Comments about Beacon Theatre in Beacon, NY

Joe Vogel on June 4, 2026 at 4:46 pm

There is a Wikipedia article about the Beacon Theatre, and though I don’t always trust Wikipedia, this piece appears to be well documented and accurate. It says that though it wasn’t opened until 1934, the theater was actually built in 1928. This gibes nicely with an item from the “Construction News” column of Exhibitors Trade Review for June 1, 1927: “BEACON, N. Y.-Architect, Oscar Goldschlag, 1482 Broadway, New York City, chosen for theatre at Main St. Owner, Noceab Amusement Co., 1660 Broadway, New York City.” A corroborating notice appeared in that day’s issue of Variety.

The Beacon closed as a theater in 1968, and was vacant until the 1990s, when it was used as storage by a roofing contractor and then as a meeting place for a church group who demolished the balcony and reseated the auditorium. In the first decade of the 21st century, interest in reviving the house grow, with various plans for creating a performing arts space or a multiplex movie house falling through one after the other. Finally, in 2015 a new owner carried out the conversion of much of the building to residential use, with a small performing arts theater on the second floor. This has since been converted to a three-screen cinema.

Google street views of both the front and the back of the building show the exterior walls mostly intact. Even the auditorium side walls, though mostly replaced with windows, show sections of original brick. I suspect that the roof is of modern construction, but so much of the original building obviously remains that it could be considered a near survivor. However, I’d say that the fact that the original auditorium space is effectively unrecoverable makes it correct under Cinema Treasures' usual standards to list the Beacon as demolished.

ridethectrain on April 30, 2026 at 11:46 pm

Please update, total seats 147

Seating Capacity:

Theatre 1 77 seats

Theatre 2 23 seats

Theatre 3 47 seats

ridethectrain on February 24, 2023 at 7:21 pm

Please rename The Beacon Theatre, Stroy Screen sold the theatre under new management and the new website is https://www.beaconmovietheater.com/

Matt Lambros on December 18, 2019 at 6:51 am

Demolished or gutted, either way nothing remains of the original theater.

davidcoppock on December 18, 2019 at 6:44 am

Opened with “Operator 13”.

mhvbear on December 18, 2019 at 6:37 am

There are 3 screens seating 77/23/30. Here is an article about the theater, part of it has been re-purposed as condos. The theater building itself was not demolished.

https://www.alittlebeaconblog.com/blog/beacons-movie-theater-opens-now-playing

Matt Lambros on December 18, 2019 at 5:03 am

Not really. This theater was demolished and replaced with condos. That new building has a small theater in it that is named after this one.