Levittown Theatre
3080 Hempstead Turnpike,
Levittown,
NY
11756
3080 Hempstead Turnpike,
Levittown,
NY
11756
7 people
favorited this theater
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Saw only one movie here. I should have known Exorcist II: The Heretic was going to be a huge bomb when this theatre showed it on its first run. I dragged my older brother and his friends to see it since I was too young to get in. They laughed all the way through it as I sat mortified for having subjected them to it. The memories.
NY Daily News listings ended in September 1994. Twinned late 1982.
I saw Mel Brooks' ultimate movie at the Levittown theater,Blazzing Saddles.Brilliantly co-scripted by Richard Pryor,artfully directed by Mel Brooks.Amazingly ubsurd rapid fire comedy.Followed by a decade of box office hits.
I remember seeing several movies here through the 80’s and early 90’s. The Land before Time, Great Mouse Detective, An American Tale, lots of cartoons! There was a Genovese on the corner towards Nathan’s (The old Chuck E Cheese building) and I remember getting candy there to take in to the movie with my grandma. Sometimes the line would run outside the building.
In the 1990s, they used to do children’s birthday parties at this theater. If you had your party here, you received a year’s free pass to the theater for your entire family. Sweet deal. They also put your name on the marquee AND gave you a video.
I had my 10th birthday here in 1991. They showed “Edward Scissorhands.” I also had my 12th birthday here in 1993 – they showed “The Mighty Ducks.” Great place. Definitely miss it.
I remember $2 Tuesday’s here, I think I saw back to the future III here, the only flick i saw there that stands out in my mind.
Grand opening ad Sept 18, 1957 added to photos.
Did anyone else notice that the ad posted here for the movie “Volunteers” misspelled Tom Hanks and made him “Tom Hawks”?
Ahh…those Disney Summer Festivals. We had them here in Jersey too. Rainy days were the WORST. 600 kids would show up to a 400 seat theatre. But, as I have said elsewhere here on CT, and as stated above, ‘those WERE the days’ and I’m sorry to say they will never, ever return.
I was an usher for almost two years starting in June of ‘75. It was more quaint then sleazy in those days. One summer we had the Disney festival and babysat every kiddie in Levittown for six weeks. And all were wearing Fonzie t shirts. Had great runs of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Blazing Saddles”. We would trade free tickets with the Chinese resturaunt down the street. We had to turn away the single patron who showed up to watch the last showing of “Benji” two nights in a row. Almost got fired for wording the marquee out front from “Three Days of the Condor” to Three Days of the Condom". Thursday night was the porters night off and the ushers would clean the theater. So we would get drunk and spend four hours doing a one hour job. Ah, those were the days.
how about the soft-core “t*tty” flicks at the “Fine Arts” in Hempstead? A true educational experience for us sheltered suburban innocents. Pretty lightweight compared to today’s super-smut…
Don’t forget the RKO Hollywood
What you say, Jojojo77, about those days is very true. I lived down Hempstead Turnpike from Levittown, in the village of Hempstead in the late 60’s. I was 8, 9, 10 years old, white, and used to walk into downtown Hempstead to matinees at the Calderone, Rivoli, and Hempstead theatres — alone, and I don’t remember it ever crossing my mind that I’d be kidnapped or molested, maybe beaten up by slightly older kids, especially blacks, but that was it. Those really were the lates days in America when kids could enjoy that kind of freedom.
Use to go there in the 50’s and 60’s. Saw Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla, Rodan, Them, Day of the Triffids, Crawling Eye, and every Hammer Horror film ever made. They even had Flash Gordon serials between shows. The place was a babysitter for the neighborhood on Saturdays. Poor ushers! It was like the premiere scene from Ed Wood, with hails of Jujube’s and Good & Plenty’s flying through the air at the poor schmuck unlucky enough to have the flashlight. The bathrooms were foul, but the popcorn had real butter. I also miss Jahn’s ice cream parlor next door to the old Meadowbrook theatre. That was the site of everyone’s first date. If you could finish the humongous “Kitchen Sink” ice cream extravaganza, you didn’t have to pay the $6 it cost. It came in a cardboard sink. people ran outside in a hurry if the sink began to “back up” barf-wise. Levittown kids were blessed in all departments back then. So many things to do, and cheaply too. It was a different America in many ways. It was WAAAAAY better for kids in a lot of aspects. We all ran wild in the asphalt streets without worrying about kidnappers, molesters, gangbangers or crackheads. I used to skateboard all over the May’s Mall area with my buddies from Division Avenue. Gilgo Beach surf-rats one and all.
The theatre actually closed in the late 1990’s apparently since the New York Times listed times as late as 1996. At that point, they were playing Indian films.
The theatre also had the Long Island exclusive of Reservoir Dogs in 1992. I believe that ran it for over a month.
I went to this theatre several times when I was a kid in the sixties on Long Island. The ones I can recall are “Planet of the Apes,” “Ice Station Zebra,” “Romeo and Juliet,” a re-issue of “The Sound of Music” and one that my father took me to, even though it was kind of too adult for a nine-year-old, “Last Summer.” I saw “Apes” there on June 29, 1968. I know that because I saved the ad from the time. It was “Apes” second run after playing the first run theatres in April. The ad said, “Welcome back, Dr. Zaius. We missed you.” Anyway, the Levittown was one screen back then. I don’t recall it as any kind of special theatre, but it wasn’t bad. It was one of the smaller, second-run theatres on the Island. I’m surprised it operated as long as it did.
Saw countless movies growing up here incl MARK OF THE DEVIL, which handed out vomit bags. The highlight of the witch-hunting epic was when Herbert Lom pulled out the tongue of a suspected witch. Ugh!
Hello Steve: Thanks for the up-date and memories……..We moved from Levittown to Florida in 1976, so it was sad to see how the little movie house had deteriorated over the years———As I guess we all do————-I only remember it as a small quaint theater, were you could meet neighbors going to the same show, then going to Jahns Ice Cream parlor on Hempstead Tpke————Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the Meadowbrook would show first run shows and I remember taking my wife to see The Beatles in “A Hard Days Night” there———At that time the Meadowbrook was plush, while the Levittown was more like the very small theaters in my old Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up———There was Times Square Stores nearby——-Great Eastern Mills——Pergament——Plenty of places to shop, besides Mays—-and every Sunday, The Levittown Mens Softball League would play doubleheaders in the neighborhood——-I was the Commmisoner of the league from 1969 to 1975———Joew From Florida
mays turned into tri-county flea market.levittown theater was right across the street from there. i saw unforgiven there in 91/92 so the theater had to have closed down sometime after that (not 87/88).the building is still standing today.the free standing twin was the ua meadowbrook up the road about a mile(across the street)….my father says the same thing Joe( about the newsreels, and all of the cartoons, the westerns and the double features)….memories are great and sad at the same time………. sort of like this old movie theater
LOVE WHEN THIS THEATER GETS A POST …………..AS LOW AS IT GOES BUT STILL LOVED IT!
The utterly filthy yet exceedingly charming Levittown was hands-down my favorite theater in my teenage years. In the 1980s, my friends and I enjoyed their liberal policy regarding patrons under 18 for R-rated movies (we also enjoyed similar experiences at the Mid-Island & Gables theatres). The admission was only $2 or $3, and we were able to see double features, which were already becoming increasingly rare by that time. We saw such critically acclaimed fare as Slumber Party Massacre/Quadrophenia, Mausoleum/Gates of Hell, My Tutor/Doctor Detroit, Screwballs/Going All the Way, etc. The worse the movie, the more loud and rowdy the
crowd became & it was a great Friday night out for a teenager.
I believe the structure is actually still standing, but has been completely re-done and is now a “Carpet Depot”.
I took my Daughter to see that Matinee at the Levittown back then———I remember that there were many parents who accompanied their kids….and I recall it vividly———-Pleasant memories…..my Daughter is now 43 years old with her own kids——Too bad they do not have Matinees like that, or even better, when I was a kid with the real Saturday Matinee——-Two “B” features(usually one or both was a western) a serial chapter, 5 cartoons, and a weeks coming attractions………Joe From Florida
One of my earliest movie memories, RobertR. I can’t say for sure whether I caught this on its initial release, but certainly by X-Mas of 1969 or ‘70. And probably at the Fair in Queens (or some nearby theater if it wasn’t playing there when I caught it).
Christmas 1968, this was re-issued yearly until the late 70’s.
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is this place still standing? what’s become of it?