Oceana Theater
1029 Brighton Beach Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11235
1029 Brighton Beach Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11235
9 people
favorited this theater
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Oceana Theater (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Century Theaters, Rugoff & Becker
Functions: Concerts, Playhouse, Supermarket
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Oceana Theatre, Atlantic Oceana Theatre, Millennium Theatre, Master Theater
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
646.200.1555
Manager:
646.200.1555
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Feb 11, 2010 — Oceana admission tickets
The 2,184-seat Oceana Theatre was opened on January 25, 1934 with Joan Crawford in “Dancing Lady”. It was operated by an independent exhibitor. By 1943 it was operated by Rugoff & Becker. In the 1950’s, it was taken over by the Century Theaters chain.
The Oceana Theatre was later divided into a 4-screen multiplex. What was interesting though is that the owners were so concerned about people going from picture to picture, that they made a “rats maze” in where you had to go through different doors to access each individual auditorium.
The candy counter upstairs and down was divided in half and each theatre even had its own rest rooms! However, this shrunk the lobby into a very small size.
Later, they took the backstage area, and added theatres 5 and 6 to the building giving a total seating capacity of 1,972-seats. The backstage area used to have vaudeville-era clothes in boxes and other great old items plus the original stage was hidden behind the screens on the 1st floor.
Also, originally in multiplexes, all screens had to share a common projection booth due to union rules. At the Oceana Theatre the booth was in the back of the two downstairs theatres and the upstairs booth was accessed through a ladder which would go to the booth which was in the middle of the theatre upstairs.
They eventually got rid of the booth structure and moved the projection booth to the rear of the upper theatres after union rules were relaxed.
Known later on as the Atlantic Oceana, the theatre operated as a venue for Russian live dinner theatre, known as the Millennium Theatre. This closed in 2014, and in the summer of 2014, it was being converted into a Russian supermarket. It was reopened in 2016 as the 1,326-seat Master Theater. It had closed by 2019. In 2022 it reopened under its original Oceana Theater name as a live performance space.
Contributed by
Mike Abrams, William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 36 comments)
Yesterday after a job interview, I had a slice of pizza at Lenny’s. The original “double-slice” pizzeria from Saturday night fever. In perusing the SNF theatrical artifacts, I came upon an invitation for the December 16,1977 movie premiere and after party at 2001 odyssey (original disco from the film)
I agree that this listing should be changed to closed. It appears to be currently available for rent: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1027-1035-Brighton-Beach-Ave-Brooklyn-NY/20301550/
The seating capacity of the Oceana Sixplex when it closed based on the Dept of Buildings records 1. 431 2. 449 3. 367 Upstairs 4. 367 Upstairs 5. 222 6. 137
Please change name back to Oceana Theater! I stopped by today to look inside (mainly a NetCost Supermarket) with lots of interior design of the theater still there (moldings). There is still one theater upstairs, which they are now calling it the Oceana Theater!! Otherwise, all signage of Master Theater is gone!
The theater website is live at: https://oceanatheater.com
Per it’s NEW website:
Oceana Theater is an ideal venue for concerts, theatrical performances, comedy shows, as well as corporate events, conferences, political meetings, and so on.
Oceana Theater was opened in 1934. Known later on as the Atlantic Oceana, the Millennium Theater and the Master Theater, in 2022 the theater returned to its historical name.
Now is a modern, excellently equipped 1326-seat venue located in the heart of South Brooklyn’s immensely popular Brighton Beach Area, by the beautiful ocean beaches, near convenient transportation means (subway, easy driving access).
“Oceana Theater” is a household brand name among the fun-loving and diverse crowd of Brooklyn residents. World-famous artists of a great variety, beloved ballet and drama troupes, as well as an endless list of dazzling pop performers from various countries of the world, have honored the stage with their talent and fame. The theater is outfitted with cutting-edge sound and lighting equipment. It includes an extremely powerful, high-quality surround sound system carefully adjusted to the dimensions of the theater, capable of infinite adjustments to all various kinds of artist line-ups. A multi-dimension, computerized stage lighting system provides dazzling light support to any kind of performance, from classical ballet to pop and rock concerts. The theater is equipped with LED screen that add to the beauty and excitement of any performance. The theater’s professional team of sound, lighting and video engineers competently use wonders of modern technology to greatly enhance the excitement of any performance.
Bring beauty and excitement into your life and business with Oceana Theater, one of New York’s best multi-profile venues.
Please note, that we do not have an elevator or wheelchair ramp. The Oceana Theater is located on the 2nd floor of the building that is unfortunately not ADA-compliant (it was built in the early 1900s and falls under a “grandfather clause”), so the Oceana Theater does not offer disability services such as wheelchair accessibility. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Seating Capacity as a movie theatre from Dept of NY occupancy records
Theatre 1 431
Theatre 2 449
Theatre 3 and 4 367
Theatre 5 222
Theatre 6 137
At the moment, it’s been converted to a single 1326-seat live performance space - https://oceanatheater.com/about-us/
Jake couldn’t access via your post. Is the address correct?
It is now 50 years that I joined the Oceana Theatre in Brighton Beach and today the large apartments built opposite the building block the splendid ocean views afforded any one walking on the the theatre side of Brighton Beach Avenue. The manager at the time was Carl Johnson and his relief manager Anthony DeCroce (I hope it’s spelled right) who always liked his coffee with half and half and was moved here from the Rugby Theatre (Utica and Church Aves) after it was transferred to Golden Theatres (where I was the marquee changer for $10.00 per week for a Tuesday night attraction change). I came here from a 6 month job as manager of the Beverly Theatre which Golden took over from United Artists after a dispute I had with one of the Golden partners. Carl Johnson also had worked for Golden (at the Graham Theatre in Gerritsen Beach and also left after a dispute and how his wife tussled with the Golden partner rolling down the aisle of the theatre. so the story goes as he told me. My first double feature was “Funny Lady” (Back By Popular Demand) and the co-feature “Jenny” with Marlo Thomas for the umpteenth time. While there we had the first run, four week engagement of “Hester Street” with Carol Kane (who was also in “Dog Day Afternoon ” the same year 1975). …..to be continued….