Garden Theatre
130-35 Merrick Boulevard,
Springfield Gardens,
NY
11434
130-35 Merrick Boulevard,
Springfield Gardens,
NY
11434
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I was a really little kid when my brother would take me to the Garden on a hot summer day. My parents took me to see Thunderhead, Son of Flicka. What a thrill. My friend, Danny, hid under his seat when we went to see a horror movie. I remember hiding under my sheets and checking the closet after seeing a Frankenstein movie at the Garden. I remember it being a very long walk from our house that was on 144th Road off Farmers Blvd by N. Conduit Ave. I used to go skating at the rink when I was a bit older. Don’t remember if the Garden was still there. Would have been in the late ‘50’s.
Always found it interesting that the Garden wasn’t Prudential since everything in the surrounding towns was: Cambria (Cambria Heights), St. Albans, Hollis, Island (Hollis), Bellaire, Laurelton, Carlton (Jamaica). Then when you got to Queens Village the majority of the theatres to the East in Nassau County were Century. Prudential then had Suffolk pretty much tied up.
Here’s the final word on the Garden, folks. My parents both grew up in Springfield Gardens in the 20s and 30s, and my father worked as an usher at the Garden Theater, which was known as “The Itch”. The building can’t be found because it was torn down in the late 50s, when the LIRR tracks were raised. It was just north of the grade crossing at Farmers Blvd. when the trackes were at street level. The huge building at Farmers and Merrick was indeed a roller rink, and NEVER a theater. It was converted into a TSS in the 50s, and the building still stands, now operated as a meat market.
There was a skating rink in this same building in the early 50s. I was in contact wit the girl whose father operated the place some time ago. After that it became TSS and whatever after that I am not sure till it became Western Beef. There has been an enrance on the Farmers Boulevard side, I recall a parking lot in the rear and an entrance to TSS on Farmers Boulevard with th main entrance being on Merrick Boulevard, that would explain two addresses. As for the hamberger place across the street, if I recall it was a Burger and Shake when it first opened. They had built another on Sunrise Highway ust before the county line and the Sunrise Drive-in. I believe it opened either in late 50s or early 60s, but those are the years I remember it being there and know it turned into something else later on. Are here any graduaed from PS 52 out there?
I was recently informed that my grandfather, Frederick Huebner, once owned the Garden Theater and later bought the Electra Theater in Brooklyn and also built the Dyker Theater in Brooklyn. Thanks for all the info you’ve provided.
I think that area used to be the Springfield Gardens Roller Rink. I used to skate there as a young girl in the early 50s….
It is now a Western Beef supermarket but like was said I remember when it was a TSS store in the 70’s and 80’s. I am only 41 and never knew it was once a movie theatre. Does anyone remember when the drive in Burger joint was on the corner of Merrick and Farmers. The name escapes me, but I do believe at one point it used to be a Jack In the Box?
If you are driving from Jamaica, it would have been on the left side of the road. I am sure there has been a lot of new developement going on there since I was last in the area. When I grew up there, we had no movie theater in Springfield Gardens. I had been in touch with a girl whose father owned the roller rink but not sure when he sold it. Would love to see some pictures. I do have one of the Laurelton taken in 2000 with the cross visible as it is a church as is the Cambria and Community Theater off the Cross Island. Do you recall Community Gardens?
Thanks, Ali… Heading in that direction, is it on the left side or right side of the road?
Hi Ed…It would be on Merrick just west of Farmers. Just to get it straight, it would be from Farmers in the direction towards Jamaica. I grew up in Springfield Gardens and Rosedale so of course went to all the theaters that were open during the mid to late 50s thru the early 70s when I moved out East to the Smithtown area. Spent many afternoons and Friday nights at the Laurelton but as most, my avorite was the Valenecia!
AliKaplan… Any idea which direction off that intersection the theater stood? There is a large Western Beef (I believe) on the north east corner of the intersection. I plan on getting out to southern Queens and western Nassau soon with my camera to photograph current and former theater buildings and sites – just waiting for some nice weather and a calendar free of plans! I never made it to this theater, but I lived in Laurelton during the ‘70’s and early '80’s and frequented a number of theaters near the Queens/Nassau border. Anyway, I’d like to expand my photographic coverage from my old haunts to include the former theaters of Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights and Saint Albans.
I believe this theater was on Merrick Boulevard just of Farmers Boulevard and later was turned into a roller rink and in the late 50s became Times Square Stores, a department store popular back then. I remember as a child going to TSS and they still had the wooden floors of the roller rink and the ceiling was like a tent with fabric which I guess was designed to deaden the noise. I am not sure but I think now it is a large super market. I do recall that I had read somewhere about the theater having been a vaudeville house at one time.
Warren… Are you sure about that address? I drove by there today and I could find no trace of the place. The LIRR runs across Farmers Blvd right at that point at an odd angle creating a couple of very small block fronts on Farmers. There is only one building there (on the south side of the tracks) that has an even numbered address that begins “136-xx”… the block after begins the “137-xx” numbering and the previous block on the other side of the tracks ends at 135-10. The building on the 136 block is a very small two story mixed use structure with a small one story extension at the rear. It abuts the railroad right-of-way. There is a barber shop in one of the two storefronts and a religious occupant in the other, but the building appears far to shallow to have ever housed even the smallest of movie theaters.
I didn’t have my camera on me, so I couldn’t capture any images. I’ll try to get back there soon to take a couple of photos and let whoever visits this page decide if the structure could have been a theater at some point.