Plaza Theatre
103-12 Roosevelt Avenue,
Corona,
NY
11368
103-12 Roosevelt Avenue,
Corona,
NY
11368
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 79 comments
A recent view of the exterior and a brief update on the status of the building can be found at the “Forgotten New York” website at the very end of an article about National Street in Corona. Click here
Uploaded a wider range photo of the Plaza in the day.
Wow! I was looking for the address and I did not realize I would find such a sight! brings back so many memories wow! I attended a government funded program above the theater back in 1981, cant believe its been left this way or that its even still standing. I left NY over 15 yrs ago, how sad.
The last owners was an outfit called Queen City theaters . The also manage the Ridgewood theater and Jackson Hgts. theaters
While trolling through a collection of old photos that had been posted in a Facebook group dedicated to memories of Queens (in particularly Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights), I found this pair of marquee profile shots:
1982 snow storm
Sometime between closure and Walgreens
Thanks for posting Tinseltoes.
Warren, why is it you photobucket pix links never work? I can never see any of your pix. The american classic images works though. I took this picture of the theater today. I noticed the building from the subway platform and knew I was looking at a theater. Took me a bit of time to figure out what it was originally. I love spying dead theaters and then trying to look them up on this site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeldj/4915011820/
Never have heard of this theatre till today,nice old picture of the Loews Style Marquee.
When you have a chance, Warren, could you re-post to your Photobucket profile the images you provided links to on April 19th and July 25th of last year? Many advance thanks!
Wow that is a lot of information on that marquee!
(also reregistering for alerts at the same time)
The colors of course may be inappropriate, but the place was in really good condition yet in the 70’s. Shall we say….much better than what they have done to the place now…. too bad, it’s been destroyed inside.
So, the church conducts services upstairs in the former balcony? A post above states that services are held 10 am on Sundays and 7:30 pm on Wednesdays.
I just started working in the neighborhood and am sorry to see this is closed. I came here once or twice when I lived in Flushing over 20 years ago.
Maybe I’ll check out the church; all are welcome, right?
I stopped by the Plaza this weekend and found it’s being used as a Spanish-language church (with services Sundays at 10 am and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm). The only architectural changes I could see the church made was painting the left wall of the entrance hallway an off-white, with a gold-orange stripe across and about 60% down from the ceiling and two wooden doors (more appropriate for a church than a movie theater) at the end; also, the one-sheet display cases on the exterior right have been boarded up and covered with banners listing information about the church services. There’s also a likewise banner on the front of the marquee, while the left and right sides contain lettering mentioning the office space for lease (albeit with no square footage; previously, 10,000 s.f. were listed as being available) and, at the bottom, the name of the church.
Interesting; thanks for digging up that information, Lost Memory, and thanks to everyone else for their quick responses. This week is bad for me in finding time to head out to the Plaza and gauge firsthand exactly what’s happening, but hopefully I can make a trip there before long and be able to provide a formal update.
Perhap’s someone was taking pictures. It could also be a theatre burglar.
I believe similar reports were at the Marboro too a few times, before demolition began.
When I last passed by the Plaza, on a Tuesday and then a Monday night in mid-September, the lights were on in the entrance hallway and the lobby; perhaps there are some redevelopment/re-opening/renovation plans in the works?
Prior to the construction of Walgreens, the theater was called Teatro Plaza. Judging from the marks left on the marquee from old letters, it was also once called Los Plaza, accomplished by removing the E and W from LOEWS and moving the S to the left.
I was inside shortly after Teatro Plaza shut down and the marquee announced the construction of “5 modern theaters.” The partition between the entrance and what is now Walgreens was already there; the hallway was exactly as br91975 described, and there was a folding table set up right inside the door for ticket sales. Some demo work for the Walgreens had already begun, though there was no indication that it was being converted to retail. The mezzanine level wrapped around the lower lobby, similar to the Loew’s Jersey, and there was a small concession area and a couple of arcade games upstairs. Everything had been painted solid blue, but the ornamental plaster still appeared to be in very good condition. I didn’t venture into the auditoriums.
Here are two 1985 ads from the Spanish language publication El Diario:
El Carro de la Muerte 9/20/85
Peliculas en Ingles con titulos en Espanol 9/20/85
Here’s a neighborhood movie guide from El Diario, geared towards its Spanish speaking and bilingual readers:
Carteleras Cinematografica 9/20/85
Any current status for what’s left of the theater? From the above posts it looks like they were planning to reopen further auditoriums but never did? Are any still open?
I’m sorry, I meant the “Plaza” above when I said “Corona”. I always considered this the Corona Plaza. Sorry for the mix-up.
Too bad.
Interesting how “parking” was a concern, and if I am not mistaken, there’s even a parking lot near by. If yout ake a theater like the Ridgewood, which has been 5plexed since the 80’s, and there isn’t a parking lot anywhere even remotely close to the theater, and they never had a problem.
Too bad they couldn’t get the Corona to work.
The last few remaining older theaters are beginning to drop like flies now. Hopefully the Ridgewood will be able to pull it off, and stay open (but now they are on an evening only schedule weekdays, like the Corona was doing according to the upper part of this comment page). In Forest Hills there is the Midway (although completely altered), and I think whatever the old Continental is running as, and then the Fresh Meadows, the Jackson, and the Cinemart, and a few others here and there, but we can almost count the theaters left in Queens (or Brooklyn too for that matter) on our two hands.
What I meant to say above, which came out sounding strange is that does the same owners own all three theaters?
Apparently someone also mentioned the Corona Plaza has closed it’s doors, even in what was left of the balcony?
Is this the Corona Theater that also owns the Jackson Triplex and the Ridgewood Theater?
Anyone know of any interior photos of the place before being turned over to Walgreens?