I remember going to the movies with my friends at the Trylon in the early 1980’s when I was in high school. What’s the latest on the preservation efforts? Was the interior of the Trylon still art deco-ish by the 1980’s or was it modernized by then? I don’t remember it being art deco at all, is why I ask. If it was modernized, is it just a matter of removing drop ceilings and revealing original ceiling, and removing old paint to reveal original paint, or was it completely destroyed inside when renovated, and nothing left intact?
This movie opened in the 1920’s. It was originally one-screen, had a beautiful curved ceiling and a rear balcony. I think the ceiling had a chandelier at some point. There was also a clock (Westclox?) hanging from the left or right side of the theater. I thought that was odd to put a clock there. The main entrance/vestibule also had a lovely, curved ceiling with a shell-like motif. Sometime in the 1990’s the movie theater was split in half into two screens – big mistake – really small screens. Then a few years later, another Einstein decided to add a second floor to the two rooms, as well as completely covering (or demolishing for all I know) the beautiful curved ceiling. I think the rear balcony was saved/just kept as part of the second floor. But the screens were made even smaller after that – almost like a television. Also the main vestibule’s beautiful ceiling was covered up. Now there are no traces of the theater’s architectural past. It’s a shame. My husband remembers seeing “A Hard Day’s Night” in this movie theater in 1964, as well as old Groucho Marx movies that were re-issued in the 1960’s.
No, PKoch, I am definitely not related to Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, but Sutphin Blvd is familiar to me, having grown up in the Richmond Hill/Jamaica border. I saw the martial arts movie at the Valencia when it was in full throttle decline, for sure. If it closed for good in 1977, then it must have been 1977 that I saw the movie at Valencia. I don’t remember the goldfish reflecting pool, but I do remember torn theater seats, a somewhat dangerous element in the audience, and the distinct smell of maryjane (no offense to anybody who’s into that stuff, but I’m not.) I only remember one line from the movie — some Australian martial arts character had just killed off another character by throwing a round, metal serrated disc at his head. And then he said in a thick Australian accent, “Thank God for Black & Decker.” For some reason my friends thought this was the most hilarious thing they’d ever heard and they said this sentence for weeks and weeks afterwards. The rest of the movie was forgettable but the experience stuck in my mind because I had never been inside such a gorgeous, “atmospheric” movie theater, and probably never will be again, unfortunately, now that we have these boxy multiplexes with screens smaller than a TV dinner. I really feel cheated that other than that one time, I didn’t experience a real movie palace, along with ice cream/soda fountain places, unless you consider Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in Queens, but that was already commercialized, not like the fanciful, castle-like ice cream parlors of old that used to exist (as described by my mother in law).
Is everybody sure this movie theater stopped showing movies in 1977? I distinctly remember seeing a cheap martial arts movie at this theater in either the late 70’s or very early 80’s. But maybe I have the wrong movie theater in Jamaica? The movie house was Spanish mission style (I guess) and had dark clouds that moved across the ceiling. The ceiling itself mimicked an early evening sky (at dusk). I remember that on either side of the screen as well as on the right and left hand side of the auditorium, you were surrounded by these faux Spanish stucco walls (like the walls of a Spanish missionary). Can anybody verify that this was the Valencia or was it another Spanish Mission styled theater in Jamaica?
I remember going to the movies with my friends at the Trylon in the early 1980’s when I was in high school. What’s the latest on the preservation efforts? Was the interior of the Trylon still art deco-ish by the 1980’s or was it modernized by then? I don’t remember it being art deco at all, is why I ask. If it was modernized, is it just a matter of removing drop ceilings and revealing original ceiling, and removing old paint to reveal original paint, or was it completely destroyed inside when renovated, and nothing left intact?
Correction to my previous posting: the one screen was split into two screens in the 1980’s.
This movie opened in the 1920’s. It was originally one-screen, had a beautiful curved ceiling and a rear balcony. I think the ceiling had a chandelier at some point. There was also a clock (Westclox?) hanging from the left or right side of the theater. I thought that was odd to put a clock there. The main entrance/vestibule also had a lovely, curved ceiling with a shell-like motif. Sometime in the 1990’s the movie theater was split in half into two screens – big mistake – really small screens. Then a few years later, another Einstein decided to add a second floor to the two rooms, as well as completely covering (or demolishing for all I know) the beautiful curved ceiling. I think the rear balcony was saved/just kept as part of the second floor. But the screens were made even smaller after that – almost like a television. Also the main vestibule’s beautiful ceiling was covered up. Now there are no traces of the theater’s architectural past. It’s a shame. My husband remembers seeing “A Hard Day’s Night” in this movie theater in 1964, as well as old Groucho Marx movies that were re-issued in the 1960’s.
No, PKoch, I am definitely not related to Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic, but Sutphin Blvd is familiar to me, having grown up in the Richmond Hill/Jamaica border. I saw the martial arts movie at the Valencia when it was in full throttle decline, for sure. If it closed for good in 1977, then it must have been 1977 that I saw the movie at Valencia. I don’t remember the goldfish reflecting pool, but I do remember torn theater seats, a somewhat dangerous element in the audience, and the distinct smell of maryjane (no offense to anybody who’s into that stuff, but I’m not.) I only remember one line from the movie — some Australian martial arts character had just killed off another character by throwing a round, metal serrated disc at his head. And then he said in a thick Australian accent, “Thank God for Black & Decker.” For some reason my friends thought this was the most hilarious thing they’d ever heard and they said this sentence for weeks and weeks afterwards. The rest of the movie was forgettable but the experience stuck in my mind because I had never been inside such a gorgeous, “atmospheric” movie theater, and probably never will be again, unfortunately, now that we have these boxy multiplexes with screens smaller than a TV dinner. I really feel cheated that other than that one time, I didn’t experience a real movie palace, along with ice cream/soda fountain places, unless you consider Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in Queens, but that was already commercialized, not like the fanciful, castle-like ice cream parlors of old that used to exist (as described by my mother in law).
Is everybody sure this movie theater stopped showing movies in 1977? I distinctly remember seeing a cheap martial arts movie at this theater in either the late 70’s or very early 80’s. But maybe I have the wrong movie theater in Jamaica? The movie house was Spanish mission style (I guess) and had dark clouds that moved across the ceiling. The ceiling itself mimicked an early evening sky (at dusk). I remember that on either side of the screen as well as on the right and left hand side of the auditorium, you were surrounded by these faux Spanish stucco walls (like the walls of a Spanish missionary). Can anybody verify that this was the Valencia or was it another Spanish Mission styled theater in Jamaica?