Rogers Theatre
835 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11206
835 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11206
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 99 of 99 comments
When I lived on Stockton St. I practically lived in the Rogers Theatre. I recall the boxoffice to the left-facing of the theatre and coming attractions posters above the front doors. It had the old wooden seats, which didn’t seem to matter, since the price of admission was reasonable.
I also use to take an elderly woman in a wheelchair to see a movie there once in a while. I parked her to the right of the theatre behind a seat in the gap where the fire exit doors were. I recall at times when those doors were pushed open and kids would run in for free, causing the sunlight to lighten up the place. Nobody ever moved from their seats, except the person that would get up close the doors.
I saw a great many good to outstanding films at the Rogers, but must admit I was thrown out of the theatre one Easter Sunday. Appropriately “Easter Parade” was playing and I got into a hassle with a wise guy (not my fault) who happened to be related to the owner (a gent with a hook-like nose) and he had me thrown out (the first and only time ever).
I have a nice color snapshot of the theatre circa 1965 when it was already closed. It is on a corner and the marquee is in great shape with the front of the place boarded up. You can also see the El.
After I learn how to post the picture I will definately put it on Cinema Treasures, for all to see.
I took the picture, a few years after we moved from the neighborhood, to send to my brother in Viet Nam, since he and I usually went to the Rogers together. He couldn’t believe it was closed up.
In any event the Rogers Theatre holds a lot of fond memories for me and I was sorry to see it go.
JoeB
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Hello Cougar: I’m glad that you verified that it was a corner theater, since I remember all of the kids on line in the late 40s waiting for the Rogers to open…..and sometimes that line was around that corner off of Broadway…..Especially when a Durango Kid movie was showing…..I wish somebody could come up with information on when it was built and originally opened, since the two oldest movie houses on Broadway(to me anyway) were the Rogers, and the Sun……Joe From Florida
My father and uncles owned and operated the Rogers Theater in the 1950s until they sold it in 1964 or 1965. I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid. I remember a stain on the screen where someone threw Coca Cola on it. They showed a steady fare of westerns, sci-fi and horror films. I don’t remember any cats, but I distinctly recall large mousetraps that I’d help my father collect before the theater opened. I’d love to hear others' recollections.
The theater was located on a corner. It had no connection to the Rogers Theater on Rogers Ave. My uncles also owned the Banco Theater in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Hello LostMemory: My late uncle, aunt and cousins, who lived on Stockton St., off of Broadway, Two buildings down from the Loews Broadway, rememberd going there in the silent days, and also seeing live acts at that theater——-If Uncle and aunt were living today they both would be well over 100 years old……It must have been called Lyceum as HerbS has mentioned……..My cousin, who passed away recently at 80 years of age, rememberd it as the Rogers, and as a youngster, he also saw many westerns there…..I am 64, and only can account for the times I went there, which was late 40s to early 50s———-It had two rows of seats as I recall, with only a center Isle…..and the seats were wooden———I dont know what happened in 1926, but apparently this Theater was there long before that…..Joe From Florida
Hey Herb, I’m afraid they were long gone when I arrived. I lived there from 1948 (Year born) to ‘64. I do remember 37 Park Street because my cousins lived there. Their grandfather Joseph Rannazzisi
bought the building probably in the thirties. There was a storefront on the ground floor (ask your mom if it was there in the twenties) which the old man had a butcher shop. It was really a nice little block.
Moondog, My mother (maiden name Brana Lerner) who is 91 years old, also lived on Park Street, at #37 from 1921-1926, when she was 8-12 years of age (did you know the family?). She remembers going with her family to this theatre which she knew as the Lyceum and seeing silent movies with Mary Pickford. She distinctly remembers the paino playing and it being underneath the stage. When she moved to Kosciusko St she used to go to the Lowes Broadway, Lowes Gates and RKO Bushwick and also the Sumner Theatre. She also remembers shopping at Batterman’s Department Store on Flushing and Broadway. She attended PS 129 on Quincy St and graduated in January 1929. She still has a report card and her autograph book from that time!
There used to be a Schlitz Brewery near us also, it burned down when I was about 11 or 12 I think….My 8th grade home-room Teacher was Mrs. Hitner….had Skolsky for Science, dont remember many of the others except the Principle was Mr. Warren I think…..and the auditorium ay PS 145 was bigger and more modern then the Rogers……When you went there, they must have cleaned up the place a bit….It was dark in there, but the Alba was the darkest…..I think the screen was the only source of light in that place…..Joe From Florida—-sasheegm—P.S. I graduated PS 145 in 1954…..
Hey guys, you actually have a partial photo of the Rogers marquee in one of the photos here. Bway’s post that has four photos, the third one (no.2175) shows the Flushing Ave station. On the extreme right you’ll see a yellow vertical sign. That sign, which says Rogers, was above and perpendiclar to the regular marquee which is obstructed by the tracks. The four story building behind it was a furniture store.
Joe, I have no idea what the inside looked like. That place was always pitch black. I do remember the lighted signs of ladies room on the left side of the screen (with the seated woman powdering her nose) and the men’s room on the right side. I don’t remember the cats or sawdust. I’m 56 so I was there a bit after you. I also went to PS 145. Remember walking through the Rheingold Brewrie and getting sick from the smell of the hops the first couple of weeks?
Hello Moondog: I lived on Willoughby Ave between Central & Evergreen Aves from 1946 until 1959( By 1959 i was not hanging in the area as i had an R&R group and we appeared all over at that time—-I was also 18 in 1959…..I went to PS-53 on Troutman St. and then to PS 145 Junior HS for 7 and 8th grades…..It was about this time(1954) or a little before that.
, that my neighborhood movie going stopped……….I spoke to an older Cousin of mine who lives in Buffalo, but grew up on Stocton St two buildings down from the Lowes Broadway——He just turned 80 years old, and he went to the Rogers as a kid, but remembers my Uncle(his Father) that the little movie house used to put on Plays and musical shows….and many were in Italian——-I hope BWAY & Lostmemory see this post as they have been trying to find out more info on the Rogers Theater on Broadway in Brooklyn…..I feel, because of its interior, that it had to be built in the late 1800s——-What do you remember about the interior Moondog——Did they have cats and sawdust when you went there——I am 64—-so I went there in the late 40s. early 50s….and Durango Kid westerns were some of the most popular films they showed there…..I remember lines going around the corner, of kids waiting to get in, just to see The Durango Kid…..and also many times my father would take me there in the evening as he also liked the Westerns———Joe From Florida——sasheegm——
Hi Florida Joe, did you go to P.S. 24? Your list of the Bushwick theatres was excellent except for one thing, the top of that building behind the Flushing Ave Station could not have been the Rogers Theatre. I remember that building which was on the corner of Fayette St. as a shoe store in the fifties. I read somewhere, (I think on the forgotten-ny websight) that that building was originally an old vauldville theater. The Rogers was two blocks east of there and stood exactly on the spot of the laundramat in Bway’s photo. I was born and raised on that little block (Park Street). I remember the skinny, grey-haired projectionist had a window over-looking our street and used to spend countless hours watching us play stickball below him.
Hello all: I grew up in that neighborhood on Willoughby Ave, between Central & Evergreen Aves……..That photo looks like the top of the old Rogers to me, on a corner……..The Rogers main fare were Western Movies…..and as a kid in the late 40s and early 50s, the place was packed when a Durango Kid Western was shown…..All other Cowboys of the day appeared there….Further east on the corner of Stocton & Bway was the Loews Broadway…..at the Flushing Ave exit on the Jamiaca/Broadway/Chambers St. Metropolitan Ave/Canal st BMT line was the Alba theater on Flushing Ave itself——a very darkly lit movie house, it showed 2nd and third run plus re-releases….I remember seeing Boris Karloff there in “The Old Dark House:…and the setting was perfect since the house was so dark——further west off of Bway was the Sun Theater which closed down very early as I recall…..On Empire Blvd, was the Empire theater which showed Serials along with their re-releases all week long——-Heading east on Broadway in the Bushwick section toward Highland Park were the Lowes Gates, Rko Bushwick, and across from the Bushwick, the Monroe theater, another third run house like the Starr & Empire——Continuing up BWAY towards Highland Park under the El came the Decatur theater, which I remember showed the oldest films I ever saw from the 30s….It had wooden seats i believe….then came the Colonial on Broadway under the Chauncey St, Station———The Colonial had the coolest AC of any theater in the neighborhood, and i remember one Summer a sign outside saying that is was 56 inside——It was cold——-Going in the other direction towards the Williamsburg Bridge that crossed the east river, you found the Williamsburg…..another 3rd run house——I saw one of the longest double features there as i recall——-The Four Feathers & Drums, both by Alexander Korda……But back to the Rogers since it was unique in specializing in Westerns……..The begining of the end came when B-Westerns were being shown free on TV….But I believe the Rogers held on as ong as it could by showing as many Durango Kid westerns as they could get, as they were not on TV…..the last time I past by that neighborhood was in the late 60s, and it was closed…and through the glass on the front of the entrance, I could see a torn Durango Kid one sheet hanging in it very small lobby…….The Rogers put sawdust on the floors and also had cats roaming around for rats I guess…..I only remember a center aisle with two sections on one floor…..One thing all of these Houses had in common were a Stage and a piano beneath the stage——I guess for the Silent days, and Vaudeville…….BTW, that train stopped at the Flushing St station in the older photo, was one used on the Myrtle Ave/Chambers St./Metropolitan Ave line, which turned off Broadway after stopping at Myrtle Ave——Up-above the Broadway line was the Fulton St line…the oldest in Brooklyn with wooden cars and gates….The newer photo shows the Jamaica Ave line theat went to Eastern Pkwy and terminated in Jamaica…….Some memories for a 64 year old guy…..Joe From Florida—sasheegm
Yeah, I did some research of my own yesterday, and yes, the building I posted a photo of was at Fayette and Bway.(By the way, it does look like it could have bee a theater, so if anyone knows anything about it, please let us know. It’s an interesting building).
Anyway, here is a photo of what is now on the site of the old Rogers Theater at the corner of Park and Bway, it is now a one story building housing a few stores:
Click here for photo
Sorry B'way but your photos from the Flushing Ave. station could not possibly be of the Rogers Theatre since the station extends from Flushing Ave. to Fayette St. The Rogers is two blocks further east on B'way past Ellery St. The peaked roofline in the photo, although interesting, could not be the Rogers.
Ahh, that makes more sense. It could also explain the “corner” misunderstanding above. As a new building, the 835 could be in the middle, while the corner has the 837 or higher address.
Sorry my error it should have been 835-837.
Now I am a bit confused, is the proper address of this theater 835 or 535? If it is 535, that would actully place it just west of the Lorimer St station.
Opened as Lyceum in 1915. Aka Broadway Lyceum. It became the Broadway Park theatre around 1930 and finally the Rodgers a few years later. Reportedly closed in 66. Note the address sometimes is given as 535-537. In one edition of the FDYB, the Lyceum is at 535 and in another at 537. The photo I have was taken just after it closed. From the angle at street level one can’t see the top because of the el. Anyway it seems very worn out and appears to have been a converted store front building.
Just for the record here, there have been some messages removed here. I wasn’t talking to myself above, so if you are reading, and my comments make no sense, well they don’t because the nasty messages by some poster in between my messages and lostmemory’s have been removed.
Thank you to the webmasters for “cleaning house”.
Anyway as I was saying to everyone else, there appears to be a building at the corner of Park and Broadway at the Flushing Ave station that appears it could be the Rogers Theater. This building was photographed in 1960, and was gone by 1969. I have provided the links above.
Tripe is good if you like cow stomach. Some people find it quite tasty.
As for the Rogers photo. The building in the photo is at the corner of Park and Bway. Unless they had two theaters next to eachother, what else can this be?
Second, I did mention that I “believe” I have found a photo of the Roger theater. I didn’t say that THIS IS a photo of the Rogers.
Discussion can either prove it is, or that it isn’t. That is what discussion is about. I am not about to hinder discussion here as you would hope, and one day there could be someone that remembers the theater that will find this page and the photos linked and be able to positively say, “Yes that is the Rogers”, or “No, that’s whatever”. That is what discussion is about.
And Tom or Otto, whatever your name is, thanks for adding this theater so we can have this theater to discuss, and you have a nice day as rainy as it is outside.
See you at the movies.
Ooops, the last link, taken in 1970, I linked the wrong photo, this is the 1970 photo I meant to link as the 4th link:
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?5598
These listings are not always accurate. I believe it could have been a corner, even if it doesn’t say so on the city tax records. There are always mistakes in the records.
Anyway, I believe the theater was in fact located at the Flushing Ave station. The property was at the corner of Park Ave and Broadway, which is at the abandoned mezzanine end of the Flushing Ave station. The Flushing Ave station extends from Flusing Ave itself, east towards Myrtle, with the abandoned mezzanine near Park Street.
In fact, I believe I have found a photo of the Roger Theater taken in 1960. This building no longer exists at the Flusing Ave station, having been torn down many years ago.
Anyway, here’s a link to the photo of what I believe is the Rogers Theatre in 1960:
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6728
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24666
By 1969, when this photo linked below was taken, the Rogers Theater had been torn down. These photos below are taken from the exact same angle, in 1969 and 1970 respectively, and the building is gone:
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2175
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24666
The building was torn down sometime between 1960 and 1969.
This theatre was actually located midway between the Flushing & Myrtle Ave. stations on the Jamaica line el, further east on B'way from the Woodhull Hosp. site. The only theatre at the Flushing Ave. stop, was the Alba, not across the street, but directly on the current hospital site. Check listing for the Alba. The Rogers was actually on a corner lot, despite the listing above.
This theater had to be located at the Flushing Ave station of the Broadway Elevated on the north side of Broadway across the street from Woodhull Hospital.