Kings Theatre

Guys, I think you should all take the poll on Loew’s Theaters that’s on the site this week. THE KINGS IS TRAILING BEHIND THE LOEW’S JERSEY! By the way you are all right. I spoke again with the person who wants to restore the Kings, and they are regentrifying the area. They have a Footlocker, Blockbuster Video, and other stores, and the Sears that has been there since time and memoriam is, this former Brooklynite is glad to hear, still there. Joe Franklin joined the committee to save the Kings. So did I.

Your point is well taken. As a child, my parents took us to Times Square a lot in the 70’s. I never really thought that it was too bad at all. Whenever I read, see (Taxi Driver) or hear anything about how lousy it was, I find it hard to relate. Ok…I was a child/pre-teen so my age didn’t help. Yeah, it was gritty as HELL ( I remember the Times Square station…Whoa! What a place! But it was FUN!). But you know what? There were as many crowds back then as there are now. But now it’s tourist city. The “energy” is all manufactured as opposed to it being organic or natural. That’s why I like 9th Avenue a lot now. You have these great old hardware stores, shoeshines and quirky restaurants. 10th is even better.

As for Flatbush, it’s still gritty and pleasant. But if you go on the other side of Prospect Park (toward Park Slope) the changes are all but complete. It’s only a matter of time for it to sweep across the park into Flatbush, and it’s already happening. Will the Kings have a place in the “new” Flatbush? If history tells us anything (Times Square) the Kings will not survive. That’s why the time to start actively discussing saving it has to be done NOW. I used to love driving up Flatbush Ave. and seeing the old Kings and wonder what it must’ve been like 40, 50 or 60 years ago.

Bway: nice set of photos. Regentrification is a mixed blessing. It revitalizes some neighborhoods and makes them livable. But it also pushes out the element that makes some neighborhoods unique. A good example of this is 9th Ave in midtown Manhattan. It’s still slightly gritty with a lot of non-franchise restaurants from Cuban to Vietnamese to Mom and Pop hardware stores. I find the area charming but what’s going to happen in another few years? These places will be gone to be replaced by Starbucks. The second picture you show clearly demonstrates this with a McDonald’s sign prominently displayed.

East NY…not half bad? Oye. That’s incredible. I cannot imagine East NY being livable but the way the city is rapidly changing, one never knows. Bed-Stuy…ABSOLUTELY! Block after block of those great old brownstones.

But Flatbush is very special because it has a mix of brownstones and some of the most incredbile, beautiful and astonishing homes in the NY area. Just ride up Flatbush Ave and hang a left or right near the Kings. Your jaw will drop when you get a load of those stately Victorians. I used to spend hours driving around those neighborhoods.

New York Magazine already ran an article about the neighborhood and how couples from Manhattan are snatching up these homes and turning them back into single family dwellings. Think about it: you have a HUGE beautiful home within minutes of Manhattan.

As for the Kings, someone has to get in there and protect it. How does one get Landmark status for something like this?

As for Streisand…are you kidding me? There’s no WAY that she’s going to schlep from her protective LA environment to come all the way to Brooklyn to protect the Kings. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Quote:
* and I’m shocked at how many areas that were once really nasty and slummy are beautiful now. Flatbush is next.*

You are quite correct. Even Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant are currently undergoing gentrification. East New York is also no half as bad as it used to be. With even Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and ENY on the way up, it’s a given that Flatbush will do nothing but improve.

In my opinion, the area this theater is located (Flatbush) is just at the beginning of a major regentrification (sorry if I didn’t spell that right…). Anyway, it’s a prime area that is being discovered by New Yorkers who cannot affort Manhattan. In ten years time, it’s going to be all new again. If anyone is going to start a restoration of the Kings, they’d better do it quick. I’m telling you, this area is going to be HOT, HOT, HOT. I lived in Brooklyn in the early 90’s. Park Slope was established as a nice area by then. But I’ve been back recently and I’m shocked at how many areas that were once really nasty and slummy are beautiful now. Flatbush is next.

Vincent, thats not such a strange idea and in fact it could be a stepping stone toward restoration of this jewel.

One of the reasons I think this venue is so neglected is that because of its size and location it has been unseen for nearly 30 years. The locals can’t be passionate about something they have been told is fabulous unless they can see it for themselves.Also to see what it was in the past and can be again via photgraphs of they heyday against what it is now. Viewing it in a poor state can also be a powerful incentive to do something urgently. If there is no interest after exposing the community and local investors to something great in their midst, then at least the ‘Friends’ gave it a chance and failed honorably.

Perhaps Miss Streisand is ‘just the ticket’ to get the ball rolling??!!

The following is a link to the Friends of the Loews website: http://www.loewsjersey.org/ A telephone number as well as information on the aquisition and restoration of the theatre are provided.

I have to applaud Mr. Faulkner who is working from London, England to advocate an American theatre that too few of us prize. Yes, we have a great many lavish movie palaces remaining, and when the day come that CT will once again accept photos, we will no doubt see the reason that so many more deserve preservation, but for now it seems that the truly BIG projects such as the KINGS or the UPTOWN in Chicago are going to fade away until the point come that taxpayers must pay the millions it will take to clear the eventually dangerous crumbling buildings from any access to vagrants and children who find such hulks irresistible. There is another fabulous Rapp & Rapp theatre sitting in Milwaukee, dark and moldering and it too deserves restoration and reuse. But where will all the money come from? These are financially tight times with wars to pay for and tragic social causes of higher priority. Some ‘angels’ have come along for some theatres, such as the STANFORD in Palo Alto, Calif., and the PABST in Milwaukee, but such ‘sugar daddies’ are rare and getting rarer. Local publicity groups can sometimes help, but one should not break his own heart by deluding himself that an outside group with no real funds can do more than talk. After all, Proposition L to save the theatres of San Francisco, was just defeated at the polls amid speculation rife with doubt as to accountability —and that initiative did not involve any increase in taxes! (http://www.noonl.com/) What hope is there for the KINGS if one would suggest it become a public facility to be restored by, adapted by, and operated by public taxes? As the old saying goes: ‘Wishing isn’t getting.’ Mr. Faulkner is to be admired, but will any locals with dollars step forward to make it a privately-funded reality? We can only hope.

It’s a shame that this once beautiful theatre is now falling apart.

Hello Again;
I decided to keep you all updated on the search for the guy who wants to restore the King’s. He called me, but my mother got the message. I left a message with him, and hopefully he will return it.

Hi guys. I am not from New York, but need to answer a trivia question about the Lowes Kings Theatre. Does anyone know which mega star once ushered there. Was it Ben Stiller (probably to young), Robert DeNiro or Barbara Streisand

Could we please add an introduction to one of the most important of all NY theatres