Alpine Cinema
6817 5th Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11220
6817 5th Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11220
22 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 196 comments
SPAMER!
The owner of the theater is very dedicated and has made it a wonderful place to see a movie. Make sure to come down to this cinema treasure soon gonna be celebrating 102 years in business the movie business
Spectrum’s “Mornings on 1” is doing a week-long feature on Bay Ridge. Mentioned the Alpine as the longest continuously running movie house in the five boroughs.
Please update, became a twin on November 13, 1976 and a 7 plex on January 17, 1986. Loews sold the theatre to Golden in the fall of 1986, last week as a twin was October 24, 1985
Hello-
now at 100 years old one wonders how this theater survived while other neighborhood theaters didn’t. for instance the Coliseum at Bway and 181 St.in Manhattan would have bested this theater by a year as the oldest continually operating movie theater in all of NYC if hadn’t been demolished last year. groups tried to save the theater but weren’t able to.
The Alpine Cinema recently celebrated it’s 100th Birthday this past Sunday June 6th 2021, they say that at this point it’s now the oldest continually operating movie theatre in all of New York City: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/alpine-cinemas-reopens-centennial/
Mobster scum had nothing to do with the Alpine. Those criminal scumbags were the owners before Cineplex took the over the Fortway.
For those of you with access to films at Kanopy.com you can watch Abel Ferrara’s The Projectionist, mentioned in the NYT link in CC’s Oct 29, 2020 post. Numerous shots of vintage Times Sq theaters and other NYC theaters (including the Alpine) owned by Nick Nicolau.
Trailer
There was a piece on channel 4 during the 6 - 6:30 news segment about this theater. One very cool find during renovations was the discovery of some original light fixtures. They are being rest Of and reinstalled.
After Loews Theatres had the theatre, Golden Theatres made it seven screens prior to Cineplex Odeon acquisition of Golden Theatres.
Hello-
its nice the owner of this theater is using the down time to upgrade this theater. so the oldest continually operated movie theater in NYC will be it tip top shape when it re-opens. I hope other theater owners are doing likewise.
P.S. The unnamed theatre “deep in Brooklyn” that is up for sale is very probably the Cinema Kings Highway (original Jewel).
During the Alpine’s current pandemic closure, owner Nick Nicolaou is doing extensive renovations to the nearly 100-year-old interior, according to an article in yesterday’s New York Times. Nicolaou also operates Cinema Village in Manhattan and the Cinemart in Queens, and is reportedly selling another cinema “deep in Brooklyn” that he’d been leasing out. Full text can be found here
Hello-
was my comment of March 31, 2019 true in that this is the oldest movie theater in continual operation in NYC?
I worked in the Fortway theater back in the mid 90’s. The Alpine was our sister theater with Cineplex Odeon. Maybe I’m bias but I liked the Fortway so much better. To me the Alpine had no charter. Granted I never saw it as a single, in it’s original form.
Numerous photos taken by patrons of the current Alpine multiplex can be viewed here
Hello-
in terms of being in continual operation(which includes being closed for renovations) since the day it opened isn’t this the oldest movie theater in NYC?
1941 tax photo added
Brief history and tax photo displayed here
Massive screens, lol
The Alpine Theatre in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was originally a Loew’s theatre and first opened on June 6, 1921. Carlson & Wiseman were the architects.
At the time, the Alpine Theatre was the first Loew’s theatre anywhere with its entire seating capacity (2,200) on one floor, without a balcony or gallery.
The tapered auditorium was 100 feet at its widest, with the last of the 55 rows of seats about 76 feet from the screen. The stage had no fly gallery or grid-iron, but had an apron just large enough to accommodate a vocalist or musical instrumentalist between film showings.
Variety described the Alpine Theatre’s interior as “decorated in a tan and gold color scheme, the general atmosphere created being one of brightness. The side walls are paneled and painted in an imitation of tapestry. The floors are carpeted with red velvet. A good system of floor pitch gives a clear view of the screen from any part of the house.”
Alpine Cinemas eight theaters make current movies come alive as massive screens merge with Dolby Digital sound to keep each crowd of 200 or more immersed in the action.
The signature theater injects even more realism with roomy stadium seats and 3-D capabilities that add an extra dimension without having to bring a 20-foot friend to act out the movie.
Before shows, guests can stock up on refreshments at the snack bar equipped with savory popcorn and bubbly soda.
Auditoriums
Screen #1 Capacity: 235 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL Info: text
Screen #2 Capacity: 210 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #3 Capacity: 114 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #4 Capacity: 111 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #5 Capacity: 111 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #6 Capacity: 118 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #7 Capacity: 117 ( 5 HC ) seats Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D Sound: DIGITAL
Screen #8 Capacity: 165 ( 5 HC ) seats (ALL NEW STADIUM SEATING) Projection: DIGITAL / REAL D 3D : DIGITAL
Accessibility All screens are wheelchair accessible. Listening Devices Listening devices may be provided upon request
I saw Valerian in 3D here today. Theater is getting run down. Beginning to feel like the Pavilion. Bathrooms needed cleaning, theater seven’s screen had black marks on it. Was surprised to discover a new theater eight located all the way in the back. It was a new stadium style theater. Not sure when exactly it was added. Information should be changed on this page to note Alpine now has eight screens!! There is a banner up in the lobby showing a “promised” upcoming remodeling of the theater.
Comfortably Cool, yes I checked the finding aid for the Loew’s Collection and found nothing on the Alpine unfortunately, no Loew’s Bay Ridge as well & only one photo of the Loew’s Oriental, I wonder if that was the same one I saw in one of the Marquee’s I have on Loew’s Theatres Inc. I also wanted to thank you for posting all those great vintage ads and photo’s I appreciate it.
Comfortably Cool, Are there any photo’s that exist out there that shows the original Alpine’s auditorium & lobby before it was twinned by Loew’s & then subsequently gutted by Golden?
The photo’s on that site are from 1973, the Exorcist was the film on the Fortway marquee photo, there is also a shot of the lobby in the pre-multiplex days & a shot of the drinking fountain that was once in the lobby. There are no auditorium shots unfortunately.