Flatbush Pavilion

314 Flatbush Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11238

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Showing 1 - 25 of 41 comments

Gabi Gonzalez
Gabi Gonzalez on April 24, 2017 at 3:26 am

Hello fellow movie theater lovers,

I’m doing a project for my photojournalism class at NYU about closed down independent movie theaters in New York. I hope to gain information about people’s past experiences at these movie theaters, recollections of favorite memories or not so great experiences, perhaps economical insight, contacts with owners/managers, etc. On a larger level, I hope my project is able to show the significance of the role that these establishments play in our city and the importance of keeping them afloat.

If anyone would be willing to answer a few questions via email about your personal memories at the theater, please let me know! It could be as simple as recounting a favorite movie you remember seeing back when it was open. I would greatly appreciate your insight.

You can contact me at:

Thanks,
Gabi

cmbussmann
cmbussmann on January 19, 2017 at 4:16 pm

What’s gonna happen to this place now that American Apparel has gone belly-up? I hope whoever moves in next restores the marquee.

leslegr
leslegr on February 14, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Back in the late 50’s, early 60’s it showed most foreign and “art” movies.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on February 1, 2012 at 11:22 pm

After it switched back from porn, it played mainstream for many, many years.

PragmaticGuy
PragmaticGuy on January 31, 2012 at 3:11 pm

I remember passing by the theater when it was the Plaza and the for a quite awhile the community was up in arms because it was showing XXX rated movies. Then it went back to first run for a short time before closing.

Bway
Bway on April 16, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Here’s a photo when it was Cinema Plaza in 1980:

View link

CinemaDude
CinemaDude on December 19, 2007 at 4:25 pm

The closeing of this dive was a mercy killing. The place was a horrid place to see a film. The lobby was dark and dank; the auditoria were even more forboding. The film presentation was beyond bad. In a day and age of 6 channel digital sound, this place was still sporting a mono system in both rooms.

It was a scouting exhibition just to find a seat that wasn’t broken, and even those that were in decent shape were very uncomfortable.
The screens were placed much too high making the viewing angle very hard on the neck muscles. Because it was twined, the rooms were long and narrow, giving you the feeling that you were in a tunnel. This shape was detrimental to speech intelligibility, which sank to near zero; it was a good thing they ran lots of foreign films so you could read the dialogue.

This abomination is an example of just how terrible a movie theatre can be when it is tortured into more than one screen, even though it was designed as a single — a sorry practice in the rush to multiplex. It is no wonder it drove patrons away.

Sadly, there are many, many theatres that should have been saved; this is not one of them.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 3, 2007 at 9:58 pm

Here is another photo of the marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/3275jh

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on August 28, 2006 at 4:48 pm

The marquee is still up and it’s still an American Apparel clothing shop (socially conscious, American and union made, sweatshop free).

The little pics above the marquee on the sides are no longer there but the “1, 2, 3” still is with messages on the side.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on August 17, 2006 at 10:44 am

Of course, now that we know the theater, if you look above the building across the street from the Strand, you can make out the V-shaped roof-top sign for the Brooklyn Paramount looming a couple of blocks away on the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush Aves. That should have been a dead giveaway.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on August 17, 2006 at 10:39 am

My error (again!) Rockwell Place angles in to Fulton to the theater’s LEFT not the right.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on August 17, 2006 at 10:38 am

I think Ken and Lost (well, his first instinct anyway) are correct. The Ionic columns belong to the old Strand. But then, the subway site has mis-captioned the photo by locating it on Flatbush Avenue. The Strand is OFF Flatbush at the corner of Rockwell Place and Fulton Ave. Here’s one of Lost Memory’s favorite images of mine (clipped from the local.live site and highlighted for the mentally challenged – heh heh):

Aerial View of Strand

The angle of Rockwell Place to the theater’s right matches up in both images, and you can make out a slight angle to the theater facade in the subway photo that matches up with the aerial view.

(Slipping on my architectural nerd beanie now…) Ahem! Bway – a Doric order column has no capital feature. The columns on the Strand evidence the opposed volutes (the scroll-like feature) at their capitals that define the Ionic order. Here endeth the lesson.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on August 17, 2006 at 8:59 am

The photograph showing a theatre on Rockwell Place shows the Strand Theater, located at 647 Fulton Street and Rockwell Place. It’s most interesting feature, still to be seen today is the Romanesque exterior facade. See… /theaters/1407/

Bway
Bway on August 17, 2006 at 8:56 am

I don’t think it’s the Orpheum, because in the photo on the Orpheum, it doesn’t seem to have the large Doric columns that the photo with the el has.
/theaters/1924/

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on August 17, 2006 at 7:57 am

Bway, the first photo is captioned “Rockwell Place”. Rockwell is a short street that runs farther up Flatbush Ave near Lafayette and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The shot is definitely not of BAM, but must be one of the old downtown Brooklyn theaters and not the Flatbush Pavillion (which is further to the South near 7th Avenue). With that Ionian facde, it should be fairly easy to identify on this site. It’s definitely not the Strand or Majestic (which were not on Flatbush Ave). Maybe the Albee? Or the Fox?

Bway
Bway on August 17, 2006 at 7:14 am

And while we’re at it, here’s a phot of after they took the Fulton St Elevated down at Franklin and Fulton….is that a theater on the right?

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?52499

Bway
Bway on August 17, 2006 at 7:13 am

I found this photo on nycsubway.org, but can’t read the name of the theater. It says it’s Flatbush Ave….however, I am not sure what theater it is, so I figured I’d start my search here….
Here’s a photo of some theater on Flatbush Ave, when they were about to tear the old Fulton Elevated down….
Is this the Flatbush Pavilion?

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?52097

genahy
genahy on October 3, 2005 at 4:49 pm

Some tricksters/PR people for a new restaurant rearranged the letters on the marquee to read “revel in fish in non glaring semen from Havana.” Passed it by a few days ago; made me want to cry, and reminded me of the last days of the old Times Square, when titles of movies were rearranged into “poetry.”

View link

http://www.picpatrol.com/category.php?category=18

Now the word is the store will be an American Apparel. Wonderful.

View link

uncleal923
uncleal923 on June 8, 2005 at 11:32 pm

Thanx dailyheights

uncleal923
uncleal923 on June 8, 2005 at 11:18 pm

Is the marquis still up?

lostbrooklyn
lostbrooklyn on March 22, 2005 at 1:33 pm

View link

They’re converting it into a pool!!!

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on March 19, 2005 at 5:35 pm

The Film Daily Yearbook, 1930 gives a seating capacity of the Bunny Theatre as 450 and lists it as ‘closed’. By the 1941 edition it still has the same seating capacity, but has been re-named Plaza Theatre.

Divinity
Divinity on March 19, 2005 at 5:20 pm

Was it attractive?