Allendale Theatre
203 Allen Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14201
203 Allen Street,
Buffalo,
NY
14201
5 people
favorited this theater
A beautifully restored gem in Buffalo’s Allentown District, built in 1913 with 900 seats. It reopened in 2000 after a long restoration. Now home to the Theatre of Youth Company.
Contributed by
Peter Davis
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Recent comments (view all 32 comments)
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The link above shows an interior view of the theatre.
After looking at a picture of the Lowes Tek in its Cinerama days it looks like to me that it must have been a horrible place to see 3-strip cinerama. The Aud looks too narrow up front and to spread ot at the rear. At least in Boston, Providence, San Diego and Washington(Uptown) these theatres had both width and length. Maybe I’m wrong but like I say I have never been there and am only guessing from a picture.
I’m not sure why you made the comment on this theater’s page, dickneeds, but perhaps you might like to see this interior picture of Loew’s Teck showing the Cinerama screen. It’s not the widest one I have ever seen and I doubt that patrons at the extreme left and right sides got the full effect, but I would think that center section folks were probably suitably impressed.
LouB: The interior view link doesn’t seem to work. Hope to see this theatre, in person, soon!
And does this theatre now have an organ? Former CT member, Lost Memory tells us it had a Beman organ.
There are some before and after renovation pictures on the theater’s official website.
CSWalczak: Thanks!
Going to see the musical Charlotte’s Web on June 2. Can’t wait to see this restored theatre in the heart of the Allentown area of Buffalo.
1978 photo added via D Raphael Failla.
In his memoir “Dear America – The Odyssey of an American Communist Youth,” (1979), author Thomas Sgovio reflected on his early years in Buffalo. Here he speaks of going to the movies in the city: “On many a Sunday afternoon after a hearty spaghetti or ravioli dinner, our family walked to the Marlowe or the Allendale. For a dime we reveled as we watched two full length silent movies, a couple of thrilling serials, two comedies and a Pathe newsreel. The movie house was always crowded during those Sunday matinees. Half the kids read the titles on the screen aloud, making it possible for those parents who could not read English to follow the gist of the movie. In the pit below the screen,the feeble glow of an electric light silhouetted the head and shoulders of the piano player. He kept on pounding the musical accompaniment despite the din which at times surely should have torn the ceiling off the theatre, especially during the exciting parts.”