Arion Theatre

Grand Avenue,
Maspeth, NY 11378

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Arion Theatre

The Arion Theatre opened on February 7, 1920. The proprietor was Robert Kunze. He also owned a bowling alley on Grand Street called Arion Alleys which I found advertised up until 1919. Also in 1919, Robert Kunze started a company with his wife Anna called “Arion Photoplays, Inc”.

I don’t know when the Arion Theatre closed. The last mention of the Arion that I have come across in old newspapers is a help wanted advertisement for a cashier in 1924. The address given for the Arion Theatre is 128 Grand Street which is an obsolete address. On a modern map, the theatre should have been located on Grand Avenue near Flushing Avenue.

Contributed by Ridgewood Ken

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on April 11, 2015 at 7:14 pm

This excerpt from an article in the January 21, 1932, issue of The Daily Star, Long Island City, suggests that the Arion Theatre was actually built around 1915:

“The tearing down this week of the New Columbia Theater, Grand avenue and Sixty-ninth lane, Maspeth, removed another landmark of the days when the section was a sleepy little village.

“The little theater was marked for demolition following protests by the Maspeth Civic and Improvement Association, and other local organisations that it was a fire menace. It had been closed for six years.

“Old-time residents recalled today how it was built sixteen years ago, shortly after the construction of the Arion Theater near the Atateka Democratic Club. Maspeth felt quite proud of its two theaters, although both would fit comfortably in the present Maspeth Theater and leave some space over”

The Maspeth News column of the November 4, 1922, issue of The Newtown Register had this item:
“Mr. Robert Kunze is making extensive alterations to his moving picture theatre located on the ground floor of the Arion building.”
Another newspaper item of the period says that the Arion Theatre was next door to the Arion Building. There was also a place called Arion Hall, and one item referred to Robert Kunze as the proprietor of the Arion Hall and Moving Picture Theatre.

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