Plaza Theatre
393 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
393 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 202 comments
Opened on April 24th, 1962. Grand opening ad posted.
Added of photo in it’s prime.
The Granada was a retail site, still with the sloped floor. The entire block was demolished and is now the site of the courthouse complex.
I don’t know how the Granada met it’s end, but the Unique, aka The Rialto burned to the ground in the 1970’s and was not used as retail afterwards, the fire was a complete loss.
The out-of-town tryout for Irving Berlin’s 1917 musical “Yip! Yip! Yaphank!” was held at the Star Palace Theatre in Patchogue. I don’t know of any other Broadway shows that had tryouts in Patchogue, but there might have been some. Most pre-Broadway tryouts were held in larger cities, with the Shubert Theatre in New Haven being the most popular venue.
And then there’s Irving Berlin (composed “God Bless America”) opened shows in Patchogue that then went to NYC Broadway. Anyone know which theatre that was?
amending my comment about theatres in Patchogue there was also the Star Palace at the time of the first Unique. But that was long gone before I came on this earth.
Come see films now at the PlazaMAC on 20 Terry Street in Patchogue. Check out www.plazamac.org for screenings. A true rebirth of cinema art on the South Shore – the first of any such venue in partnership with the Huntington Cinema Arts Centre on the North Shore.
The Plaza was the only post world war II theatre built in Patchogue Village. It had no commercial functions. Alto originally a single screen it was twinned. It then closed and remained derelect for more than two decades. Despite attempts to repurpose it as a media center it was torn down this year. Of all the theatres that once existed in the village proper or on Sunrise Highway the Patchogue Theatre for the performing Arts is the only one in operation. The Sun Wave Twin is now retail, the Multiplex (and the previous All Weather Drive In originally in the space) and the Granada were demolished, the Rialto burnt down. The original Unique, precursor to the second one which became the Rialto was only demolished in the past two years having served as a retail space. The space occupied by the original Unique and the second Unique (aka Rialto) is now a housing complex.
The entry for architect Maurice Sornik in the 1962 edition of the AIA’s American Architects Directory lists a “Theatre & Comm. Bldg., Patchogue” as a 1959 project. The Plaza doesn’t look like it had any commercial functions, but it’s the only theater listed for Patchogue that was built around that time.
Is there a theater built in Patchogue that was opened in 1959 or 1960, and is missing from the Cinema Treasures database? If not, then it’s possible that the Plaza was the project listed, but it was built without its commercial component.
Oh thanks for this moviegoer…I haven’t even heard of either of these movies…as you said..going out with a “whimper” instead of a “bang”. That’s about the same time the Patchogue Theatre closed so would be about right I’d say. My guess it was the Brookhaven and the eventual opening of the Patchogue multiplex that did it in. I still get the newspaper delivered at my door at 4 AM in the morning…I mean, how much longer will that last? Everything has an eventual end.
Ok. This theater lasted a good deal longer than indicated in the main blurb. The March 10, 1986 issue of New York Magazine lists the RKO Plaza as showing House and Hollywood Vice Squad. The theater is not listed in the March 24 issue or any subsequent issues that I have seen.
I don’t know if there was a March 17 issue but it appears that March 1986 was the final month that the Plaza had its doors open to the public (and if those were the last two films it screened, it sure didn’t go out on top).
One other interesting thing to me is that there’s no listing in the March 1986 issues for the Patchogue multiplex. I wonder if Brookhaven alone was enough to kill the Plaza or if it was the combo of Brookhaven and the impending opening of Patchogue (since the PLaza seems to have closed before the Patchogue multiplex even opened).
We also exited from the side door of the Plaza when I saw my last movie there. It was the left theater if facing front, and used the side door to the alley by the cleaners/Dunkin Donuts side.
It was “Back to School” w. Rodney Dangerfield. I obsess way too much about all of this stuff!!!
Oh gee I saw “The River” there too. I remember it distinctly as I exited out the side door of the theatre, vs. the front door. I had never done that before. A little thing, but I remember it. Gee we are always talking about “When did The Plaza close?” I’m sure it must be in one of the back issues of The L.I. Advance. I remember the Patchogue Theatre’s closing was on the front page and I believe it was a Rodney Dangerfield movie that closed that out. Yes I guess everything is on Google now; whatta world. I thought you were in some old bookstore w. a bunch of ratty, “dog-eared” magazines!!
No problem, Leighton. Apparently a lot of back issues of New York Magazine are on google books. It’s fairly easy to just pick a year and scroll through an issue to the movie listings and just look at what theaters were listed for Suffolk County (the listing were broken down by county). Seems like a good way to pin down when a theater closed.
The January 28, 1985 issue still lists it as the RKO Plaza, showing The River and Walking the Edge, with Superstitious scheduled to replace The River on January 25 (the 1/28 issue must have hit news stands on the 24th or earlier).
Thx. moviegoer. I was wondering when it would be “completed”. So interesting about what was playing there in 1983. I saw “Tootsie” there w. my mother in Feb. ‘83 so this makes it so special for me as my mother just passed in May of this year. Before it was razed, I was able to walk to the front door of the theatre (this past summmer) and I could still see the gold lettering on the door. I thought it said it was a UA cinema. Yeah, the RKO notation is foreign to me as well. Thx. for the report.
Well as of today, the theater is completely gone. Just a pile of rubble now. In searching for pictures of a different theater I stumbled upon the movie listings for Suffolk County from the February 28, 1983 issue of New York Magazine. I would link to it, but I don’t know to post a clickable link.
The interesting thing to me was that the Plaza is listed as the RKO Plaza. There’s a lot of comments on this thread so maybe someone did mention it, but I didn’t notice any mention of this theater ever being operated by RKO.
The two films playing were Tootsie and The Sting II.
Oh great news….so glad Tim’s office “rescued” it!! Yay! An excellent piece of news…the Plaza Theatre will “live on” at ArtSpace!!
Hopefully it will hang on your new building one day. Or at least one that looks like it…with the original on display in your lobby or something…. One day.
That is GREAT!! The signage lasted better than the building itself, and if you look at my photos from Tuesday, was still in great shape right till the bricks began falling. You gotta keep that script looking “Plaza” as your logo!
I know. I was moved to tears, and I never cry.
Dalglish, that’s great news! Congratulations!
I just got word from Tim Mazzei’s office that they rescued the signage for us. You will soon find this souvenir in the windows of our new cinema arts screening center at Artspace on Terry in Patchogue.
Leighton, the frame was still up as they were first stripping away the concrete and brick veneer from the building. They have begun the dismantling of the steel now too. I drove by earlier today. The front is now only one story high, and the back is completely exposed now. There are buildings on either side of it, so it’s not like they could just push it over. On the left is a business building, and on the right, towards the back is a home up close to it, so Slowly but surely it’s going piece by piece.