I believe that page at Forgotten NY was from several years ago. Kevin is usually pretty accurate, but he could have made a mistake. I’ll e-mail him and see if he remembers where he got that Star info.
Ed, thanks for referencing that earlier Ed Baxter post. I was going to point to it as well, but couldn’t remember who or when it was from — and finding anything in this mountain of posts was more than I could handle!
At this point, I think they ought to sell the air rights, build a tower on stilts above it, enclose the entire original building in glass, provide a glass-enclosed accessway through the lobby and into the auditorium, illuminate the entire thing and call it the Museum of Queens Politics.
That’s just the lobby — and only the side adjacent to the door. We can’t see the opposite side where the fountain was removed (prior to Huang) and it’s the auditorium that was alleged to be nearly destroyed.
Rikers Island is an island that was named after the First Officer of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I know — don’t ask. Some kind of time-warp thing. (Hey, if the Enterprise came back to save the whales — maybe they could come back to save the RKO Keith’s…? Just trying to think outside-the-box.)
A comment on that photo from my older sister, who spent considerable time in the De Luxe as a child in the 40’s:
“The Deluxe theater pic was sad, because all the art deco stuff is gone (wonder what they did with the blue-tiled mermaid fountain in the lobby?). But it is the same building; the entry doors are in exactly the same place.”
It’s the last show at the JV Mall in Yorktown
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Regal Entertainment Group
• Audio and Video
• Electronics
• Entertainment
Powered by Topix.net
(Original publication: August 21, 2006)
YORKTOWN â€" The final curtain came down early this morning at United Artist Theatres at the Jefferson Valley Mall, as the final credits for Will Ferrell’s hit, “Talledega Nights,” went dark at 12:18 a.m.
It was the last day for the eight-screen theater complex on the mall’s first floor, a favorite movie house for Bob Ginsberg of Yorktown, who paid $9.50 to see an afternoon matinee.
“It’s the end of an era,” said Ginsberg. “And I feel bad today for the whole mall. With the movies gone, it feels like it is dying.”
The closing of the Jefferson Valley movies, owned by Regal Entertainment, means movie lovers in northern Westchester and Putnam counties will have to drive elsewhere to see the latest releases. Four miles west of Jefferson Valley on Route 6, they’ll find the 11-screen complex at the Cortlandt Town Center, also owned by Regal. Eleven miles to the east there’s the Carmel Movieplex 8 on Route 52.
It was a bittersweet day for ticket-taker Cheryl Salerno, 39, who sat in her wooden chair, tearing tickets in two, while cheerfully wishing each customer to enjoy the movie. She had worked there part-time for the past eight years and had come to know the regulars.
“It’s kind of sad,” said Salerno of Cortlandt, who is looking for a new job. “I’ve grown to know so many people here, and they were great friends to me.”
Regal decided to close the theaters in a cost-saving move, noting that the screens at Jefferson Valley weren’t drawing large enough audiences.
The theaters will close while its mall neighbor, Suncoast Motion Picture Co., will stay open, selling digital video discs to film buffs who’d rather enjoy their movies in the privacy of their homes, watching on big-screen home-entertainment centers.
Nick Hellberg, who was working behind the counter at Suncoast, said DVDs now come out as quickly as eight weeks after new releases end their runs in the movie houses.
“It used to take six months to get DVDs on the market, but people want instant gratification,” he said.
Documenting the theaters demise was Kevin Muller, editor of The Chieftain, Mahopac High School’s student newspaper, who was photographing families buying tickets. The mall is a favorite haunt of local teens. Muller said it wasn’t unusual for parents to drop off their kids for a movie, and then pick them up later, giving them time to hang out with their peers in the mall’s safe confines. Muller said it could be a tougher sell for teens to convince their parents that, without the movies, they really want to go to the mall to go shopping.
“The next closest mall is the Danbury Mall, and that’s not really close at all,” he said.
Up at the mall’s food court, workers at several food outlets were bracing for a downturn in business. The movies brought crowds on Friday and Saturday nights as movie-goers often stopped for a meal before the flick or an ice cream when the movie was done. Families would also stop for a bite after a weekend matinee.
At the Desert Moon Cafe, John Casas of Yorktown, 18, heated up quesadillas on the grill. Casas recalled going to the movies as a young teen. Now he’s worried what will happen.
“Friday nights are really packed here with kids coming to the movies, and now it’s going to be dead,” he said. “It’s horrible that they’ve taken the fun out of the mall.”
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
Tom, I don’t see any Hebrew lettering on the truck; what I do see is the name Metro and a phone number. Unfortunately, I’ve tried blowing up the photo but it breaks down too much for me to make out the small print — I can only see the 718 area code, and can’t tell what it says under Metro. Can you see more detail in your original? I’m concerned because the logo looks like it could be that of Metro Environmental, which is a demolition company (http://www.metroenvironmental.com) although it does also do asbestos and mold remediation.
Fascinating stuff, Ed. I doubt they went ahead with the live shows on Friday. And I certainly didn’t remember that Jack Linkletter was the host of Hootenanny! How did they manage to use a picture of him in 1963 that looks like it was taken in 1943?
That Prince ad is pretty scary. How can you create an ad that big and put ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in it that would make anyone want to see the movie?
But more enjoyable is the Daily News ad placement to the left of “Under the Cherry Moon”. Nothing like an ad for “My Little Pony – The Movie” directly above The Kit Kat Klub “GIRLS GIRLS LIVE”, the Adonis “The Young and the Strong” and the Seton Hotel “Low Day & Eve Rates”! Yep, plan your whole July 4th holiday!
Thanks for the trip “down memory lane,” Ed. I had forgotten the Manes mess took place in ‘86 — for some reason it seemed like it was in the 70s. (You must have some collection of clippings! I confess, I have newspapers from '86 — but they’re about the Mets, not Manes!)
“Partians” could indeed be a misspelling of “partitions” — or it could also be a misspelling of “portions.” Any way you look at it, none of this seems to bode well.
I would suggest that sealing the windows with cinder blocks and mortar makes it possible to more easily conduct asbestos removal without having to enclose the building in the usual plastic enclosure, although I’m not positive this is the case. Plywood has a tendency to fall out of place and not be airtight, but bricks and mortar certainly are. The fact that they’re even engaging in asbestos abatement suggests they intend to preserve at least some part of the store building structure, which is odd, since the renderings seemed to indicate only a portion of the lobby would be preserved and the rest would be replaced by steel and glass. It also might be simpler to remove the window moldings, then strip the rust and recondition them elsewhere, than to attempt to do that in place. But again, that suggests they intend to restore the building front. The fact that they’re spending money on any work at all tends to counter the earlier posts suggesting that the project was dead in the water — but that’s just speculation on my part.
Outside of Brewster theater to receive face-lift
By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 18, 2006)
BREWSTER â€" The restoration of the Cameo Theater, a darkened Main Street movie house, was meant to be a beacon in the village’s revitalization efforts.
But for now, only the cinema’s exterior and an adjacent playhouse will be renovated with state grant money awarded more than a year ago, officials said. The interior will be “warehoused” for future work, leaving the once-popular double-screen theater pretty outside but empty inside.
“The economic conditions in the movie industry and in the village are such that we, unfortunately, won’t be able to open the Cameo at this time,” said Robert Morini, principal of Cameo Brewster LLC. “That doesn’t mean the theater won’t open again.”
Morini said he was unable to find a tenant, either a movie-theater operator or a not-for-profit organization, but is hopeful that one will come forward soon. Potential uses for the 6,564-square-foot site include a venue for live theater and cultural performances or a movie house featuring specialty or artistic films.
The Cameo is the anchor in a $200,000 grant presented in January 2005 to the Putnam County Economic Development Corporation by the state’s Main Street Program, a division of the New York State Housing Trust Corp. The Cameo’s portion was limited to $100,000, contingent upon the owner matching it with $300,000 of his own money. Morini can spend less than that and still access some of the state grant money. For every $3 he spends, the grant will give him $1.
The remaining $100,000 will provide $50,000 for rehabilitating the former post office at 20-30 Main St., $25,000 for streetscape enhancements and $25,000 for fixing the facades of several Main Street buildings. Those improvements are now in varying stages of execution and require that owners provide matching funds.
Morini said it would cost between $750,000 and $1 million to restore the entire Cameo Theater. At this point, he has hired an architect and is uncertain how much it will cost to refurbish the building’s facade, including the marquee, and the Cameo Playhouse, he said.
It is expected that the playhouse, a small retail space, will be used by the village’s new constabulary force for its base of operations. Constables, meant to address quality-of-life issues in the half-square-mile village, reported for duty Thursday. The office will be leased to the village for a sum of probably $1 a year, village Treasurer Michael Santos said.
“It looked to me like the entire effort was going to fail,” Mayor John Degnan said at a recent Team Brewster meeting. “There were difficulties with the anchor, but we found ways to compromise with a phased renovation of the facade and using the playhouse for the constables.”
The grant must be used by early 2008, said Elizabeth Duffy-Rau, the county’s project coordinator.
Morini purchased the Cameo in September 2000 from Southeast resident Denise Quinn for $195,000. The Cameo was built in 1939 and was a 525-seat single-screen cinema until it was converted into twin theaters in the 1970s. The theater went dark in 1997.
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
I e-mailed Elizabeth Putnam at the News-Times to ask if she’d heard anything about the status of the Palace. Her story in Sunday’s paper about the revitalization of downtown Danbury made no mention of the Palace, yet ironically said that the old Pride Cleaners building on Main St. may be converted into an 85-seat theater!
I believe that page at Forgotten NY was from several years ago. Kevin is usually pretty accurate, but he could have made a mistake. I’ll e-mail him and see if he remembers where he got that Star info.
Variation on an old joke: I went to a Cinema Treasures fistfight, and a hockey game broke out!
Ed, thanks for referencing that earlier Ed Baxter post. I was going to point to it as well, but couldn’t remember who or when it was from — and finding anything in this mountain of posts was more than I could handle!
At this point, I think they ought to sell the air rights, build a tower on stilts above it, enclose the entire original building in glass, provide a glass-enclosed accessway through the lobby and into the auditorium, illuminate the entire thing and call it the Museum of Queens Politics.
That’s just the lobby — and only the side adjacent to the door. We can’t see the opposite side where the fountain was removed (prior to Huang) and it’s the auditorium that was alleged to be nearly destroyed.
Rikers Island is an island that was named after the First Officer of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I know — don’t ask. Some kind of time-warp thing. (Hey, if the Enterprise came back to save the whales — maybe they could come back to save the RKO Keith’s…? Just trying to think outside-the-box.)
We’ll just consider what was published in the Times as a “thumbnail” of what you posted.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, they will have to haul us ALL off to Rikers before we’ll let them take you. Thanks for that awesome photo!
Wait — what is the story behind that photo? When is it from? Who is Chang Lee? How? Why? Enquiring minds want to know!
Mae West? Goodness!
(Honey, goodness had nothing to do with it!)
A comment on that photo from my older sister, who spent considerable time in the De Luxe as a child in the 40’s:
“The Deluxe theater pic was sad, because all the art deco stuff is gone (wonder what they did with the blue-tiled mermaid fountain in the lobby?). But it is the same building; the entry doors are in exactly the same place.”
It’s the last show at the JV Mall in Yorktown
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Regal Entertainment Group
• Audio and Video
• Electronics
• Entertainment
Powered by Topix.net
(Original publication: August 21, 2006)
YORKTOWN â€" The final curtain came down early this morning at United Artist Theatres at the Jefferson Valley Mall, as the final credits for Will Ferrell’s hit, “Talledega Nights,” went dark at 12:18 a.m.
It was the last day for the eight-screen theater complex on the mall’s first floor, a favorite movie house for Bob Ginsberg of Yorktown, who paid $9.50 to see an afternoon matinee.
“It’s the end of an era,” said Ginsberg. “And I feel bad today for the whole mall. With the movies gone, it feels like it is dying.”
The closing of the Jefferson Valley movies, owned by Regal Entertainment, means movie lovers in northern Westchester and Putnam counties will have to drive elsewhere to see the latest releases. Four miles west of Jefferson Valley on Route 6, they’ll find the 11-screen complex at the Cortlandt Town Center, also owned by Regal. Eleven miles to the east there’s the Carmel Movieplex 8 on Route 52.
It was a bittersweet day for ticket-taker Cheryl Salerno, 39, who sat in her wooden chair, tearing tickets in two, while cheerfully wishing each customer to enjoy the movie. She had worked there part-time for the past eight years and had come to know the regulars.
“It’s kind of sad,” said Salerno of Cortlandt, who is looking for a new job. “I’ve grown to know so many people here, and they were great friends to me.”
Regal decided to close the theaters in a cost-saving move, noting that the screens at Jefferson Valley weren’t drawing large enough audiences.
The theaters will close while its mall neighbor, Suncoast Motion Picture Co., will stay open, selling digital video discs to film buffs who’d rather enjoy their movies in the privacy of their homes, watching on big-screen home-entertainment centers.
Nick Hellberg, who was working behind the counter at Suncoast, said DVDs now come out as quickly as eight weeks after new releases end their runs in the movie houses.
“It used to take six months to get DVDs on the market, but people want instant gratification,” he said.
Documenting the theaters demise was Kevin Muller, editor of The Chieftain, Mahopac High School’s student newspaper, who was photographing families buying tickets. The mall is a favorite haunt of local teens. Muller said it wasn’t unusual for parents to drop off their kids for a movie, and then pick them up later, giving them time to hang out with their peers in the mall’s safe confines. Muller said it could be a tougher sell for teens to convince their parents that, without the movies, they really want to go to the mall to go shopping.
“The next closest mall is the Danbury Mall, and that’s not really close at all,” he said.
Up at the mall’s food court, workers at several food outlets were bracing for a downturn in business. The movies brought crowds on Friday and Saturday nights as movie-goers often stopped for a meal before the flick or an ice cream when the movie was done. Families would also stop for a bite after a weekend matinee.
At the Desert Moon Cafe, John Casas of Yorktown, 18, heated up quesadillas on the grill. Casas recalled going to the movies as a young teen. Now he’s worried what will happen.
“Friday nights are really packed here with kids coming to the movies, and now it’s going to be dead,” he said. “It’s horrible that they’ve taken the fun out of the mall.”
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
Not unless Thomas Huang was bar mitzvah’d…
Hmm. How early this year was it? Maybe they were just making the interior Kosher for Passover.
Tom, I don’t see any Hebrew lettering on the truck; what I do see is the name Metro and a phone number. Unfortunately, I’ve tried blowing up the photo but it breaks down too much for me to make out the small print — I can only see the 718 area code, and can’t tell what it says under Metro. Can you see more detail in your original? I’m concerned because the logo looks like it could be that of Metro Environmental, which is a demolition company (http://www.metroenvironmental.com) although it does also do asbestos and mold remediation.
Fascinating stuff, Ed. I doubt they went ahead with the live shows on Friday. And I certainly didn’t remember that Jack Linkletter was the host of Hootenanny! How did they manage to use a picture of him in 1963 that looks like it was taken in 1943?
That Prince ad is pretty scary. How can you create an ad that big and put ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in it that would make anyone want to see the movie?
But more enjoyable is the Daily News ad placement to the left of “Under the Cherry Moon”. Nothing like an ad for “My Little Pony – The Movie” directly above The Kit Kat Klub “GIRLS GIRLS LIVE”, the Adonis “The Young and the Strong” and the Seton Hotel “Low Day & Eve Rates”! Yep, plan your whole July 4th holiday!
Thanks for the trip “down memory lane,” Ed. I had forgotten the Manes mess took place in ‘86 — for some reason it seemed like it was in the 70s. (You must have some collection of clippings! I confess, I have newspapers from '86 — but they’re about the Mets, not Manes!)
“Partians” could indeed be a misspelling of “partitions” — or it could also be a misspelling of “portions.” Any way you look at it, none of this seems to bode well.
I would suggest that sealing the windows with cinder blocks and mortar makes it possible to more easily conduct asbestos removal without having to enclose the building in the usual plastic enclosure, although I’m not positive this is the case. Plywood has a tendency to fall out of place and not be airtight, but bricks and mortar certainly are. The fact that they’re even engaging in asbestos abatement suggests they intend to preserve at least some part of the store building structure, which is odd, since the renderings seemed to indicate only a portion of the lobby would be preserved and the rest would be replaced by steel and glass. It also might be simpler to remove the window moldings, then strip the rust and recondition them elsewhere, than to attempt to do that in place. But again, that suggests they intend to restore the building front. The fact that they’re spending money on any work at all tends to counter the earlier posts suggesting that the project was dead in the water — but that’s just speculation on my part.
Outside of Brewster theater to receive face-lift
By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 18, 2006)
BREWSTER â€" The restoration of the Cameo Theater, a darkened Main Street movie house, was meant to be a beacon in the village’s revitalization efforts.
But for now, only the cinema’s exterior and an adjacent playhouse will be renovated with state grant money awarded more than a year ago, officials said. The interior will be “warehoused” for future work, leaving the once-popular double-screen theater pretty outside but empty inside.
“The economic conditions in the movie industry and in the village are such that we, unfortunately, won’t be able to open the Cameo at this time,” said Robert Morini, principal of Cameo Brewster LLC. “That doesn’t mean the theater won’t open again.”
Morini said he was unable to find a tenant, either a movie-theater operator or a not-for-profit organization, but is hopeful that one will come forward soon. Potential uses for the 6,564-square-foot site include a venue for live theater and cultural performances or a movie house featuring specialty or artistic films.
The Cameo is the anchor in a $200,000 grant presented in January 2005 to the Putnam County Economic Development Corporation by the state’s Main Street Program, a division of the New York State Housing Trust Corp. The Cameo’s portion was limited to $100,000, contingent upon the owner matching it with $300,000 of his own money. Morini can spend less than that and still access some of the state grant money. For every $3 he spends, the grant will give him $1.
The remaining $100,000 will provide $50,000 for rehabilitating the former post office at 20-30 Main St., $25,000 for streetscape enhancements and $25,000 for fixing the facades of several Main Street buildings. Those improvements are now in varying stages of execution and require that owners provide matching funds.
Morini said it would cost between $750,000 and $1 million to restore the entire Cameo Theater. At this point, he has hired an architect and is uncertain how much it will cost to refurbish the building’s facade, including the marquee, and the Cameo Playhouse, he said.
It is expected that the playhouse, a small retail space, will be used by the village’s new constabulary force for its base of operations. Constables, meant to address quality-of-life issues in the half-square-mile village, reported for duty Thursday. The office will be leased to the village for a sum of probably $1 a year, village Treasurer Michael Santos said.
“It looked to me like the entire effort was going to fail,” Mayor John Degnan said at a recent Team Brewster meeting. “There were difficulties with the anchor, but we found ways to compromise with a phased renovation of the facade and using the playhouse for the constables.”
The grant must be used by early 2008, said Elizabeth Duffy-Rau, the county’s project coordinator.
Morini purchased the Cameo in September 2000 from Southeast resident Denise Quinn for $195,000. The Cameo was built in 1939 and was a 525-seat single-screen cinema until it was converted into twin theaters in the 1970s. The theater went dark in 1997.
Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
It sucks?
I e-mailed Elizabeth Putnam at the News-Times to ask if she’d heard anything about the status of the Palace. Her story in Sunday’s paper about the revitalization of downtown Danbury made no mention of the Palace, yet ironically said that the old Pride Cleaners building on Main St. may be converted into an 85-seat theater!
Melissa — I e-mailed you, but didn’t get a response…can you tell us who you’re producing the documentary for?
DavidH, if you saw Ship of Fools there, did you see it the way PaulNoble describes it in his January 2005 post above?
Those are fascinating photos, Ed! Now that I see them, I remember the interior of that theater very well.