Meserole Theatre
723 Manhattan Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11222
723 Manhattan Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11222
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 201 - 214 of 214 comments
Thanks Bob. I want to go to Greenpoint to check out the drug store that is in the Meserole theater in the near future, and will drive by the Chopin while there. Speaking of Greenpoint, has the RKO Greenpoint been completely demolished, or just converted to stores? I may drive by that site too, I understand it was right near the big Greenpoint savings bank on Manhattan Ave.
In answer to Bway’s question about the Chopin, the Chopin was on Manhattan Avenue near Greenpoint Avenue – a couple of blocks away from the Meserole. It was diagonally across the street from a catering hall called The Polynaise, which at one point I belive had the same owner (hence the classical music connection in the names). The Polynaise has remianed a very nice catering hall and has been upgraded through the years (my wedding reception was there in 1991). The Chopin closed quite a few yeares ago (the last movie I saw there was Back to the Future). It was gutted for the Burger King. I will look closer the next time I am in there, but I do not recall any recognizable features of the movie theater.
Thank you, Robbie !
Self-correction : The last film I saw at the Meserole was the original Disney “101 Dalmatians” in re-release, on Saturday July 26th 1975, with my friend and fellow SFP class of 1973 classmate, Joe Kuceluk.
Just for the record, both the street, the avenue and the theater were named after the Meserole family, one of Greenpoint’s original settlers. Back in the mid-ninteenth century, Archibald K. Meserole was on the original board of the GreenPoint Bank (just up the street); William H. Meserole was the bank’s first president.
-R
Bob D.(Dittus): Good to meet you after all these years, albeit through the Cinema Treasures site. I am still waiting for a private e-mail reply from your older brother Rich, my friend and SFP Class of 1973 classmate, from his Ave Maria University e-mail address. I was on a cursillo with Rich at St. Paul’s, January 16-19 1975, as noted above, and I still remember Rich in tears of joy from the “palanca” that you wrote to him.
Thanks for your comments on Greenpoint and Williamsburg. I am from Bushwick and Ridgewood, but Greenpoint and Williamsburg are “stamping grounds” of mine, because my mother’s family lived in Greenpoint, at about 256 Kingsland Avenue, near St. Stanislaus Kostka church, which is at Humboldt St. and Driggs Avenue, before moving to 412 Harman Street in Wyckoff Heights (lower Ridgewood), because I attended the Prep on North 6th Street in Williamsburg, and because I hung out with Joe Kuceluk and friends, including your older brother Rich, for years after graduating the Prep in June 1973.
My mother’s mother’s second husband pronounced Grand St. and Graham Avenue, both stops on the L line, the same way : “Grem !” It’s a family joke of many years.
I agree, with its current population of young professionals, artists, new bohemians and neo-hippies, how could “The Point” and “The Burg” remain much longer without a cinema ? It’s been suggested elsewhere on this site that perhaps Film Forum, the avant-garde cinema at W. Houston and Varick, should move to occupy the former RKO Commodore.
I have never seen a film at the Commodore, but I have been to the Oasis, (once), to the Arion many times, to the Chopin once, to the Meserole, twice, to the Elmwood and Cinemart many times, and once to the Drake. Interesting that you describe the bus ride to the Arion as “short”. I suppose it is, if that Q-53 Metropolitan Avenue bus really books, and doesn’t get bogged down in traffic, stops, and lights.
“Bway” and I have a great interest in former Bushwick theaters such as the Casino/DeKalb, Loew’s Gates, RKO Bushwick, Empire, Colonial, Decatur, Alhambra, Broadway, and Monroe. “Bway” has some great recent images of some of these former theaters which he would probably be happy and proud to direct you to.
Once again, Bob, good to meet you (albeit indirectly, and better late than never), please keep posting here, as I will be doing, and save me an aisle seat !
Peter K.
That’s right, I forgot that the Arion also became a drug store. Where was the Chopin that is now a Burger King? Are there any features left there, or has it been gutted?
Peter K.– I am not Bob Dunas, but I do have a connection to the St. Francis Prep Class of 1973. I am the brother of Rich Dittus. I’m still in Greenpoint/Williamsburg and have seen the neighborhood go through many changes through the years. With the current crowd bringing in a new wave of restaurants and cafes, I wouldn’t be surprised if a movie theater could possibly reappear in this neighborhood that once had many and now has none. The Commodore was the last to be open in either Greenpoint or Willimasburg but it was closed after some political attempts to try to keep it open. It now looks like something is trying to be done to it, but I gather that it wasn’t extrremely well maintained in its later years.
As for the comments on the Oasis, I had acutally forgotten about that theater and I don’t think I was ever in it except for its current incarnationas a CVS. It is definitely a totally different structure. I had been to the Arion (now an Eckerd’s) the Chopin (now a Burger King), and the Elmwood (now sort of empty – or is it some kind of church?), the Cinemart (still going), and the Drake (now part of a restaurant). I probably went to the Meserole or for the short bus ride to the Arion for most movies that I saw groing up.
Bob D.
Wow, I have to check that theater out!
Apparently coversion to a roller rink was kind to the Meserole. Interstingly, the Oasis theater had a similar fate, although the Meserole seems to have had a better fortune in the end. The Oasis was converted to a concert venue, and then shartly after, a roller rink. I have made many comments on the Oasis on the Oasis page. (also note that a former worker said that all they did was fill in the sloped floor of the auditorium with sand when they converted the Oasis to a roller rink, and part of the seating area still existed under the floor in hidden rooms! See here:
/theaters/4624/
Anyway, in the end, the Oasis burned, and is now a drug store, CVS, just like the meserole, however no ornamentation still exists visable. Most of the Oasis was torn down (lobby, etc), however since the main auditorium is what is left, and houses the CVS, it is possible that maybe the ceiling may exist above the drop ceiling there.
I will definitely stop by the Meserole. Finally, a theater that is readily available for viewing as a store, where the theater has been preserved a bit (unlike the Madison Theater in Ridgewood, and the Oasis, both of which are stores, but have no hint of their theater days – although you can see the balcony outline at the Madison is visable).
Bob D. :
Thanks for posting your comment. Interesting that the Meserole’s big screen is now being used to show Eckerd’s promo pictures, and that it is still recognizable as a theater on the inside.
Are you, by any chance, Bob Dunas, of Leonard Street, Greenpoint, Saint Francis Prep class of 1973 ? If so, please see my April 14, 2004 comment, two comments above yours.
See also the Ridgewood Theater page on this site : there’s an SFP mini-reunion going on there !
Peter K. – Dobbs Ferry, NY
Formerly of Ridgewood, Queens, NY
I remember going to the Meserole in the mid-1970’s to see the Disney summer matinee double features. This included such “notable” fims as “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” (starring Kurt Russell) and “The Apple Dumpling Gang” (starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway in roles they would both probably rather forget). The Meserole was always a good neighborhood theater.
As was mentioned, it has gone through a couple of changes, first as the roller disco, then as the Liquidators (which was really sad to see) and now as an Eckerd’s (which bought out all of the Genovese stores a couple of years ago). One thing that I must say is that it is still obviously a former theater on the inside. Not only is the outline of the big screen still there (behind the cosmetics counter), they are actually now showing Eckerd’s promo pictures on it. The ceiling is recognizable (and also includes the mirrored ball from the roller rink days). Anyone familiar with the layout of the Meserole can still picture themselves walking along a wall of posters of coming attractions as they go to the checkout counters or maybe even catch themselves asking the pharmacist for popcorn and a coke. :)
Bob D. – Greenpoint/Williamsburg
Add The Meserole to the long and growing list of theatres UA ran into the ground and then closed. This would have made a great quad, there are no theatres near it.
I saw “2001 : A Space Odyssey” at the Meserole on a high school sophomore class trip in mid-November 1970. At first I asked not to go, because I had already “seen” it at the Ridgewood earlier that month. I write “seen” because I walked in late and so had missed the main title and “Dawn Of Man” sequences. I first saw the complete film at the Meserole. I would have not been fully educated, had I not seen this film in its entirety, had it explained to me, and learned of the music and philosophy behind it. Seeing the film there was a major milestone in my education.
On a totally different note, the second and last film I saw there was “Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones” in June 1975. “In quad” had been carefully covered over on the outer lobby poster. The theater seemed to have deteriorated since November 1970. Or perhaps it was the film, the audience, and the pot smoke hanging in the air.
In the early 1980’s this place became a skating rink called Laces. My father was hanging out here in 1983, when someone got stabbed.I think they closed soon after that incident. Then the next thing that opened here was Liquidators Arena in 1984 (think of a mega 99 cent store). I did actually manage to get up to the upper levels, which were the balcony seating for the old Meserole Theatre. I remember the seats were maroon. Then in about 1990, Genovese opened up and has been there ever since.
Hi Warren,The theatre is near Meserole Avenue. Meserole Street is located in Williamsburg.Alot of people don’t realize that there is both a street and avenue.