Wakefield Theatre
4214 White Plains Road,
Bronx,
NY
10466
4214 White Plains Road,
Bronx,
NY
10466
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Opened February 4th, 1927
Wakefield theatre in the Bronx opening Fri, Feb 4, 1927 – 5 · Yonkers Statesman (Yonkers, New York) · Newspapers.com
1969 photo added courtesy of Al Ponte’s Time Machine – New York Facebook page.
It was great seeing all the “sneak preview” films on Saturday night, and then staying for the main feature afterwards. Someone posted a photo of “Death Rides a Horse” and “Guns of the Magnificent Seven” showing at this theatre. I remember seeing both of those there, as well as “Midnight Cowboy” (We had to see the sneak preview, which was rated M – now considered the PG – in order to see the then-X-rated “Cowboy”), and believe me, it was great seeing all of the films released by United Artists in that place! I miss it a whole lot!
I spent a lot of time in the Wakefield…Laconia (same owners) Craft, Melba and LoewsPost Rd…plus the Lowes and RKO Mount Vernon….I remember when they replaced the marqees on the Laconia and Wakfield and put these modern ones up
This web page has a description of the Welte Orchestral Unit organ that was built for the Wakefield Theatre. The organ was temporarily on display at the Exposition of Architecture and Allied Arts held at the Grand Central Palace in Manhattan in early 1927.
The Wakefield appears in Robert Mulligan’s BLOODBROTHERS in a scene in which Richard Gere takes his kid brother to a matinee of ENTER THE DRAGON.
The Wakefield was the biggest and best of the Bronx/Yonkers borderland neighborhood movie houses — including the Kent, the Kimball, the Craft, and the Laconia — that I explored during my high school years (1947-1951). The Wakefield often showed “first run” flicks a little before the others, and was not as gringy as some. The Saturday walk from my home in Woodlawn, across the 233rd Street Bridge and up the hill, is still remembered fondly.
Listed at 4212 White Plains Road in the 1960 yellow pages. Phone number was FAirbnks 4-0400.
Hello everyone, my name is Deouan Wilson and I am a member of Greater Faith Temple which now resides at The Wakefield Theatre. I am a part of our Performance Department and we will be putting on a theatrical production titled, THE WORD on December 1st, 2007. We would like to pay homage to the theatre and invite anyone who remembers the “glory days” when the venue showed motion pictures, hosted boxing matches, etc. So if anyone out there has any pictures, articles or anything interesting about The Wakefield, please contact me at Thanks!
The Wakefield was my regular Saturday afternoob theater. The usual double feature, Pathe News, cartoon and serial (which we called “The Chapter.”) At one time they had a quiz show on stage featuring neighborhood kids.
For awhile,maybe once or twice, they held boxing matches there. But now its a church
The Wakefield Theatre is first listed in the 1927 edition of Film Daily Yearbook, with a seating capacity of 1,500. The location address is given as 234th Street & White Plains Avenue, Bronx. NY
The Wakefield was still open in 1974
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I have NY Times ads advertising the Wakefield on UA Premiere Showcase in the late 60s.