Fair Theatre
90-18 Astoria Boulevard,
East Elmhurst,
NY
11369
90-18 Astoria Boulevard,
East Elmhurst,
NY
11369
18 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 358 comments
Some of the best years of my youth were spent at this theatre. Is there another adult theatre close to NYC? There’s got to be another place like this theatre once was. Does anyone know?
Have I stayed too long at the Fair…?
What are the hours at the Fair?
Thank you for that verification, Lord Garth!
I called the theater and the person who answered said there are no plans to close.
Spotlighted at the start and again later in the “Quick Trip to Jackson Heights” article at the Forgotten New York website. Click here
Is the Fair Theatre really closing down? I haven’t been there in 2 years.
I heard a rumor the Fair is closing. Someone read it on Reddit.
Patrick Crowley on April 7, 2008 at 10:49 am Yeah, I couldn’t agree more, guys. I’ve removed all the off-topic/sexual comments.
Note to adult theater patrons: Cinema Treasures isn’t the place to discuss such topics. If you post anything that is of a sexual nature, we’ll delete your comment and account without warning.
Because they’re not thinking with their big head…
…especially a website that is supposed to be about preserving, documenting or remembering movie theaters, not rehashing whatever problem you had with management or trying to find out if it’s a good place to hook up. I don’t know why this particular theater seems to attract so many who don’t understand that.
I think the question that is lost in all of this is why this particular poster tends to air his dirty laundry here ( and without fabreze I might add)
Now I might be thinking a bit out of the box here, but please hear me out.
If I have a problem with a particular establishment, I let some time pass, then go back to that establishment and in a calm, cool demeanor ask if the manager or owner is available. If so, calmly & cooly ask them exactly what the problem was - let them speak and then , again, this is an off the wall idea - but apologize for whatever was done. Say you’ll be on your best behaviour and ask to be re-instated. Again, that’s just an off the wall idea and what I’d do in that situation. I know I wouldn’t constantly come onto a website posting up things that would re-inforce the negative attitude some might have.
Try Groucho glasses. But seriously, would they recognize you after 15 months? Do they have photos of you plastered around the box office? What kind of defacement were you accused of? If they didn’t prosecute then it seems a little late now.
oh yeah, Todd Verow. He’d have to pay me to watch his ‘movies’
never have I seen so many people walk out as I did at a screening I attended a few years back.
On March 19, 2017, theatrelvr mentioned a doc called “Been Too Long at the Fair” on Vimeo. I couldn’t find it by simplying searching Vimeo, so I am posting the link here. Be forewarned that some of the content is explicit and gay. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/beentoolongatthefair/154216841
I wish the quality of the pictures could be better but I didn’t want to a chance staff might tell me t I stop.
I added pictures that I took yesterday. It was near closing time.
Comment added under photo of “Bad Seed/Tea and Sympathy” ad
An update is needed here. There are actually five screens. The main auditorium has not been divided and is mostly in its original condition except for the addition of silver tinsel curtains and the stage being enlarged.Double feature last run, kung-foo, and classics are shown here with program changes every Sunday and Thursday. They also show special events like awards shows and sporting events. Most of the seating in the orchestra level was reupholstered about 10 years ago when new carpet was installed. The seating in the balcony was reupholstered as well but looks like it was taken from a much older theater. The next screen is located behind the lobby in a room with seating for seven with a similar program as the main auditorium. The other three screens are in spaces that used to be shoppes to the right of the lobby. One has a small standing room only balcony. The next one has video booths behind the screen, and the last one has video booths in the back. Adult double features are shown in those auditoriums.
Anywhere know where the box office was located back in the day?
Mike- Remember when strippers were “exotics”?
There is a doc on vimeo about this theater called “Been Too Long at the Fair.” It’s free to see the trailer and only a buck to rent. I’m watching it now. Short film, interesting.
Neely O'Hara says, Art films? Nudies! That’s all they are. Nudies.
Was thinking about checking out the cinema but a little reluctant.Do they still play adult fims there?
There have been rumors over the years about this place closing. A brief review of this theatre’s history (and its neighbors') reveals the struggle to stay in business.
In February 2006, when the Polk Theater in Jackson Heights closed for good, the Fair Theatre was the only remaining cinema in Queens offering XXX movies. Despite its “monopoly”, the future did not look bright for adult-oriented cinemas.
Back in April 2007, when Indian movies were being promoted and shown on its big screen, many feared the Fair was abandoning adult movies and going “Bollywood” – just like the Mayfair/Bombay Theater in Fresh Meadows and Earle/Eagle Theater in Jackson Heights had done several years earlier.
Fast forward to 2009, and the Indian movies were quietly discontinued – this may have been partially due to a major movie studio strike in Mumbai which crippled distribution of Indian films worldwide (that year, the Eagle Theater closed for good). The Fair carried on, as it had previously, with Asian martial arts movies and other “grindhouse”-type programming for awhile, then heavily curtailed that as well.
In 2011, the Fair “celebrated” its 40th anniversary as an adult venue by offering complimentary snacks, refreshments and other perks as a “thank you” to its loyal, long-time customers (for many years, the place was also known as the “Adult Fair”).
The Indian movie posters still hang all over the lobby and entrance, there is still signage touting “international films”, and the recently redesigned website still promotes movies not currently being shown, but the Fair’s primary business is still the same as it was since 1971. It remains – despite zoning laws, business regulation, legal actions, harassment from the neighboring evangelical church…not to mention a recent economic recession, adult home video and Internet sites.
Some of us are not particularly thrilled about the Fair as it currently functions and would have preferred a more desirable use for it. However, given the limited options for a theatre of this type, and the fate of its contemporaries, we should at least be happy that the building still exists (with its original features mostly intact). This place is truly a survivor!