Belle Harbor Twin

I seem to recall this location operated as a beer distributor in the late 1980s or early 1990s but can’t recall exactly.

Texas2step uploaded the ad you posted on Century’s Floral indicating the Park, together with the Floral, Bellerose, Hollis and Bellaire were part of the Playco circuit. Never heard of them. However, you indicated the ad was from January 12, 1933 which would be after the time of the RKO ads you have on this site. ?????

Photos as both Park and Belle Harbor added.

There’s a comment by rjcambell in 2006 that clarifies this discussion. The second screen was a roof top theatre. When I first came to New York I went to a lot of the $1.00 sub-run houses and ths was one. A friend of mine who was head of service for RKO theatres and then an independent contractor told me that this house “bicycled” the print when the roof top theatre was open, pulling the reels from the lower booth to the upper booth with a rope. He also mentioned a time when the two operators didn’t get along and one of them deliberately waited until the last minute to lower or raise the reels to the other booth. I came here in 1974, so never got to attend a screening in the upper theatre, but thought it looked pretty neat with the big windows that caught the air off the ocean for cooling. While someone on this site does mention an outside staircase, I would think the inner staircase at one point did lead to the roof theatre.

As a kid, I spent my summers in Rockaway, with my family renting a series of bungalows on 107th St, until everything up to 108th Street was torn down for Robert Moses' urban renewal/destruction. I remember going to see The Wizard of Oz at the Park Theater with my grandmother…..but remember climbing up a series of steps outside to an upper theater, that was rarely used, and the seats weren’t cushioned.this was in 1955. Anyone else have a recollection of this? Could this have been just a staircase to the little used balcony?

There is also an image of this theatre on the So. Ozone Park, Park theatre site dated 12/14/2007 and an image of the Belle Harbor Theatre, which is obviously the Park at a later date, incorrectly linked at the New Theatre site. Anybody here with the expertise to replicate these images on this site?

Here is a large photo, viewing Beach 116th Street, taken from the air above the surf, over the boardwalk and up to the Boulevard. The Park Theater is on the right of B.116th St., fourth building up the block. The roof and swiveling windows are clearing shown.

The date is 4 July 1946. Curley’s Hotel, Restaurant and Bar is shown fronting the Boardwalk on the Left. The third building up the street on the left side, with the flat roof, is the new Grand Union Store which introduced the automatic can dispensing shelving system to the Rockaways.

This photo shows a Rockaway Park theater that has not yet been listed, as far as I know.
http://tinyurl.com/d9nv3a

Hi guys,
the photo on Forgotten-ny is NOT the movie theater. The building in that shot is on the west side of 116th and down the block, on the “bay side” of Rockaway Beach Boulevard. The aerial shot from Bway is indeed, the theater. I think in the ‘70s it was called the Belle Harbor Theater. The last movie I remember seeing in there was “The Island at the Top of the Word.” It was a double-feature with a Disney release that ,for the life of me, I just can’t remember. One of the Herbie movies, maybe? I remember that the balcony was condemned and you weren’t supposed to go up there.
BTW, I was born and raised in Rockaway. I miss Playland and the old movie theaters. (There hasn’t been a movie theater in Rockaway since Surfside Cinema closed down, in the early '90s. It opened as a Jerry Lewis Theater around 1970? And when they started showing Rated R movies, lost their franchise.) Oh, and the zip code for the address? 11694

Thank You!!! that is the Park. My Uncle’s house was the one across the street on 115th. Do remember we are dealing with a facade. There was the main lobby with two wings on both sides. Maybe the picture is one of the wings. Still doesn’t explain the address numbers. Notice on the right of the park in the photo the back of the Park Inn Hotel.

Either way, the theater in the local live aerial photo at 150 is NOT the same theater as is in the forgotten NY photo.

Dear Bway,
Sorry about the spelling.
Was excited and rushed to get you the information, The forgotten picture shows stores on the right. this would be where the alley would be. The Park Inn Hotel used this for delivery and parking. In the 40’s massive iron gates were put up to cut out foot traffic