Square Theatre
58 Westchester Square,
Bronx,
NY
10461
58 Westchester Square,
Bronx,
NY
10461
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Hello-
I did likewise. my friends and I stood outside the theater
online for say an hour and a half till the next showing of Bye Bye Birdie.
I saw “Bye Bye Birdie” at this theater years ago.
I live around the corner from this place the white building is not the square. the square was shut down and demolished in the early 1980s and the building there is new and I saw the pics of it being built in 1981 and the white building was going to be the new square.
Here is a fresh link to the photos of the Square Theatre in Boxofffice, March 7, 1936.
The Square Theatre was renovated in 1936. The March 7, 1936, issue of Boxoffice has an article by architect William I. Hohauser, illustrated with a few photos of the Square Theatre, which was one of his recent modernization projects.
Unfortunately, the scan of the article is very blurry, and about half the text is unreadable, including the part that makes reference to the Square Theatre. The photo caption is readable, but doesn’t give much information. It does, however, specifically say the project was a renovation, so the Square must have operated before 1936, perhaps under a different name.
From the NYT on January 27, 1968:
JUDGE VIEWS FILMS IN OBSCENITY CASE
Judge Irving I. Schreckinger of the Bronx Criminal Court spent most of yesterday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan screening room viewing two allegedly obscene films, “Infidelity, American-Style” and “Housewives on Call.” The films had been seized by the police at the Square Theater in the Bronx on Dec. 9.
I was there snooping around a while back, and I could see that at one time there was a 2-story structure in the empty space behind that facade, marks from the tar roof on the adjoining windowless walls were evident. An auditorium could have fit in the parking lot in the rear and on the site of that 1960s-style post office behind the parking lot.
The link below (from my post of 03/14/2005) shows the remains of the theatre I have been referring to, scroll to the bottom of the page to the group of 4 pictures. That website, forgotten-ny.com, mis-identified it.
View link
OK, apparently this theatre I posted is not the Square Theatre. The place I have been referring to was in the 3-story building in the next block, visible beyond the Square marquee in Lost’s photo, in the center of the building under that gable part of the roof. It explains the previous confusion over the address. Do any old-time Bronx boys or girls remember what the theatre at 49 Westchester Sq. was called?
“Behind the Green Door” made Marilyn Chambers a star. Here is that film paired with “The Resurrection of Eve” on a showcase run.
View link
Dave,
The SQUARE THEATER was demolished in 1981 along with the Greek Diner and two adjoining stores to make way for the 30,000 sq.ft. Con Edison Customer Service Center now occupied by a Duane Reade Drug Store. The SQUARE was built in the mid-1930s when theater promoter/developers would erect signs on differant neighborhood corners advertising the arrival of a new theater that would never be built – so that the SQUARE THEATER, for example, could/would be built.I know this, because that promoter/developer was my father who subsequently purchased and renovated the SQUARE property in 1948 and operated it until his untimely death at the age of 42 in 1953.
In 1971
View link
Dave,
The link you have sent is the old opera theatre on Tremont Ave and Frisby Avenues. The Square Theatre was located on Tremont Ave. beteen Fink and Westchester Avenues. The Square ran XXX movies until 1981 and has now been converted into small shops. The pictures in the link are between Ponton and St. Peters Ave. The old courthouse is on the same side within a block of each other. That courthouse was built in 1926 and is still being used to this day. The old opera house was erected at the turn of the century and is in remarkable condition for its age, the marquee is still in excellent condition.
A current photo of the facade of the former Square Theatre can be seen here – scroll to the bottom of the page…
View link
I lived a few blocks from the Square Theatre from age 3 to 21 (1960-1978). I remember seeing “Ben-Hur” there, and several forgotten movies. I am almost positive that X-rated movies played there well into the 1970s. The theatre was still intact when I moved out of the area in 1978. There was a great late-night Greek diner right across the street. A shame it’s gone…
The entire theatre, both the auditorium and lobby was demolished here. Around the back of the building, which I mentioned above is 3-stories taking up the whole blockfront, it is really 2 3-story buildings and there is a space btwn the sections where the theatre lobby was – you can see marks on the walls where it was attached, and the back of the facade is visable.
There apparently has been re-numbering. 58 Westchester Sq. is in the same building but is the store-front at the far end on the corner of Ponton Ave. The theatre entrance is in the center of the of the building.
dave-bronx:
Film Daily Yearbooks only give seating capacities and sometimes adresses. Opening and closing dates can only be determined by having the complete run of them and researching year by year for a particular theatre.
Regarding the Square Theatre, a seating capacity of 568 is given. The address given is 58 Westchester Square (has there been a re-numbering since the 1940’s-50’s?)
This theater was showing XXX Adult movies until 1969. Moved away after that.
The address here should be changed to 49 Westchester Square.
The 3 story glazed white brick building, taking up the whole block btwn Roberts and Ponton Avenues looks to be from the 1920s. The storefront at #49, in the center of the block has an archway above the first-floor level. above that is a white and blue tile facade with a single ‘tragedy’ mask. in the center. The stubs of the severed marquee supports are evident. Inside the storefront (a para-legal office) about the first 15 feet, is an arched white tile ceiling with many empty light sockets and appears to be the area where the box office would have been. This is all that remains to indicate that there was once a theatre there. The lady working there said she thought it had been a theatre. They had tried to put bulbs in the sockets, but the old wiring was no good and they couldn’t get at it without ripping up the tile work, and they are just tenants there. Around the back of the building where the auditorium once was is a parking lot and a circa-1950s Post Office.
Can anybody with one of those old film business books provide the opening and closing dates and number of seats?