Valley Stream Theatre

Please update, theatre closed October 18, 1982

I can’t even begin to tell you how many movies I saw at the Valley Stream, from my childhood in the 50s. I still can’t quite accept the fact that it’s no longer there. I know, for a fact, that the last movie I saw there was Mel Brooks' “High Anxiety” in 1977. By that time I was a 27 year old adult living in Brooklyn, and I drove out to Valley Stream to meet my lifelong best friend to see the movie. It was a bitterly cold and snowy winter day, and there was only a handful of people in the theater. We were the only ones laughing at this comedy!

Finally found a photo of the place! I found it in a group of public photos on the Facebook group called “I grew up in Valley Stream in 1970-2000.” Appears to be a newspaper clipping about The Rio – possibly the 8/6/94 article from Newsday that I posted about back on November 6, 2007.

Anyway, here is the image.

From the bunting and pennants that adorn the marquee, one would think the photo depicts opening day festivities, but the van on the left side of the image and the attire does not appear to be vintage 1925. Perhaps the theater was decorated for some sort of Village celebration or Holiday? Unfortunately, the scan blurs the left side of the picture and the titles on the side panel of the marquee are completely illegible.

It was the Belair Theater ,operated by B.S. Moss

I saw quite a few interesting films at the Valley Stream. I saw The Brood (1979) and Prophecy (1979). I know they played Amin – The Rise and Fall (1981). And I remember seeing a midnight showing of the Exorcist there, it was raining outside and water was dripping in from the roof, I was in the balcony. A couple was screwing a couple of rows behind me and my friends. The place was very warn down. I went to the site as they were demolishing it around ‘97/'98. I took one last look in at the chandelier and roof. I was working for Henry at the Malvern and he told me they had already started ripping it up. By the way, Slipped Disc is also gone now…One of the sons who run the ice cream eatery down the street saw a double bill of Headless Eyes and The Ghastly Ones there back in the early seventies.

For many years Century ran the Valley Stream. When they built the Green Acres they gave it up. Prior posting mention Skouras. I think the Century chain may have been a spin off from that because I remember a number of theatres being listed as Skouras/Century, among them the Lynbrook.

It was definitely called Rio and definitely at the end of its run. I don’t think it was Rio Theatre, but simply “Rio,” but I can’t remember for sure. I actually saw a concert there in 1984.

In case anyone has access to ProQuest or gets to a library before I can, an article in the February 4, 1990, edition of Newsday apparently includes a photo of the vacant Rio Theatre – as it is called in the story. The article refers to the stalled plans (apparently first announced in 1987) to convert the site into a mini-mall and mentions how the “dilapidated marquee that juts out over the sidewalk” is an eyesore that distracts folks passing by in cars from the existence of neighboring retail shops.

An article was published in Newsday back on August 6, 1994, reporting that a local businessman by the name of Dan Lehner had an interest in restoring the Valley Stream Theatre for use as a late-run discount cinema. The owners at the time, Edward Re and Joseph Attiretano, had planned to demolish the theatre and build a mini-mall on the site – but the zoning board denied their permits due to a lack of adequate parking space and the property went into foreclosure. The theatre is described as being vacant and is referred to as the Rio in the article. The article also notes that Lehner had specifically planned this as a late-run house because the theatres at Green Acres Shopping Mall had exclusive rights to all first run releases in the area at the time. Lehner is also notes as having invested in theatre restoration projects in Hempstead and Greenport, Long Island.

An earlier article from October 3, 1985, notes that the theatre was already a vacant and run-down target for grafitti artists and that the adjacent alley and parking lot where hang-out spots for rowdy teens – according to complaining retailers along Rockaway Avenue.

I could not access the entirety of either article online wihtout paying a fee – I’ll have to get to a library when time permits to follow up – but I thought I’d report these facts here all the same as they offer some sort of rough time line for the building’s demise.

EdSolero; I collect old newspapers (Newsday, Daily News, NY Post)(because of the movie ads only) and the funny thing is, they are so hard to find EXCEPT FOR these years:-1963 (Kennedy shot), 1968 (The other Kennedy shot), 1969 (Man on the Moon), 1974 (Nixon Resigns), 1977 (Elvis Dies), 1980 (Lennon Shot). LOL . I’m too familiar with all the movie time tables from those years because I find them over and over again! I actually identify movies with deaths now! “Orca” = Elvis Dies, etc. So;according to newspapers people saved because of their importance: NOTHING HAPPENED in 1964, 1965,1966,1967, 1970,1971,1972,1973,1975,1976,1978,1979,etc. LOL….

That’s funny that several folks have mentioned the John Stamos show here! My gal’s very first concert ever was that very John Stamos show here when the place was called Rio. She’s much younger than I (by almost a decade) and grew up only a few blocks away on the other side of Merrick Rd and remembers the theater only as a concert venue.

Here’s a movie clock from the Post a little over a year later that shows the Valley Stream – now listed independently from the RKO Century Theaters – showing a double bill of “Arthur” and the Chevy Chase fiasco “Under the Rainbow”, both originally released in the summer of ‘81:

NY Post 3/8/82

I don’t see either the Mineola or Hempstead (the other RKO discount houses listed in the 1980 ad I posted yesterday) anywhere in the movie clock. I assume RKO had closed them sometime in ‘81, while the Valley Stream fell into independent ownership.