Elmwood Theatre
57-02 Hoffman Drive,
Elmhurst,
NY
11373
57-02 Hoffman Drive,
Elmhurst,
NY
11373
24 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 193 comments
Please update, total capacity 1244 Theatre 1 211 Theatre 2 483 Theatre 3 275 Theatre 4 275
when quad, both balcony and orchestra split Nothing was added property
Like the original Queensboro, the Elmwood had one auditorium until “twinned” top and bottom. Subsequently, two additional screens were added to the ground floor, on the side adjacent to a parking area that has been since redeveloped with apartment buildings.
The Elmwood Theatre Has 4 Screens, Not A Single One.
Theatre closed on February 28, 2002
This theater closed as a quad.
Re-opened as the Elmwood by the Interboro circuit in 1946, the theatre had a late-run policy until March, 1949, when bookings became day-and-date with the third tier of Loew’s in Queens (Woodside, Prospect, Plaza, Hillside, Willard). The Elmwood was still late-run in the 1948 ad displayed here
When I was a kid this theatre frequently showed Hammer double bills. We got to know Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing here.
As a youngster in the 50s I remember seeing the Duncan Yo Yo man coming to the Elmwood for a Saturday matinee every summer. The Folks would take us to the movies on hot summer evenings just for the Air Conditioning. Saw Davey Crocket, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and Bambi there to name a few. As a teenager there was The Hustler, Compulsion and many more. And don’t forget the chic-flicks like April Love and West Side Story so we could hang with the girls. I remember getting to the theater too late for admittance (5PM?) with a buddy after we finished our LI Star Journal paper routes. We were only 12, so we had to get an adult to take us in. The movie was Curse Of Frankenstein. In later years I worked across the Blvd. at both the little Gulf station on the triangle and at the Food Parade Supermarket.
The $400,000 John W. Schladitz architected Queensboro was a very modest $400,000 theatre seating 2,012 at opening – 1,365 downstairs, 56 in the loge with the rest in the balcony. Schlalditz was said to have been trying to recreate a Spanish medieval castle with Italian influences popular in atmospheric theaters of the day. But murals throughout were Spanish landscapes and of the area. Silver ceiling had twinkling star effect. The Link 3-unit organ was installed for maximum versatility and demonstrated at opening in 1928. Scenic Studio and Novelty Scenic Studio both did great jobs in getting the stage and the rest of the house’s furnishing staged appropriately for impact at opening.
The New York Transit Museum has a photo from 1930 that features the Queensboro Theater’s sign in the upper right.
Great link! Note it wasn’t simply called the Queensboro Theatre — it was the Queensboro Theatre Beautiful.
A picture of the Queensboro Theatre’s auditorium illustrates and ad for Link theatre organs on this page of Motion Picture News of December 29, 1928. (Enlarge the picture by clicking on the + sign in the bar at lower right of the page.)
This might have been posted before, but all the old links that might have been to it appear to be dead.
Mikeoaklandpark… the representative photo that winds up on the “overview” page is generally the most-viewed image from a given theater’s photo gallery. I’m not sure what logic is employed in the eventuality that more than 1 photo in a given gallery has been viewed by the same number of people, but the actual age or date of the picture has nothing to do with whether it shows up as at the top of this page.
That’s an old photo from after the theater was closed but before the Rock Church replaced the marquee and removed the rest of the exterior ornamentation.
Ok I am confused. Is the above photo a new photo or an old one. In looking throught the photos I saw on that showed the marquee totally gone and a new front for the Rock Church.
The UA Lefrak was also within walking distance.
And the grand prize was usually a cool bike. Sorry you didn’t win Fred, but it must have been fun to be on.
I ment iconic The snake cans game is therere a row of cans ,one with a bouquet of flow to denote the winne the rest have snake that pops up when the can is open. withethe flowers you win the grand prize
It looks like it was a twin at the time that photo was taken.
I remember that Wonderama The vIrconic children program on WNEW in the 70-80’s did a road show at this theater.I took part in the snake cans game which I lost.
The previous names are listed on the side.
Thanks Tinseltoes.
I second the well-phrased comments of Bway & Life’s Too Shaort. It was a shame how the Rock Church told the media the facade is being restored, and then went behind the public’s back and covered over and removed priceless ornate terra cotta detailing. The theater was “stuccotized.”
Correct. And no one is upset the church is in there….I think it’s great, and it’s great the building has great use. But that is irrelevant to a discussion on what they did to the exterior of a beautiful old historic building. The building now looks like any other nondescript, “cheap” looking modern building that has a crappy faux stucco exterior. It may as well been built in “2005” as it’s no different than any other crappy construction new building put up. It lost it’s historical beauty.