film I saw there other than Rocky Horror was Karate Kid III. That building was sort of a sister theater to the Brentwood Theater. Pretty much the same architecture.
As a kid I loved the playground at the Drive-In. We’d get there before sundown and play until the movies started. They took it out long before the Drive In closed though. I think a kid got hurt and they didn’t want to deal with anymore lawsuits.
I saw one of my favorite random bad movies at the Drive-In. We went to see The Muppets Take Manhattan and it was inexplicably part of a double feature with Krull. We didn’t even know 2 films were showing.
One weird fact I remember is that there was a gravel long jump track complete with sand pit up near the base of one of the screens. I always wondered what on earth it was doing there.
By the way, if anyone has any info on where the old Fifth Ave. Drive-In was, I’d love to know. I only recently found out about it’s existence.
Brentwood per se could not support it but if it were to be spruced up and billed as the only single-screen showplace on all of Long Island it could draw traffic from all over. People would be camped outside it right now if the next Star Wars was opening there. That’s an extreme example but with the right marketing I think it could be successful that way.
I saw one film at this theater, Tombstone. It was about as bad a time as I’ve ever had at the movies. The tiniest screens you can imagine and no slope to the theater. It’s not surprising that it didn’t last long.
So that’s pretty much where the Pizzeria Uno’s now stands.
After finishing up its run as an X-rated house, this theater became the Holly Rock, showing second run movies while serving food and drinks at tables. That didn’t last very long and it closed for years. It is now open as the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts. The Boulton Center is separately listed on this site.
This is a pretty nice place to see a movie. Espcially now that Island 16 has opened, it’s not such a madhouse there. And 9 seems like a nice number of screens. Keeps the crowds reasonable.
I live about 3 minutes away from the Commack Multiplex but since I got my driver’s license in 1991 I have only been there once. It’s a pit. Now I drive 20 minutes to get to the Island 16 or sometimes Regal Ronkonkoma or Loews Stony Brook. If NA is going to tear it down and open another De Luxe, that would be a welcome change indeed.
Mr. K., you’re talking about the Bay Shore Theater (Bay Shore is 2 words, people). It is a YMCA and it is across the street from St. Patrick’s. It’s listed on this site if you want to check it out.
As for the precise location of the old Smithtown Drive-In, the lines at that intersection are so fuzzy that just because Cue had it listed as Nesconset does not mean for sure it wasn’t Lake Grove. The Pep Boys property doesn’t really seem like it would be big enough.
I live in Brentwood and miss this old theater very much. It basically died a slow death once the Commack Multiplex opened. Before that it had been a first run theater and I recall lines out to the parking lot for films like Superman. But when Commack opened in 1983 Brentwood became a discount/2nd run huse and then closed altogether in the late 80s. It was vacant for several years and then briefly revived again as discount house and I went there to see an Schwarzengger picture, Eraser, I think, solely because I wanted to see what the sinde looked like because it had been closed for so long.
It had a very nice balcony but they never let people sit up there unless the floor filled, which it never did.
There’s a stage in front of the screen so it has occasionally been reopened as a performing arts type place but nothing has worked very well. The building is still there and looks to be in good shape and I think someone with enough money could probably do some business reopening it as a nostalgia, movie-palace type theater.
I have many fond memories of the Bay Shore Drive-In. The indoor theater on the property was before my time (the first film I saw there was Star Wars in 1978). I never knew there had been an indoor theater there other than the Cinema just outside the property. Incidentally, after the Bay Shore Theater on Main St. closed, I think they started just calling the Cinema UA Bay Shore. That’s how it was listed in Newsday, anyway. The only film I saw there other than Rocky Horror was Karate Kid III. That building was sort of a sister theater to the Brentwood Theater. Pretty much the same architecture.
As a kid I loved the playground at the Drive-In. We’d get there before sundown and play until the movies started. They took it out long before the Drive In closed though. I think a kid got hurt and they didn’t want to deal with anymore lawsuits.
I saw one of my favorite random bad movies at the Drive-In. We went to see The Muppets Take Manhattan and it was inexplicably part of a double feature with Krull. We didn’t even know 2 films were showing.
One weird fact I remember is that there was a gravel long jump track complete with sand pit up near the base of one of the screens. I always wondered what on earth it was doing there.
By the way, if anyone has any info on where the old Fifth Ave. Drive-In was, I’d love to know. I only recently found out about it’s existence.