I live two blocks away from the old Kimball. We watched it burn that night in 2004, and although I never went to it during it’s heyday as a movie theater, It still broke my heart to see what happened. I used to go into the used furniture store and try to imagine what it looked like in its original life.
In any event, it still stands burnt and empty. The owner of the furniture store relocated his business to across from the Mt. Vernon West train station. He told us a couple of years ago that a contractor was buying it from him with the intention of building an apartment complex there. Thus far, nothing doing. As someone mentioned above, this is pretty typical of what happens in Yonkers.
I hate, hate, seeing that abandoned place with the marquis still out front. So sad…
Wow, this really brings back memories. I grew up (and my parents still live) just about ¼ mile north of the former Parkway Theater. I remember seeing a double feature of Grease and Saturday Night Fever (watered-down PG version) as a kid back in the seventies, as well as The Verdict (as pictured on the marquis in Lost Memory’s photo) in the early eighties. And guess what? I worked concessions there when I was in high school. There was a creepy manager, a pothead projectionist (you could get a contact high just sticking your head in the booth), a sketchy janitor (more than once I ended up having to clean the bathrooms), and us two girls working the concessions stand. I have such fond memories of sneaking friends in and sitting in back during Dangerous Liaisons and Mississippi Burning, among others (not Beaches, though—couldn’t stand it).
It was a truly beautiful theater and it breaks my heart whenever I pass where it used to be. The Bayou does not occupy the Parkway’s old space. It’s always been next door to the Parkway although the restaurant’s expansion a couple years ago may have pushed a bit into the old theater space. The theater abutted/overlooked the Cross County Parkway (hence the name. )I don’t think I’ll ever get over seeing a funeral home where that lovely movie house was (and IMHO should still be).
Just an update…
I live two blocks away from the old Kimball. We watched it burn that night in 2004, and although I never went to it during it’s heyday as a movie theater, It still broke my heart to see what happened. I used to go into the used furniture store and try to imagine what it looked like in its original life.
In any event, it still stands burnt and empty. The owner of the furniture store relocated his business to across from the Mt. Vernon West train station. He told us a couple of years ago that a contractor was buying it from him with the intention of building an apartment complex there. Thus far, nothing doing. As someone mentioned above, this is pretty typical of what happens in Yonkers.
I hate, hate, seeing that abandoned place with the marquis still out front. So sad…
Wow, this really brings back memories. I grew up (and my parents still live) just about ¼ mile north of the former Parkway Theater. I remember seeing a double feature of Grease and Saturday Night Fever (watered-down PG version) as a kid back in the seventies, as well as The Verdict (as pictured on the marquis in Lost Memory’s photo) in the early eighties. And guess what? I worked concessions there when I was in high school. There was a creepy manager, a pothead projectionist (you could get a contact high just sticking your head in the booth), a sketchy janitor (more than once I ended up having to clean the bathrooms), and us two girls working the concessions stand. I have such fond memories of sneaking friends in and sitting in back during Dangerous Liaisons and Mississippi Burning, among others (not Beaches, though—couldn’t stand it).
It was a truly beautiful theater and it breaks my heart whenever I pass where it used to be. The Bayou does not occupy the Parkway’s old space. It’s always been next door to the Parkway although the restaurant’s expansion a couple years ago may have pushed a bit into the old theater space. The theater abutted/overlooked the Cross County Parkway (hence the name. )I don’t think I’ll ever get over seeing a funeral home where that lovely movie house was (and IMHO should still be).