Loews Lefrak City Triplex
59-16 99th Street,
Corona,
NY
11368
59-16 99th Street,
Corona,
NY
11368
7 people
favorited this theater
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Please update, became a Triplex on December 16, 1983 and closed on June 18, 1987 and the official name was Loews lefrak City Triplex
Now this is a gorgeous 70MM screen. If one only existed still in the NYC area and it would have revivals of those films like they do on the west coast and in Europe.
As I understand it the premise of Cinema Treasures is that the main listing be under the last name of the theatre, in which case it would be Loew’s. All other IDs would be under prior names. However, we all know that isn’t always the case which can cause duplicates.
I’ve uploaded several photos and articles to clarify information about the theatre.
The lobby was located on 99th St, although there was a vehicle parking entrance on 57th Ave that led to a parking deck over the retail stores on 99th St. Movie theatre patrons could walk to a stair that led directly down to the theatre lobby.
The name needs to be corrected as this was only briefly a Loew’s. It was more properly known as the UA Theatre LeFrak City, part of the Skouras chain.
The “All Purpose” claim had to do with the D-150 All Purpose projection system and curved screen for 70/35mm prints.
http://www.in70mm.com/newsletter/1996/47/d_150/index.htm
After its 1980s resurrection as a chopped-up Loews, the theatre closed for good and the auditorium was leveled off and converted to retail. For at least two decades it was a mattress store. In 2014-2016 it was gutted and combined with the adjacent former Loehmann’s space to become a new 25,000 SF Great Wall asian supermarket. The entry canopy was preserved and reclad, and the delicate terra cotta facade restored.
I suppose they could have shown films made at Gold Medal Studios in the Bronx… ;)
More appropriate for a bag of flour.
Interesting! But who, among the general public, would have understood that claim?
I agree.
The World’s First All Purpose Motion Picture Theatre? Hmm… not sure what they meant by that. How about Radio City Music Hall? How about most other movie palaces with stages? Peculiar claim. Anyway, that claim was about as accurate as the artist’s rendering in that ad, which bears absolutely no resemblance to reality!
I found and uploaded the grand opening ad for the UA theatre on August 24th, 1965. It claimed to be “The World’s "All Purpose” Theatre".
JeffM55 is correct. The address now provided is the current address for the Warehouse Supercenter that occupies the old UA Lefrak building. They must have a main entrance around the corner on 57th Avenue. Looks like some new research will be required to dig up the old address for the theater entrance.
I don’t know what’s happened to this site since you redid it, but now the address on the Lefrak Theater is wrong. It was on 99th Street, not on 57th Ave. I changed the Street View, but can’t find any way to correct the address.
A lot of good stories and some of the pictures were great.
The Lefrak run was 42 weeks. The reason you are recalling “The Sound Of Music” playing longer than that is because, as I pointed out in my article that was mentioned a couple of comments ago, the film was in release for over four years, and perhaps it is the seemingly endless bookings somewhere that you are remembering.
To illustrate my point, listed below, based on my research of the original newspaper promotion, is all of the engagements of “The Sound Of Music” that played in the borough of Queens during its original 1965-1969 release. (Note that the first Queens booking wasn’t until after the initial Manhattan run closed.)
12.21.1966 … Lefrak City (42 weeks)
06.21.1967 … Bayside (9 weeks)
06.21.1967 … Community (8 weeks)
11.15.1967 … Astoria (4 weeks)
11.15.1967 … Jackson (4 weeks)
11.15.1967 … Midway (3 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Boulevard (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Cambria (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Center (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Crossbay (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … De Luxe (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Drake (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Laurelton (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Lefferts (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Park (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Parsons (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Rochdale (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Roosevelt (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Town (2 weeks)
12.20.1967 … Utopia (2 weeks)
08.14.1968 … Colony (2 weeks)
08.14.1968 … Haven (2 weeks)
08.27.1969 … Astoria (1 week)
08.27.1969 … Bayside (1 week)
08.27.1969 … Crossbay (1 week)
08.27.1969 … Jackson (1 week)
08.27.1969 … Midway (1 week)
Thanks, it seemed like it was even longer than that.
“The Sound Of Music” opened here on December 21, 1966 and played for 42 weeks.
I bet Michael Coate knows. Did you see his spectacular SOUND OF MUSIC article?
Does anybody know how long the Sound of Music played there? It seemed like years.
Interesting.
Here’s a good google street view of the theater:
View link
amen.
MarkViii, we’re talking about apples and oranges here. As far as what “town” any of these things are in, why, they’re in New York City, of course. They’re also in the Borough of Queens, and in Queens County. Everything after that becomes muddy. Queens has many traditional neighborhood names, and some may have even been separate “towns” at some point in the distant past, but today, the only identifiable “official” designations that have actual boundaries are those of the U.S. Postal Service, which maintains separate Zip Codes for these individual post offices. As for it being strange to call the apartment complex Rego Park Gardens — that’s not strange, that’s marketing. Whoever built the place decided Rego Park was a more desirable name, even if it wasn’t within those boundaries.
When I say “referred” to – I mean in all official Loews documents and phone listings. It was always the Loews Lefrak. The apostrophe stopped appearing on theatre marquee’s as early as the 1970’s and all but disappeared in the mid-1980’s when Jerry Perenchio bought the circuit and subsequently sold it to the entertainment division of the Coca-Cola company.
I would find it strange to call an apartment complex rego park gardens when it is not in rego park. Again, i lived in bayside and my post office 4 blocks away said oakland gardens station. i do not think you can go by what the post office labels its buildings as what the name of the town might be.
MarkViii, Rego Park Gardens was not actually in Rego Park either. The post office address was Elmhurst, NY 11373. Junction Blvd. was the dividing line; the Lefrak City post office, directly across the street, was in Corona. Rego Park was up Junction Blvd. — the LIE (or Horace Harding Expwy.) may have been the actual dividing line between Elmhurst and Rego Park.
Warren, what do you consider the criteria for the “actual” name of a theater?