Buddy’s Bicycle Shop has recently closed. The owner decided to retire (no pun intended). Its a shame; that store was a big part of my childhood summers and was one of the few businesses that was open when the Parsons Theatre was in operation.
The two-block area between 78th Road and Union Turnpike on Parsons has not changed much at all since the theater closed. Buddy’s is still there, the ancient Stuart Electronics store is still there, as is the store that sells pet fish, the John F. Kennedy political club, the pet hospital and the drug rehab center. The Italian restaurant is still there too, althougn under different ownership and with a new name. The old restaurant, Cinque Terre, was owned by my former next door neighbors on 78th Road, the Cozzanis. They still live on 78th Road.
The row of stores on the west side of Parsons between 79th Avenue and Union Turnpike is virtually unchanged for decades.
That theater is very profitable now. A lot of families live in Kew Gardens Hills and there are no video stores in the area anymore. Whenever I’m in KGH, the theater is usually pretty busy. I haven’t seen a movie there (or anywhere else for that matter, since I have three little kids) for many years.
It doesn’t, believe me. In fact, the theater has become a little run down, because of the crowded conditions and the vast amount of foot traffic in and out of the theater. I imagine its a cash cow, though!
The theater is located in Kew Gardens Hills, where I grew up. Its a landmark in the community, although it is not an official City landmark. Its famous for always having shown family-friendly fare. The theater used to have something called the Disney Film Festival every summer in the 1970’s, during which Disney films would be shown. I saw a lot of Disney films there, including Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Gus and Follow Me Boys. I distinctly remember watching movies from the balcony during the ‘70s.
The theater remained a single screen facility until sometime during the 1980’s, when competition from the widespread availability of VCR’s and video stores became serious. It was then twinned and then quaded. The theater was closed and fell into a state of disrepair in the early ‘90s and everyone thought that it would be converted into a social hall of sorts for the community, which by that time had been heavily Orthodox Jewish (which it still is). However, the theater was sold, renovated and reopened as a six plex. The upstairs theaters used to be the balcony when the theater was a single, so the screens and seating areas are quite small, almost like a private viewing room.
Today, the Main Street theater is thriving. My mom still lives in the area and whenever I visit her, I drive past the theater. They are showing first run movies and the theater is also apparently available for private screenings for birthday parties. Whenever a hit movie opens there, there are lines down the block. The Main Street should be around for quite some time to come.
I saw “When a Man Loves a Woman” at this theater with my girlfriend (now my wife) in 1994. The movie had been out for quite some time by then so we were the only ones in the theater. They were nice enough to show the movie for just us two rather than throw us out and refund our money.
My parents moved to the Bronx from Brooklyn in 1960 and settled on Harrison Avenue between Burnside and West Tremont Ave’s, only a few blocks from the Paradise. I was born in ‘65 and we moved to Queens in '70 so I never got the chance to see a movie there. My mother did, though, and she talks about that theater to this day.
I remember this theater. I saw a bad Charles Bronson movie called “Ten to Midnight” there in 1983. I think the marquee still exists and the theater is now a furniture store.
My family moved to 78th Road between 150th and 153rd Streets in Kew Gardens Hills in January of 1970, when I was five years old. Our house (my mother still lives there) was only a block and a half from the Parsons theater, and I saw many, many movies there. When The Ten Commandments was re-released for a short time in 1973 (I think), I saw it there. The last movie I saw there was Back to the Future in 1985.
I also remember when the theater was closed and then demolished to make way for the current townhouses. The townhouses opened in about 1990, just at the beginning of the recession of the early ‘90s, so the developer had a lot of trouble filling the units. To this day, I don’t think its at full capacity. Interestingly, the block south of the former theater site has not really changed at all – Buddy’s Bicycle Shop has been there for 51 years.
Buddy’s Bicycle Shop has recently closed. The owner decided to retire (no pun intended). Its a shame; that store was a big part of my childhood summers and was one of the few businesses that was open when the Parsons Theatre was in operation.
The two-block area between 78th Road and Union Turnpike on Parsons has not changed much at all since the theater closed. Buddy’s is still there, the ancient Stuart Electronics store is still there, as is the store that sells pet fish, the John F. Kennedy political club, the pet hospital and the drug rehab center. The Italian restaurant is still there too, althougn under different ownership and with a new name. The old restaurant, Cinque Terre, was owned by my former next door neighbors on 78th Road, the Cozzanis. They still live on 78th Road.
The row of stores on the west side of Parsons between 79th Avenue and Union Turnpike is virtually unchanged for decades.
That theater is very profitable now. A lot of families live in Kew Gardens Hills and there are no video stores in the area anymore. Whenever I’m in KGH, the theater is usually pretty busy. I haven’t seen a movie there (or anywhere else for that matter, since I have three little kids) for many years.
I thought the theater was north of Roosevelt Avenue. Your location of the theater opposite the library branch suggests that it was south of Roosevelt.
It doesn’t, believe me. In fact, the theater has become a little run down, because of the crowded conditions and the vast amount of foot traffic in and out of the theater. I imagine its a cash cow, though!
The theater is located in Kew Gardens Hills, where I grew up. Its a landmark in the community, although it is not an official City landmark. Its famous for always having shown family-friendly fare. The theater used to have something called the Disney Film Festival every summer in the 1970’s, during which Disney films would be shown. I saw a lot of Disney films there, including Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, Gus and Follow Me Boys. I distinctly remember watching movies from the balcony during the ‘70s.
The theater remained a single screen facility until sometime during the 1980’s, when competition from the widespread availability of VCR’s and video stores became serious. It was then twinned and then quaded. The theater was closed and fell into a state of disrepair in the early ‘90s and everyone thought that it would be converted into a social hall of sorts for the community, which by that time had been heavily Orthodox Jewish (which it still is). However, the theater was sold, renovated and reopened as a six plex. The upstairs theaters used to be the balcony when the theater was a single, so the screens and seating areas are quite small, almost like a private viewing room.
Today, the Main Street theater is thriving. My mom still lives in the area and whenever I visit her, I drive past the theater. They are showing first run movies and the theater is also apparently available for private screenings for birthday parties. Whenever a hit movie opens there, there are lines down the block. The Main Street should be around for quite some time to come.
I saw “When a Man Loves a Woman” at this theater with my girlfriend (now my wife) in 1994. The movie had been out for quite some time by then so we were the only ones in the theater. They were nice enough to show the movie for just us two rather than throw us out and refund our money.
My parents moved to the Bronx from Brooklyn in 1960 and settled on Harrison Avenue between Burnside and West Tremont Ave’s, only a few blocks from the Paradise. I was born in ‘65 and we moved to Queens in '70 so I never got the chance to see a movie there. My mother did, though, and she talks about that theater to this day.
I remember this theater. I saw a bad Charles Bronson movie called “Ten to Midnight” there in 1983. I think the marquee still exists and the theater is now a furniture store.
My family moved to 78th Road between 150th and 153rd Streets in Kew Gardens Hills in January of 1970, when I was five years old. Our house (my mother still lives there) was only a block and a half from the Parsons theater, and I saw many, many movies there. When The Ten Commandments was re-released for a short time in 1973 (I think), I saw it there. The last movie I saw there was Back to the Future in 1985.
I also remember when the theater was closed and then demolished to make way for the current townhouses. The townhouses opened in about 1990, just at the beginning of the recession of the early ‘90s, so the developer had a lot of trouble filling the units. To this day, I don’t think its at full capacity. Interestingly, the block south of the former theater site has not really changed at all – Buddy’s Bicycle Shop has been there for 51 years.