I have a 1980 photo of the Casino, will someone give me an email address to send it to you/them, maybe they will have a better chance of emailing the photo to Cinema Treasures since I am unable for some reason. Thanx.
Dear Peter, I talked to my brother yesterday and he has told me the Casino is being used by the Board of Ed and has been whitewashed just like the old “Bargain Town”, which is a Co-op now, e.g. apartments. I have an old photo, very bad quality, since it was a 110 film. It’s a photo of the Casino, in 1980. I took it from the next street over from DeKalb, which was Dodworth St. From that side, in the photo, you can legibly read “CASINO THEATRE”, below that “continuous”. Then below in caps, “VAUDEVILLE”. But faintly over Vaudeville, you can make out the letters “MUSICAL REVUES”. The next street from Dodworth is Lawton St, whose corner is occupied by the Bargain Town bldg. How I wish I would have had a digital camera in those days! One more thing, I remember when Bud Abbott of “Abbott & Costello” fame passed away, I think in 1975. Anyway, I read in his obituary that as a teenager, he worked as a cashier at the Casino Theatre in Brooklyn. I always thought it was the Dekalb, but I think it was the old Casino in downtown.
Wow! I never could imagine how my starting information on The Casino would bring out all you great people who have brought back memories of my old neighborhood! Well, Peter and Bwdy, first, the striped building with the arched windows is indeed Bargain Town later known as Buy Rite. Notice off to the distance, that’s the Myrtle Avenue El station. Also judging from this photo, it was certainly taken about 1965/66. I know because that’s exactly how it was painted at the time. Also, notice that to the left of the station area on the old photo you don’t see that “three identical rusty brown colored building” that is visible on the more recent photo of the area, where the old Bargain Town/Buy Rite building is now light grey. The “rusty steel buiding” was the huge hospital which began to be built around 1967/68. I remember because that building took years to finish, We left the area around 1971 and I remember it still hadn’t been fully completed. No, the building to the right of the train is not the Casino. Just a block before that building, on Dekalb, was the Casino. I talked to my brother on the phone about a month ago in Brooklyn. From what I understood the Casino was being used by the Board of Ed, just like the Bushwick now. I wish I was there to show you. I think the Casino’s ads may have been whitewashed already I don’t know. If you walk up Dekalb, on the left side of the street, walking towards Bushwick, the high building to your left, or what’s left of it, just before you get to Bushwick, is the Casino.
Bargain Town was a few blocks away on Broadway, in the late 60’s, it was renamed Buy Rite. On the corner of Broadway and Dekalb was my father’s candystore (1965-67. On the same side of the street, up the block, on the corner of Bushwick, was the Casino, and the entrance was on Dekalb.
The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible “continuous VAUDEVILLE” obviously “Latest in Screen…” was painted over the vaudeville sign when vaudeville was being phased out. The El station here was “Kosciusko St” where I was born in 1958. About three stations down from Kosciusko was “Gates Ave” and right in front was the RKO Bushwick.
The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible “continuous VAUDEVILLE”.
I have a 1980 photo of the Casino, will someone give me an email address to send it to you/them, maybe they will have a better chance of emailing the photo to Cinema Treasures since I am unable for some reason. Thanx.
Dear Peter, I talked to my brother yesterday and he has told me the Casino is being used by the Board of Ed and has been whitewashed just like the old “Bargain Town”, which is a Co-op now, e.g. apartments. I have an old photo, very bad quality, since it was a 110 film. It’s a photo of the Casino, in 1980. I took it from the next street over from DeKalb, which was Dodworth St. From that side, in the photo, you can legibly read “CASINO THEATRE”, below that “continuous”. Then below in caps, “VAUDEVILLE”. But faintly over Vaudeville, you can make out the letters “MUSICAL REVUES”. The next street from Dodworth is Lawton St, whose corner is occupied by the Bargain Town bldg. How I wish I would have had a digital camera in those days! One more thing, I remember when Bud Abbott of “Abbott & Costello” fame passed away, I think in 1975. Anyway, I read in his obituary that as a teenager, he worked as a cashier at the Casino Theatre in Brooklyn. I always thought it was the Dekalb, but I think it was the old Casino in downtown.
Wow! I never could imagine how my starting information on The Casino would bring out all you great people who have brought back memories of my old neighborhood! Well, Peter and Bwdy, first, the striped building with the arched windows is indeed Bargain Town later known as Buy Rite. Notice off to the distance, that’s the Myrtle Avenue El station. Also judging from this photo, it was certainly taken about 1965/66. I know because that’s exactly how it was painted at the time. Also, notice that to the left of the station area on the old photo you don’t see that “three identical rusty brown colored building” that is visible on the more recent photo of the area, where the old Bargain Town/Buy Rite building is now light grey. The “rusty steel buiding” was the huge hospital which began to be built around 1967/68. I remember because that building took years to finish, We left the area around 1971 and I remember it still hadn’t been fully completed. No, the building to the right of the train is not the Casino. Just a block before that building, on Dekalb, was the Casino. I talked to my brother on the phone about a month ago in Brooklyn. From what I understood the Casino was being used by the Board of Ed, just like the Bushwick now. I wish I was there to show you. I think the Casino’s ads may have been whitewashed already I don’t know. If you walk up Dekalb, on the left side of the street, walking towards Bushwick, the high building to your left, or what’s left of it, just before you get to Bushwick, is the Casino.
Bargain Town was a few blocks away on Broadway, in the late 60’s, it was renamed Buy Rite. On the corner of Broadway and Dekalb was my father’s candystore (1965-67. On the same side of the street, up the block, on the corner of Bushwick, was the Casino, and the entrance was on Dekalb.
The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible “continuous VAUDEVILLE” obviously “Latest in Screen…” was painted over the vaudeville sign when vaudeville was being phased out. The El station here was “Kosciusko St” where I was born in 1958. About three stations down from Kosciusko was “Gates Ave” and right in front was the RKO Bushwick.
The Casino Theatre was also known as the Dekalb, opened in 1911 and closed in 1947. Address was 1151-1155 Dekalb ave. Seating capacity was 2,242. As a 10 year old in 1968, I, and some neighborhood kids broke in to the theatre and it was still intact. By 1980, when I visited again, it was being demolished from the inside for use as a warehouse. The fading sign high on its wall read CASINO THEATER Latest in Screen Attractions. Under the words Latest in Screen Attractions was faintly legible “continuous VAUDEVILLE”.