Kings Theatre
1027 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
1027 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11226
86 people
favorited this theater
Showing 951 - 975 of 1,564 comments
I too was unable to come but would like to get involved.
In all seriousness, Warren is right. There is no church that could or would want to save the Kings. If anyone is going to do it, it has to be a group that can raise the money, or a private investor (which I don’t see happening).
Sorry I was unable to attend the meeting Saturday— I was caught ill this weekend.
Does anyone have an outline of what was said or proposed at this meeting?
SAVE THE KINGS!!!!
(foaming at the mouth)
OK, let’s calm down… this is not Crossfire. I’m pretty sure we all want the same end here.
By the way, if anyone has any web experience to help with a website for the new ‘Save The Kings’, please-mail me. Thanks.
:(
Dear Warren,
What would you suggest the present owner (NYC) do with this PATHETIC theatre? Maybe you belong on a SHOPPING MALL web site? Sorry to be so harsh, but would you just give up?
What does the McCarren Park Pool and the Loew’s Kings have in common? McCarren is the last of the Robert Moses built pools not to have had a makeover, just like the Loew’s Kings is the last of the Loew’s Wonder Theaters that could be restored. The NYC Parks Department made an arrangment with Ron Delsener Productions to hold a series of 10 concerts at McCarren. Delsener came with me to the Loew’s Kings—(a few years ago) and liked what he saw, but said that I should get a real estate developer to restore the place and then he would book concerts!
The Loew’s 175th Street is now Reverend Ike’s Church, sometimes used for commercial concerts. The Loew’s Valencia was restored as a church while the Loew’s Jersey was restored for various events.
So how about the Kings??
For those who couldn’t come, I am glad to report our somewhat hastily-arranged first meeting as a success. We attracted five dedicated individuals from across Brooklyn, just from the notice on Cinema Treasures. With better weather (it was a downpour Saturday) and more outreach through and beyond the theater preservation community, I trust our small group will grow will futute meetings and events.
To be notified of future events, email me at flatbush AT gmail.com
We have just started a working mailing list if you want to join that, and we should have our own fabulous website soon, which should prove a better center for our activity online than just using the Cinema Treasures forum.
Our meeting is scheduled for 12 Noon today, let’s have a really good showing! ‘Memoirs of a Movie Palace’ will be shown and the discussion will center on how we can best motivate the money people to save this theater and how nostalgia could be the driving force for progress.
Brooklynite… Excellent! I am willing to do my part no matter how small or large that effort may be. See you on Saturday!
Brooklynite: Thank you for arranging this meeting! Honestly, I have tried so hard and tried so long that it’s a real shot in the arm that other people want to join in the fight to Save The Kings. Maybe an organized effort can accomplish more than I have been able to do myself.
OK, we’ve been approved for the big room, and I’ve submittted a story for the front page of this site, which runs as follows:
BROOKLYN, NY – A meeting to organize a movement to revitalize the historic Loew’s Kings movie palace will be held at noon Saturday, April 8 in a 75-person auditorium at the Flatbush Library at 22 Linden Blvd by Flatbush Avenue, easily accessible by subway. The discussion will be highlighted by Bruce Friedman, who will discuss his tireless efforts toward the preservation of the theater since 1987, and the hope to preserve it through transformation to a singularly grand performing arts space to serve the diverse Flatbush community. The meeting will include a showing of at least parts of ‘Memoirs Of A Movie Palace’, a touching documentary filmed in the last days of the 3,000+ seat theater’s operation. But most important, we will be there to exchange our ideas on how to revitalize this grand theater for the modern community of Brooklyn, starting with small artistic outreach efforts.
The formal meeting will conclude at 2:30, at which point we will take a group stroll down commercially bustling Flatbush Avenue to visit the boarded-up palace in person, on the way passing by several other ancient landmarks at the heart of this historic street. There may also be a small concluding meeting at Mr. Friedman’s nearby home, conditions permitting.
Hopefully the moderator will put it up soon. I hope you don’t mind, Bruce, that I’ve sort-of-committed-you to bringing the ‘Memoirs of a Movie Theater’ tape along, when I heard that a TV and VCR would be available at the library. How much of the film we show there will I guess depend on the progress of the meeting.
Now that the details are finalized, I hope we can all try to forward the message by phone, e-mail and message board to any theater, arts, and community groups and persons we know of that would be interested. Oh and if anyone else reading this is coming, it would be great if you RSVP’d here, though of course it’s not necessary.
Brooklynite: Thanks for setting things up, I await final details.
Update:
OK, I’ve just filed for a 12:00-2:30 meeting Saturday at the Flatbush Library at 22 Linden Blvd off of Flatbush Ave. I should know for tomorrow whether we’ve been approved for the big meeting room, but even if we’re not I think they will find us some accomodation in a quiet corner or side office.
Everyone please encourage interested folks you know to attend; the room has capacity for 75!
So, big room or no, let’s make it for noon Saturday April 8 at the Flatbush library.
BTW, on the after-meeting walk down Flatbush to the theater, those not familiar with the neighborhood should get quite an enlightening illustration of the evolution of the area from a quiet Dutch village to a burgeoning Caribbean commercial district.
Brooklynite and others: Our meeting is coming up soon, who else is interested??
Go get ‘em Bruce. I believe there is a solution. I KNOW that enthusiastic, intelligent people can accomplish amazing things when they band together and stick with something.
Who else is interested? Let’s meet, talk things out and come up with a plan!!
Brooklynite, RE the meeting. I m off on Saturdays, so any time is ok for me.Looking foward to it.
Brooklynite:
There’s nothing wrong with meeting at the library and then walking down to the theater, but another possibility is to meet at my house, have the meeting then watch ‘Memoirs Of A Movie Palace. then we could take a ride over to Flatbush Avenue.
Hey Theaterat (et al),
It’s great to see that you’re available for Saturday. I’ve been holding off a bit on reserving a room at the Flatbush library till things were a little firmed up, but I guess I’ll go in tomorrow and just do it provisionally. The thing is, the library closes at 3:00, and the latest meeting room appointment we could possibly get would end at 2:30. Now please tell me if that’s really too early for you, in which case we’ll definitely change plans; at this point, our effort cannot afford to leave out a single person. If the library is a no-go for you, I’ll canvas for an affordable local restaurant where we could reasonably hold a meeting.
In the meantime, everyone please try to prepare for the meeting by organizing your ideas and whatever special experience you may have, and maybe getting something down on paper to distribute. Try to think small: outreach is probably the best thing we can hope for in the short term.
And if anyone else reading this board is considering coming to our inaugural meeting on Saturday, please speak up now so whatever concerns you may have can be addressed as well. Thanks, all.
Finally, there seems to be something actually happening re. the Kings! Please let us{me} know a time and where to meet on Sat 4-8, and I definately will be there!Will be checking these posts all week to find out. Thanks!
To: Jonah Jonah Jonah
For some strange reason, I can’t send email to you! So here’s my reply:
Hi Jonah!
Thanks for writing. I don’t know whether you saw the recent post by Brooklynite, but we are trying to set up a meeting for April 8th at the Flatbush Branch of the NYC Public Library. The meeting will start there and proceed down Flatbush Avenue to the Loew’s Kings. Afterwards everyone is invited back to my house for a viewing of ‘Memoirs of a Movie Palace’ a filmed documentary made in 1979-1980. It shows off the architecture and contains interviews with various theater personnel.
What can you do to help? Come to our meeting. Further details to follow
Brooklynite: Thanks for all the extra effort! Saturday, April 8th is fine with me and I can certainly talk about the neighborhood, all the new shopping, all the old theaters and the possibilities for renewal…
Afterwards, our group can go back to my house to watch ‘Memoirs Of A Movie Palace’.
Many of the people interested in the Kings are not necessarily NYC residents, so I’m really not sure who might be interested or not. Let’s hope for a small, but enthusiastic group.
I’ll gladly show up at said meeting. At the very least, we can all get informed about what would need to be done with the theater at all.
OK, I’ve called up the Flatbush library at 22 Linden Boulevard, which is pretty near the theater. Anyone using public transit could reach the library by a short walk from the Parkside Aventue stop on the Q; we could have a meeting there, and then stroll down Flatbush to the theater if that’s called for. If I go in tomorrow we can probably get a reservation for sometime in the late-morning-early-afternoon of Saturday, April 8 (the meeting rooms aren’t open Sunday). Is that a good time for the folks here? Bruce, in your experience with this issue since 1987, are there other people you would invite? Because I was thinking, if it’s gonna be less than five people, it’s might not worth formally reserving a room…