Brookhaven Theater
Port Jefferson Station,
NY
11776
No one has favorited this theater yet
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated Prudential Theaters Inc.
Architects: Drew Eberson, John Adolph Emil Eberson
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Nearby Theaters
This single-screen theater in Port Jefferson Station, Long Island, opened in 1949 or 1950. It had a small smoking loge but most seating was on the main floor.
Theater design was similar to other post-war Prudential Theaters operating at that time, including the Sayville, Lindenhurst, etc., with ample parking lot. Bright interior, early installation (June 1953) of a gigantic wide screen, characterized it.
In final years, it was a dollar theater, and benefitted from growth of nearby SUNY campus at Stony Brook.
Contributed by
Paul Noble
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
During my summers in Rocky Point in the 1950’s one would go to Port Jeff for a movie. When the Brookhave opened you didn’t have to go as far. Always a packed house in the summer with the AC and vacationers. I remember one night seeing an Esther Williams movie. The next day at the beach people were trying to do an “adagio Lift”, an aquatic movement executed from a floating position with one leg elevated. Thru hand and arm motion you ‘gracefully’ submerge". Yeah, right!
Years later when I attended Queens College in Flushing, Miss William came to the new pool and did a special with the swim team. They, too, could not execute the “lift”.
The Brookhaven Theatre was designed by architects John and Drew Eberson. Photos of it accompanied an article by John Eberson in the April 1, 1950, issue of Boxoffice. Prudential’s new Art Moderne house seated 872, with 668 in the orchestra nad 204 in the balcony.
Am I not correct in my presumption that the Sayville Theatre was virtually identical to the Brookhaven?
I’ve never seen either theater firsthand, so I couldn’t say anything about the interiors, but, judging from the photos, the exteriors (Brookhaven and Sayville) are quite similar.
Does anyone remember the , kid-hating , brother/sister team that managed the theater ? I remember that they wouldn’t allow me and my cousin in to see COLD TURKEY , a harmless Dick Van Dyke GP rated comedy , because we weren’t accomapnied by an adult ! They must’ve really hated those Saturday afternoon kiddie matinees !!
The theater was owned/managed by the Spector family, I think. I remember the lady at the ticket booth Ottilie Voboril (she always wore a name tag). You couldn’t put anything over on any of them.
The only lady I remember in the ticket booth was when the theater first opened. My parents and I were summering in Rocky Point and went to see an Esther Williams movie. The cashier had been a decided blonde at some point and was letting it grow out. It looked like she was wearing a skull cap. An image which has stuck with me all these MANY years.
I am remembering 1958-1961 range and always Saturday afternoon. It is strange the things that stick with us!
Photo uploaded toward the end.
Does ANYONE know: did this movie theatre plaster their old movie posters on the ceiling of the lobby ? I went out really far (we were from Huntington) with friends to see Mommie Dearest in the very early 1980s .This kinda looks like the theatre we went to . Only that once. If not DOES ANYONE remember a movie theatre in the Stony Brook / Port Jefferson area that did this : use their old movie posters as wallpaper ? Thanks