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Condos proposed for Mamaroneck movie theater
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
April 23, 2014 at 9:44 am
MAMARONECK, NY — The Mamaroneck Playhouse quietly closed last weekend with no firm plans on its future. It’s Bow Tie’s preference to sell the property to a developer that would put housing units there. How many original features would remain is in question though.
Read more in the Journal News.
Comments (2)
This IS very sad news. This was a playhouse from the 1920’s. It was once a single screen. Then split into 4 screens. It however had a lot of elements left over from when it was a playhouse. This was evident mostly in the 2 upstairs theatres. Bricks walls and stone figurines still adorned the walls. The hallway between the 2 theatres and the bathrooms was a walkway with bricks on the ceiling and walls as you walked thru.
Plus each theater had 250 seats.. The two upstairs theatres were roomy and airy. One did not feel like you were in a little box
They ran 35MM right up to the last day on April 20th. Bow Tie had switched all other locations in Westchester from 35MM several months ago.
So I felt from the beginning of the year. They planned NOT to spend the $$$ to convert to digital. In addition to fixing up all 4 theatres with new sets screens sound systems. Plus other general repair on the older building.
They had floated the idea of making it a view and dine upscale theatre. It would have done well I think.As it was far enough away from Alamo Drafthouse.
A real shame and sad for the residents and downtown.
I remember seeing the Beatles “A Hard Days Night” in 1964 when this was a grandeur single screen movie house. It was a second run house until the late 1970’s when United Artists made it a quad theatre. When the theatre opened in the 1920’s, Burns and Allan would do vaudeville acts here under another name because they were under contract in vaudeville houses in New York City. There has been some talk in Mamaroneck regarding trying to get landmark status and to preserve the Playhouse but I do not think it is going to happen. As of yesterday, 30 units of upscale housing is being considered for this site since the downtown is a destination place for eateries and there is some new commercial development happening as we speak. Sorry to see the theatre go