Ed, it’s funny you mentioned the Rivoli in connection to “Dawn of the Dead”. The first time I saw “Dawn” was at the Lynbrook, and the second time was a few weeks later at the Rivoli!
Now, Tinseltoes, I have a question for you…I know I saw “Dawn” there before the Rivoli was cut into twins, but my memory is that “Dawn of the Dead” was the last movie shown there before the conversion. Do you (or anybody else) know if that’s true?
Oh, and by the way, a related story…Does anyone remember the store “Movie Things”, which was (I think) also in Uniondale? It was at this memorabilia shop that I first heard about the Mini Cinema, by picking up a copy of “Sam”, their newspaper-like schedule. Man, I still have just about everything I ever bought in that place, including an old theater seat from some defunct movie palace. The fellow at the store who sold it to me did not know what theater it came from. Can anybody answer THAT question??
WOW…I wondered if the Mini Cinema would be on this website, and it sure as hell is! I was only there twice, in my very early high school days. As you can imagine from reading some of these posts, it really wasn’t a kid-friendly place to go. Since I lived too far away (in Elmont) to get to the Mini on my own, my attendance there depended on the adults in my family.
The first time we ever went there was to see “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” and “It Came from Outer Space” in glorious old-fashioned red-and-green-glasses 3D! The only other time I was there was another sci-fi double bill, “Invaders From Mars” and “The Thing From Another World”! Oh, MEMORIES!!
Yep…unremarkable. But what I do remember about it was that the very few pictures I saw there were ones that did NOT appear at any of the other theaters in my town and/or surrounding areas, hence my going to such a small, plain movie house to begin with. Those films include “Godzilla vs. Megalon” and Cornell Wilde’s “Shark’s Treasure”.
Robbie, thank you so much for your long and detailed description of the Argo’s interior! You brought back so many memories!!
Among the films I’ve seen there…“Godzilla’s Revenge”/“War of the Gargantuas” (double bill); “The Neptune Factor”; Disney’s “Pinocchio”; “Friday the 13th 3D”; and most likely many more that I can’t quite recall right now.
The only movie I saw at the Lynbrook before it was first chopped up was “Le Mans”. Even in my memory today, I don’t recall seeing anything else so big that it overshadows all my other pre-multiplex days of the Lynbrook! (I saw dozens since it went to a twin, then a quad, but have never been back there since.)
Although I grew up not far from Valley Stream, we didn’t do the drive-in much…but how I remember the few times we did!
“King Kong” (the 1976 version); a double bill of “Grizzly” and “Day of the Animals”, and best of all, a double-bill of “Star Wars” (the 1977 original, which was still in its original release at this time) and the 1953 version of “War of the Worlds”! I never did find out how they came up with that combo, but who cares! Seeing the Martian War Machines on that big, big screen was awesome!
(And, yes, I do have plenty of fond memories of the Tuesday and Thursday flea markets, too!)
Ed, it’s funny you mentioned the Rivoli in connection to “Dawn of the Dead”. The first time I saw “Dawn” was at the Lynbrook, and the second time was a few weeks later at the Rivoli!
Now, Tinseltoes, I have a question for you…I know I saw “Dawn” there before the Rivoli was cut into twins, but my memory is that “Dawn of the Dead” was the last movie shown there before the conversion. Do you (or anybody else) know if that’s true?
YES! That is most certainly the auditorium I saw “Dawn of the Dead” in as well! And they sure look like the same old seats to me as well!
Oh, and by the way, a related story…Does anyone remember the store “Movie Things”, which was (I think) also in Uniondale? It was at this memorabilia shop that I first heard about the Mini Cinema, by picking up a copy of “Sam”, their newspaper-like schedule. Man, I still have just about everything I ever bought in that place, including an old theater seat from some defunct movie palace. The fellow at the store who sold it to me did not know what theater it came from. Can anybody answer THAT question??
WOW…I wondered if the Mini Cinema would be on this website, and it sure as hell is! I was only there twice, in my very early high school days. As you can imagine from reading some of these posts, it really wasn’t a kid-friendly place to go. Since I lived too far away (in Elmont) to get to the Mini on my own, my attendance there depended on the adults in my family.
The first time we ever went there was to see “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” and “It Came from Outer Space” in glorious old-fashioned red-and-green-glasses 3D! The only other time I was there was another sci-fi double bill, “Invaders From Mars” and “The Thing From Another World”! Oh, MEMORIES!!
Yep…unremarkable. But what I do remember about it was that the very few pictures I saw there were ones that did NOT appear at any of the other theaters in my town and/or surrounding areas, hence my going to such a small, plain movie house to begin with. Those films include “Godzilla vs. Megalon” and Cornell Wilde’s “Shark’s Treasure”.
Robbie, thank you so much for your long and detailed description of the Argo’s interior! You brought back so many memories!!
Among the films I’ve seen there…“Godzilla’s Revenge”/“War of the Gargantuas” (double bill); “The Neptune Factor”; Disney’s “Pinocchio”; “Friday the 13th 3D”; and most likely many more that I can’t quite recall right now.
The only movie I saw at the Lynbrook before it was first chopped up was “Le Mans”. Even in my memory today, I don’t recall seeing anything else so big that it overshadows all my other pre-multiplex days of the Lynbrook! (I saw dozens since it went to a twin, then a quad, but have never been back there since.)
Although I grew up not far from Valley Stream, we didn’t do the drive-in much…but how I remember the few times we did!
“King Kong” (the 1976 version); a double bill of “Grizzly” and “Day of the Animals”, and best of all, a double-bill of “Star Wars” (the 1977 original, which was still in its original release at this time) and the 1953 version of “War of the Worlds”! I never did find out how they came up with that combo, but who cares! Seeing the Martian War Machines on that big, big screen was awesome!
(And, yes, I do have plenty of fond memories of the Tuesday and Thursday flea markets, too!)