Vito, the two worst theatres I was ever in were the Gables and the Westbury. Both were dumps. The Westbury had character but the Gables was just a box. If you look at the postings you’ll see that it was next to the Prudential office and movies were previewed there. What does this tell you about Prudential.
The Freeport Library has scanned a picture of Brooklyn Av, at Grove, showing the Crystal to the left of Brooklyn Hall and an ad they placed in the 1914 Alumni Record as part of the digitalization of Long Island Memories (.org) which I’ll try to link.
Apology accepted. Sometimes, depending upon the locale, old phone books can be a help to at least give a time span on when a space was open. But when you go after some of the real oldies, they didn’t even have the actual “house” number. You have to be really creative and no two municipalities seem to have the same bureacracy. Once in a while you can get lucky if the local fire department issues certificates of occupancy. Then you get the address and the capacity.
Panhandle – I questioned Don about the background of the theatre because all he put up (with two other individuals) was the name of the theatre, the city and state. I never had the postcard which he was then able to add after he established the theatre. Fine, good sequence of events. But, it is apparent that, since he had the postcard, he, at least, had the street on which the theatre was located, if not the actual address at the time the theatre was added. If I had seen a street name I wouldn’t have made any comment. I don’t see that as a cause for name calling.
My point would be if there are three people I would have hoped they had more than a name, a city and a state. How did you come to know about it, if it were personal you and your compadres should have first hand info. There are a number of sites which were established with just about the same basic information but the following blurb gave a little more insight into it. Then they say more info is needed. In my opinion more info was needed before this was established. For example, in my memory there was a theatre in an east end community. I’m 100% of this but until I have some confirmation I’m not going to put it up. I’m going to the library, old newspapers, the historical society or whatever until I have one tangible piece of corroborating evidence.
There is an outdoor theatre called the Casino listed as being on Shelter Island, NY listed on CT. I have been trying to nail this one down but the historical society and the library have no knowledge of it. So where did the idea for the original posting come from since the theatre was supposed to have been destroyed in a hurricane almost 70 years ago and CT has only been around for a relatively short period of time. The legal term would be heresay.
When you look at the theatre situation there are a lot of sections of the island that are no longer serviced. When I lived further west there were still art house venues in Huntington and Malverne. The other art houses disappeared a long time ago. I rely on the Westhampton Performing Arts Center and the Hampton Arts theatres for my independent experience. They are a lot closer to me than Patchogue. Sag Harbor often has an odd ball but that’s a haul. They were going to try something like that in Riverhead but that never came off. The Suffolk Theatre still sits there, more than 75% of the storefronts are empty as are the apartments over them. But there are several art groups, one of which I do portrait modeling for, and the Blues Festival which is a big draw. Vail-Levitt is still plugging along but is not a real force in the community. The towns have changed so much over the years and so have people. There is no sense of committment. Witness the diminishing sizes and graying of church choirs and all the community chorales and orchestras that have disappeared due to lack of membership and community support. You’re going to have a haul. Since WHB is flourishing maybe you should network with them.
Possibilities- Hans and his wife confirmed that the only post theatre use of the space was as Two Guys (perhaps they were named Jack and Jerry). In Hans' books the Granada doesn’t get the attention of the Patchogue and the Rivoli. He does have clippings from the newspaper with additional details on it which I have quoted above. There is also a photo of the grand opening which I’ll have to scan and get somewhere where I can provide a link to CT.
Also in our last conversation he said his records show the marquee being removed in 1965 not 1967 as above. He also said the theatre closed in 1947 due to lack of business even though they tried to get a new audience by showing foreign films. His research is more general so there maybe more on that. I stop by the Patchogue Library one day and, hopefully, they have an index for data in the advance, rather than my going through the whole year 1947. When I was trying to get more info on the Center Cinema in Center Moriches I was fortunate that there was an index for the local paper. I would never have found the information otherwise since several years were involved. When I was trying to create the Rocky Point Cinema I had some first hand info pointing me to a time frame and then poured over microfiche just to get skeletal info. Without the pointer it would have been impossible.
And don’t forget the successful revival of Cabaret originated there when it was the Kit Kat Club. Then a piece of something from the levelling of the surrounding buildings crashed through the roof and the show transferred to Studio 54 (which began it’s life as the Gallo Opera House).
Hopefully it will do better under the Sondheim name. It’s career as the Miller was checkered. It’s ironic that one of it’s biggest hits in recent years was Urinetown when the theatre was due to be levelled.
Pardon me but something has got to be wrong here. All we have is the name of the theatre, the city and state. Yet three people’s names are given as having submitted this.
Now that this is cleared up maybe we should shift to the Granada site for any additional info on that theatre. I put one comment there today and am researching something else.
I didn’t question them about the sloping floor and they didn’t volunteer anything. I did get a few more bits on the Granada which I put on that site. If you notice in the heading of the Granada it specifically mentions Two Guys.
I gather that posting is a no no because of space constraints. The preferred method is to load them onto your Flikr, or whatever account, and link them.
Possibilities – I checked my book it’s Hans Hemke. There are two copies of his two books in the Patchogue Library. One each in regular circulation and one each as reference in the LI Room. He has a listed phone number so you can also contact him directly.
Hans Lemke wrote two books on Patchogue. The above information came from photos of newspaper clippings he sent me which didn’t make it into the book. He is a single great resource on Patchogue. You should contact him.
Georgy Girl, Hans actually wrote two books. Neither addresses what happened to the Granada. In fact neither mentions the Granada. I was in touch with him and he gave me some photos of newspaper pieces on the theatre, including a photo. Next time I speak to him I’ll ask about Jack and Jerry’s.
I realize that the AID auto store was not a theatre. I said so. What I also said is that if any building looked like a theatre it was this one. I have no knowledge of the store Georgy Girl is talking about. We agreed that the auto store she was talking about had probably been the Granada Theatre because of the location and the sloping floor.
Vito, the two worst theatres I was ever in were the Gables and the Westbury. Both were dumps. The Westbury had character but the Gables was just a box. If you look at the postings you’ll see that it was next to the Prudential office and movies were previewed there. What does this tell you about Prudential.
The Freeport Library has scanned a picture of Brooklyn Av, at Grove, showing the Crystal to the left of Brooklyn Hall and an ad they placed in the 1914 Alumni Record as part of the digitalization of Long Island Memories (.org) which I’ll try to link.
Apology accepted. Sometimes, depending upon the locale, old phone books can be a help to at least give a time span on when a space was open. But when you go after some of the real oldies, they didn’t even have the actual “house” number. You have to be really creative and no two municipalities seem to have the same bureacracy. Once in a while you can get lucky if the local fire department issues certificates of occupancy. Then you get the address and the capacity.
Panhandle – I questioned Don about the background of the theatre because all he put up (with two other individuals) was the name of the theatre, the city and state. I never had the postcard which he was then able to add after he established the theatre. Fine, good sequence of events. But, it is apparent that, since he had the postcard, he, at least, had the street on which the theatre was located, if not the actual address at the time the theatre was added. If I had seen a street name I wouldn’t have made any comment. I don’t see that as a cause for name calling.
Tinseltoes can you tell if any of the old theatre facade is still there? I think it was removed when Lerner’s moved in some 50 years ago.
My point would be if there are three people I would have hoped they had more than a name, a city and a state. How did you come to know about it, if it were personal you and your compadres should have first hand info. There are a number of sites which were established with just about the same basic information but the following blurb gave a little more insight into it. Then they say more info is needed. In my opinion more info was needed before this was established. For example, in my memory there was a theatre in an east end community. I’m 100% of this but until I have some confirmation I’m not going to put it up. I’m going to the library, old newspapers, the historical society or whatever until I have one tangible piece of corroborating evidence.
There is an outdoor theatre called the Casino listed as being on Shelter Island, NY listed on CT. I have been trying to nail this one down but the historical society and the library have no knowledge of it. So where did the idea for the original posting come from since the theatre was supposed to have been destroyed in a hurricane almost 70 years ago and CT has only been around for a relatively short period of time. The legal term would be heresay.
When you look at the theatre situation there are a lot of sections of the island that are no longer serviced. When I lived further west there were still art house venues in Huntington and Malverne. The other art houses disappeared a long time ago. I rely on the Westhampton Performing Arts Center and the Hampton Arts theatres for my independent experience. They are a lot closer to me than Patchogue. Sag Harbor often has an odd ball but that’s a haul. They were going to try something like that in Riverhead but that never came off. The Suffolk Theatre still sits there, more than 75% of the storefronts are empty as are the apartments over them. But there are several art groups, one of which I do portrait modeling for, and the Blues Festival which is a big draw. Vail-Levitt is still plugging along but is not a real force in the community. The towns have changed so much over the years and so have people. There is no sense of committment. Witness the diminishing sizes and graying of church choirs and all the community chorales and orchestras that have disappeared due to lack of membership and community support. You’re going to have a haul. Since WHB is flourishing maybe you should network with them.
Possibilities- Hans and his wife confirmed that the only post theatre use of the space was as Two Guys (perhaps they were named Jack and Jerry). In Hans' books the Granada doesn’t get the attention of the Patchogue and the Rivoli. He does have clippings from the newspaper with additional details on it which I have quoted above. There is also a photo of the grand opening which I’ll have to scan and get somewhere where I can provide a link to CT.
Also in our last conversation he said his records show the marquee being removed in 1965 not 1967 as above. He also said the theatre closed in 1947 due to lack of business even though they tried to get a new audience by showing foreign films. His research is more general so there maybe more on that. I stop by the Patchogue Library one day and, hopefully, they have an index for data in the advance, rather than my going through the whole year 1947. When I was trying to get more info on the Center Cinema in Center Moriches I was fortunate that there was an index for the local paper. I would never have found the information otherwise since several years were involved. When I was trying to create the Rocky Point Cinema I had some first hand info pointing me to a time frame and then poured over microfiche just to get skeletal info. Without the pointer it would have been impossible.
And don’t forget the successful revival of Cabaret originated there when it was the Kit Kat Club. Then a piece of something from the levelling of the surrounding buildings crashed through the roof and the show transferred to Studio 54 (which began it’s life as the Gallo Opera House).
Hopefully it will do better under the Sondheim name. It’s career as the Miller was checkered. It’s ironic that one of it’s biggest hits in recent years was Urinetown when the theatre was due to be levelled.
Lost Memory just disapeared from CT never to be heard from again.
Pardon me but something has got to be wrong here. All we have is the name of the theatre, the city and state. Yet three people’s names are given as having submitted this.
Re Ken’s 2009 posting the Bar Harbour Theatre opened in the Bar Harbour shopping center. It has it’s own blurb on CT.
Now that this is cleared up maybe we should shift to the Granada site for any additional info on that theatre. I put one comment there today and am researching something else.
Point of order Tinseltoes. After Alaska and Hawaii entered the union the total number of states is 50.
I didn’t question them about the sloping floor and they didn’t volunteer anything. I did get a few more bits on the Granada which I put on that site. If you notice in the heading of the Granada it specifically mentions Two Guys.
Georgy Girl – spoke to Hans and his wife and they only remember Two Guys. Any chance the Two Guys were Jackie and Jerry?
Love the clip NYer, never saw the movie.
I gather that posting is a no no because of space constraints. The preferred method is to load them onto your Flikr, or whatever account, and link them.
Possibilities – I checked my book it’s Hans Hemke. There are two copies of his two books in the Patchogue Library. One each in regular circulation and one each as reference in the LI Room. He has a listed phone number so you can also contact him directly.
Georgy Girl, Lost Memory has been lost to CT for some months. You’ll have to rely on my contact with Hans.
Hans Lemke wrote two books on Patchogue. The above information came from photos of newspaper clippings he sent me which didn’t make it into the book. He is a single great resource on Patchogue. You should contact him.
Georgy Girl, Hans actually wrote two books. Neither addresses what happened to the Granada. In fact neither mentions the Granada. I was in touch with him and he gave me some photos of newspaper pieces on the theatre, including a photo. Next time I speak to him I’ll ask about Jack and Jerry’s.
I realize that the AID auto store was not a theatre. I said so. What I also said is that if any building looked like a theatre it was this one. I have no knowledge of the store Georgy Girl is talking about. We agreed that the auto store she was talking about had probably been the Granada Theatre because of the location and the sloping floor.
Don’t “do” Patchogue that often. Don’t know the CVS reference.