Grand Theatre
22-15 31st Street,
Astoria,
NY
11105
22-15 31st Street,
Astoria,
NY
11105
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A new addition to Burlington Coat Factory—the company’s 1,000th store– had its grand opening today on the former site of the Grand Theatre, using an address of 22-11 31st Street.
Such a Shame it had to be torn down.
The building was recently demolished.
Unfortunately, the entire auditorium was gutted long ago when the building was converted into a store. I was able to sneak inside the building recently and there is nothing of architectural value left of the auditorium.
The building is now completely closed, all businesses have moved out. The Rock gym moved across the street into the same building where TJ Maxx is. Asbestos abatement is over and the structure is being prepped for demolition.
Key Food supermarket will be closed in October. Prior to the arrival of the pandemic, Target was reportedly interested in re-developing the site, but that may have changed since. News item displayed here
Per Scott Genghis Wong: 2nd Avenue and Ditmars Avenue in Astoria. After the new street grids were completed (by 1928), 2nd Avenue was renamed 31st Street, and Ditmars Avenue was renamed Ditmars Boulevard.
There is an early image of, what the marquee reads, “Astoria Grand”, a copyrighted photo on the Greater Astoria Historical Society site.
I grew up in the Grand Theater. I lived in Jackson Heights right off Ditmars on 80th street. Spent every Saturday afternoon at the Grand. Right across the street was a store called Brooks that sold appliances and had a small record department run by a man named Sal. He had two fingers missing on one of his hands. I got most of my 45 record collection there (the rest came from Times Square Records in the subway). On the corner of Ditmars and 31st was a store if I remember correctly was named Lerners…Opening onto the street they sold the greatest Sicilian pizza I ever had in my life. I went to JHS 141 and used to stop everyday after school at Melhops…I would want to go back to JHS but then I remember algebra and glad I’m not there
That building was a bowling alley and ice rink. Astoria Bootery was right next door along with Bobbys' Music. There was a big fire in the early 70s on the corner. A womens dept store I think that was called Susan Terry. Woolworths burned down around that time also and became Genovese. Another fond memory was going to the Midnight Rock shows at Astoria theater. I saw Pink Floyd…Live at Pompeii in 1974.
A bit of trivia. 31st Street was also known as Grand Avenue, the El station still carries both names. Hence, Grand.
I just found this site while doing some research on my old Astoria neighborhood, the best times of my childhood until we moved to NJ in 1955.
Back in the late 40’s early 50’s both the Ditmars and the Grand had Saturday matinees for kids that certainly gave you your 12 cents worth, most of us brought a sandwich since you would be there from 10AM to at least 2 or 3PM. The Ditmars was a small theater that was on one level and traded luxury for inexpensive admission prices and two current films along with cartoons, short subjects, and the all important coming attractions. During WWll they sold War Bonds and gave out dishes. A friendly place.
The Grand was larger, more palatial, with a balcony and ushers who lit the way to a seat if the film was in progress. They also had stern looking older women wearing starched white dresses who served as matrons during the Saturday kid’s show and kept the peace during the times the screen action slowed down and the sugar candy high kicked in resulting in things being thrown among the audience and scuffles breaking out. A matron could get you banned for a week or two which was bad news since every kid in the neighborhood was either at the Grand or the Ditmars and being out on the street was like being in solitary.
There was a bowling alley operating at the same time as the Grand. It was below ground in the small office building on the East side of the Ditmars station that you passed through on the way to the street. Instead of exiting to 31st St. you went down another flight to Lou’s, (I don’t remember the real name). About a 16 alley down and dirty dungeon that was not a family place but served as a great place to learn to bowl and hang out watching some money games going on among the local hustlers. Lou closed in the summer because without A/C the wood in the alleys would swell and buckle.
There was also a pool room across the street level with the station that was entered by a stairway from 31st St. Another definitely non-family type hangout that had so much smoke and grime on the inside of the windows you could not see out. Hanging out there was considered by parents to be the quick path to jail and eventually Hell so you watched to see if there might be someone who knew you nearby before ducking into the doorway and the stairway. Thanks for a place to unpack some memories. Is there an Astoria nostalgia site to trade tall tales about the good old days? Hank
Astoria Lanes definitely occupied that space. I remember as a kid in the mid sixties If you were twelve and under on Wednesday mornings during the summer you got three games, rental shoes, a hot dog and a coke for $1.30. How times have changed.
The last movie to ever play at the Grand was the 1960 film “Midnight Lace” with Rex Harrison, Doris Day and John Gavin. Man, I miss that place!
Wow I wonder if this was originally a palatial atmospheric venue. The building is quite large and that roof looks like it may have accommodated a domed ceiling beneath it. Unfortunately the interior is completely changed, as I shop at Key Food almost daily (no evidence of a theatre) and the gym, as I recall it, retained absolutlely no trace of any former glory.
I have searched endlessly online for images of original blueprints, floorplans and artists' renderings of many of these lost movie palaces. I found a few, but there seems to be a dearth of them in general. I assume the hiers of Thomas Lamb and the other theatre designers hold title to their work. In a vault somewhere there are probably rolled-up blueprints, drawings, and paintings of all our wonderful lost theatres.
Here’s a new link to the pair of photos I took back in September. The old links no longer work.
This was my neighborhood supermarket when I first moved to NYC; I never would have guessed the building which houses it was once a movie theatre. Thanks to everyone for your memories and the information you posted, and thanks to you, Warren and Ed, for the photos.
Here’s a current view of the former Grand taken from the municipal parking lot at the rear (where the profile certainly betrays the building’s origins) as well as from under the El on Steinway:
View link
View link
There’s also a website for the Gym that occupies the 2nd level above Key Food: http://www.therockhealthandfitness.com/ There’s a slide show of photos for the gym that would indicate all traces of theatrical use have been completely eradicated.
I was born 1959 and lived in Astoria for 27 years. I remember as a kid going bowling at a place called Astoria Lanes, circa 1968-1978, which is definitely the site of the Key Food. The bowling alley was huge, it had 24 lanes on the first floor and another 24 on the second floor. They had a bar, and a small diner area. They also had a kids nursery, where moms in leagues could bowl weekday afternoons, and an attendant would watch the kiddies (I remember my mom dropping me at this place while she bowled. I do not remember a roller rink ever being there, maybe after I moved.
I also remember the Ditmars Theater, and seeing Beneath the Planet of the Apes there, I must have been around 15.
In the space above Key Food in Astoria, on 31st Street, there is now a gym called The Rock. I used to be a member there and one day an elderly woman climbed the stairs to the gym and said she wanted to see the space that used to be the movie theater she remembered from her youth. She also said the area now occupied by the gym was also formerly a bowling alley and a roller rink. I don’t know if this was true, but the building sure does seem to be built for something much grander than a gym and a supermarket. The gym has 40-foot ceilings and the steel beams that support the roof are clearly visible and have been incorporated into the design of the space. On the wall of the gym there used to be a large photo of the same space before its renovation into the current gym, and it showed a vast deserted and ruined room. The photo may still be there.
The theatre that is now a Post Office was the Ditmars Theatre.
The Grand theatre was located at 22-27 2nd Ave..