Crescent Theatre
25-24 Astoria Boulevard,
Astoria,
NY
11102
25-24 Astoria Boulevard,
Astoria,
NY
11102
1 person
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Astoria World Manor (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox Circuit, Skouras Theatres, Small-Strausberg Circuit
Functions: Banquet Hall
Nearby Theaters
The Crescent Theatre was one of three theatres built in the mid-1920s by Small & Strausberg (S & S Circuit) on the west side of the Astoria section of Queens, near stations of the BMT elevated subway line. Due to its location midway between the Broadway Theatre and Grand Theatre, the Crescent Theatre had to settle for playing the same programs but a week later.
After the S & S Circuit was taken over by William Fox, the three theatres eventually went under Skouras Theaters Corp. management. All three were early victims of TV competition, but the Crescent Theatre was the first to close in the early-1950’s.
It became the nucleus for a catering hall. After a few changes of ownership, it has closed and reopened several times in the 1990’s and 2000’s, and is currently known as the Astoria World Manor.
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Here’s a current view of the catering hall that was built around the remains of the Crescent taken just a couple of weeks back. In the 2nd photo you can see the roofline of the old auditorium just above the glass terrace (I took this from the small adjacent parking lot):
View link
View link
I’ll try to get back there soon when it’s open and see if I can persuade management to let me snap a few photos of the inerior space of the former theater – assuming there is anything of interest there to shoot.
If you go to the “about us” page on the catering hall’s web site (see the link below) you’ll find an exterior photo of the hall in 1965 as well as a current 2005 photo. In the older photo, it appears that the catering hall was built right up against and to the left of the old theater and that the new sign over the entrance was built right over the old marquee (or at least on it’s frame).
http://www.awm-ny.com/about.html
The introduction above should be corrected to indicate that the theater closed in the 1960’s, not the 1990’s.
Thanks, Warren. I should have read your introduction a bit more carefully before I posted that comment. Re-reading it now, it seems quite clear.
Here’s a new link to the photos I posted back in September. The old links no longer work.
Here is part of a 7/21/35 article from the NYT. I don’t think you can say thugs in a headline anymore. Not PC.
THUGS GET PAYROLL IN THEATRE HOLD-UP; 3 Flee With $400 in Astoria After Binding Manager and Boy and Cutting Wires.
Bandits held up Joseph Yovin of 32-50 Seventy-ninth Street, Jackson Heights, manager of the Crescent Theatre at 27-18 Astoria Boulevard, Astoria, yesterday morning and escaped with a $400 payroll after tying Yovin and a 14-year-old boy in the office of the theatre.
My name is Susan Daniell – born Millward. I am trying to find out any information about my great grandpa William Millward. I have been told by my aunt (his granddaughter) that he owned the Crescent and the Popular at some time or the other, also that he acted with Stan Laurel & George Roby and was involved or acted in the movie Her Benny. Apparently many of his films were burnt in a fire in London.
All my grandparents have passed away. Can anyone help me please??
Nice old photo.
The photo of the Crescent Theater on Astoria Boulevard is indeed a treasure. Judging from its address from the above post on the holdup at the theater, it seems the theater entrance was located on the corner of 27th Street and Astoria Boulevard (27-18 Astoria Blvd.) If you look at the photo you can see that the left side of the entrance is a wall which is the corner of the street (at least it looks that way in the photo).
Thanks so much for that photo…I’d always wondered what the Crescent Theater looked like and now, for the first time, I get to see a photo of it! Fabulous!
Here’s the “about us” page from the catering hall’s official website. If you scroll down, there is an image of the hall as it appeared in 1965. I was able to download a copy of this photo and will add it to this theater’s photo galery, along with a couple of shots I took about 5 or 6 years ago. Looks like the facade was redone in what was “contemporary” for 1965 (think of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows), but it appears that the original marquee may still have been in use, albeit with a good re-dressing.
A new outdoor restaurant has opened directly behind Astoria World Manor, under the same ownership. News article can be viewed here